Specialization: Shugendō, Cultural Heritage
Josko Kozic is a PhD candidate at Heidelberg University’s Institute for Religious Studies. He specializes in the research of contemporarily practiced Shugendō, Esoteric Buddhism & the iconography of Hindu-Buddhist heritage sites in South-, Central- and Southeast Asia. His current project deals with the interconnectedness of religious practices, their socioeconomics, and their politics in terms of cultural heritage endeavors (including UNESCO). Next to his research on practiced religion in Japan, Josko engages in the "Silk Road Academic Research Team" of Teikyō University as a volunteer for their latest excavation of the ancient Buddhist kingdom Suyab in Kyrgyzstan, sponsored by National Geographic.