Ross Bender

Ross Bender is an independent scholar specializing in 8th-century Japanese history and religion. He is currently translating the Old Japanese imperial edicts in the Six National Histories, 697-887. Bender received the PhD in premodern Japanese studies from Columbia University in 1980; his dissertation was titled "The Political Meaning of the Hachiman Cult in Ancient and Early Medieval Japan." (See Academia.edu for a comprehensive list of his publications.) In addition to his scholarly work, Bender is a poet and chronicler of "Ye Olde University City Village" in West Philadelphia. He is the unofficial poet laureate of Clark Park.