Ross Bender

Ross Bender is an independent scholar specializing in 8th-century Japanese history and religion. He has published the first English translation of the official court history Shoku Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan, Continued) which covers the years 697-791. In addition he has translated the Old Japanese imperial edicts in the Rikkokushi (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."