- PhD, Japanese, Stanford University, 1999
- MA, Japanese, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1991
- BA, Japanese with a Certificate in Asian Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 1988
Education & Training
Cultural Imprints: War and Memory in the Samurai Age. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2022. Co-edited with Katherine Saltzman-Li
Like Clouds or Mists: Studies and Translations of Noh Plays of the Genpei War. Cornell East Asia Series, 2014. Co-editor, with Michael G. Watson.
Swords, Oaths and Prophetic Visions: Authoring Warrior Rule in Medieval Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006.
Recent Publications
“The Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari) in the Japanese Cultural Tradition,” in Kit Brooks, Takeda Hideo’s Genpei: Defying Authority (Princeton University Press, 2026)
“Sang-il Lee’s Yurusarezarumono (Unforgiven, 2013): War, Memory, and History” in John Pendergast, ed. Arms, Letters, and the Humanities (West Point Press, 2026)
I also serve as the convenor for the New Directions in Noh Theatre Studies Working Group, which was founded in 2024. The valuable feedback I received from the workshop contributed to my current monograph project, “The Apparitional Capital in Noh: Staging Landscapes of the Genpei War,” under contract for the Harvard East Asian Monograph Series. The monograph considers how noh plays derived from Japan’s epic war tale, The Tale of the Heike, evoke the ghostly presence of a failed polity as they portray supernatural inhabitations of peripheral locales. I argue that a series of seven early noh plays derived from the tale suggest an unease about the history the tale tells while also bringing the Genpei War period into profitable dialogue with the early fifteenth century, when the plays were first performed.
In addition to Apparitional Capitals, I am also author of Imagining Other Worlds in Japanese Noh Drama, forthcoming as part of the Cambridge Elements in the Global Middle Ages series (January, 2027).
Other recent projects I have been involved in:
October, 2026: I lectured at the Princeton University Art Museum on “Furukawa Hideo’s Post-3/11 Tale of the Heike” in conjunction with the stunning exhibit Takeda Hideo’s Genpei: Defying Authority, curated by Kit Brooks, PUAM’s Curator of Asian Art. Oyler also contributed an essay to Dr. Brooks’ Takeda Hideo’s Genpei: Defying Authority.
Fall, 2026: With Josh Cannon of the Frederick Honors College, I co-lead the Reading the Epic Past with Veterans Reading Group, a biweekly meeting of US armed service veterans who are reading the Iliad and Tale of the Heike together, thinking about how the works resonate with their experiences of contemporary combat and military service. The group is hosted by the Veterans Breakfast Club with support from Pitt’s Department of Classics and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation Endowments of the University of Pittsburgh.
January-February, 2026: I had the privilege of consulting with the director as she explored the Japanese roots of Pittsburgh Opera’s Curlew River, a performance of Benjamin Britten’s “Parable for Church Performance” based on the noh Sumidagawa. I also gave two pre-show lectures about the noh and Britten’s choice of noh as the foundation for this haunting meditation on loss written in the shadow of WWII. Performed in the magnificent Calvary Episcopal Church, Shadyside, Curlew River was a moving exploration of a mother’s search for her missing son. April, 2025: The University of Pittsburgh and Japan America Society of Pennsylvania welcomed back Tom Lee, creator of Akutagawa (March, 2023) to offer a lecture-demonstration on kuruma-ningyō (“cart puppetry”) for our students and the public.
March, 2025: I liaised with noh actors Uzawa Hisa and Uzawa Hikaru to curate events to accompany the University of Pittsburgh’s University Library System celebration of the gift by the late professors emeriti Richard and Mae Smethurst of extensive holdings of Tsukioka Kogyō’s noh woodblock prints, now part of the Kōgyo: the art of noh digital collections. In addition to participating in the celebration, the Uzawas also conducted a movement and chant workshop for University of Pittsburgh students and, along with Oyler, gave a very well-attended lecture-demonstration based on the noh play Kiyotsune at the Kelly Strayhorn theater.
Archived events:
February, 2023: In cooperation with the Japan America Society of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Creative and Performing Arts 6-12, I helped bring Tom Lee and Nishikawa Koryu V’s Akutagawa, a multi-media cart puppet (kuruma-ningyō) play based on the stories of Akutagawa Ryunosuke to Pittsburgh for two shows and a seriese of workshops.
September, 2019: With a grant from the Toshiba International Foundation, I hosted the world premiere of Theatre Nohgaku’s Gettysburg and an accompanying symposium that brought together actors and scholars.
In the works:
I am currently conspiring with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh on a workshop on Kamo no Chōmei’s Hōjōki as a touchstone for contemporary crises and a series of events introducing the work of Furukawa Hideo to Pittsburgh audiences.