Lisa Kochinski, The Development of Segaki in the Late Medieval Period, focusing on the Kanshō 2 (1461) Famine 
The Tang dynasty esoteric (mikkyō) segaki or  Ritual for Feeding Hungry Ghosts, transmitted to Japan by Kūkai in 806, remained a minor apotropaic ritual in the Tendai-Shingonm (kenmitsu) ritual repertoire through at least the Kamakura period. However, a new form of segaki that developed during the Southern Song dynasty was transmitted to Japan in the early 13th century and adopted by the emerging Zen sect. By the 14th century, the five-temple (gozan) Zen segaki was a major ritual that was sponsored by the Ashikaga shogunate for victims of war and famine. My dissertation argues that the prominence of these warrior-sponsored gozan segaki contributed to the further development and diversification of the Zen segaki in the 15th and 16th centuries. By examining a variety of sources including war chronicles, diaries, rules of purity for Zen monasteries, and other Buddhist writings, my dissertation traces the development of segaki as an annual event (nenjū gyōji) and its use in individual mortuary and memorial rites. 
Following an overview of my research, I will present entries from the Hekizan nichiroku 碧山日録, a diary kept by the Tōfukuji Rinzai monk Unzen Taikyoku 雲泉太極 (b. 1421), that record the series of segaki rituals performed for the victims of the Kanshō 2 (1461) famine.

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