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Professor 山辺 規子 is a distinguished historian serving as Professor in the Faculty of Letters, Department of History at Kyoto Tachibana University. She obtained her Master of Arts in Literature from Kyoto University Graduate School of Letters in 1981, specializing in Western History, and subsequently pursued doctoral studies in the same field from 1981 to 1984, completing all required units before withdrawing upon expiration. Her academic career at Kyoto Tachibana University commenced in 1984 as a lecturer in the Faculty of Letters, followed by promotion to assistant professor from 1986 to 1993. Currently, she specializes in Western history, with primary research themes encompassing urban culture in medieval Italy and the history of food culture. Her investigations delve into pivotal aspects such as the development of Bologna as a university city, societal impacts during the Black Death, medieval health regimens illustrated in the Tacuinum Sanitatis, Norman conquests in southern Italy, and the dissemination of Italian cuisine in Japan.
Professor 山辺 規子 has made substantial contributions through authorship, editing, and collaborative scholarship. Key publications include her book Norman Knights' Mediterranean Rise and Fall History (白水社, 2009), co-edited University Studies in Western History: Ancient and Medieval Edition (ミネルヴァ書房, 2006), Introduction to Italian Urban Social History Research from the 12th to 16th Centuries (昭和堂, 2008), edited Food Culture Forum 35: Culture of Sweetness (ドメス出版, 2017), and The Kan-katsu-sen Reproduction Project: Reviving Ancient Sweeteners (かもがわ出版, 2018). Recent works feature contributions to Italian History Frontier (昭和堂, 2022), World Historical System: Italian History 2 – Medieval and Early Modern (山川出版社, 2021), and papers such as "Bologna as a University City During the Black Death Plague" (2020), "Medieval Europe's 'Health Rules' – Public Health and Salvation" (2015), and "Comparison of Items in Medieval Europe's Health Book 'Tacuinum Sanitatis'" (2014). She has led multiple KAKENHI research grants as principal investigator, including projects on medieval north-central Italian urban culture and ruling classes (2016–2022), the multifaceted study of Tacuinum Sanitatis (2012–2014), and cultural spatial consciousness of medieval Italian elites (2007–2010). Additionally, she participates in university governance as a human rights counselor and delivers public lectures on historical topics.