Anna Beerens, PhD (2006) in Japanese Studies, University of Leiden, works as an editor and is active as an independent scholar specializing the the social and institutional history of early modern Japan. Her most recent publication "Interview with Two Ladies of the Ooku" appeared in Monumenta Nipponica vol. 63, no. 2 (2008).Mark Teeuwen, PhD (1996) in Japanese Studies, University of Leiden, is Professor at Oslo University. He has published extensively on the history of kami cults and Shinto. His latest book is A new history of Shinto (2010, co-authored with John Breen).