Transnational exchanges shaped religious life in Meiji (1868–1912) and Taishō (1912–1926) Japan and Gilded Age (1865–1900) and Progressive Era (1900–1917) America. is essay analyzes one case of cultural exchange in this period. It focuses on Albert J. Edmunds, a British-American Buddhist sym- pathizer, and it considers the ways that Western occult traditions, especially Swedenborgianism, moved back and forth across the Paciﬁc and shaped the work of D. T. Suzuki. e article oﬀers three conclusions. First, for his inﬂu- ence on Suzuki and others in Japan—he sparked Suzuki’s personal interest in Swedenborgianism, for example—Edmunds deserves to be recognized in scholarly narratives. Second, it is important to note the inﬂuence of Western occult traditions on Suzuki’s work, especially between 1903 and 1924. ird, the essay considers the implications of this case study for writing translocative histories, and it suggests that historians reconsider the periodization and spa- tialization of their narratives as they also reaﬃrm the importance of scholarly collaboration. keywords: D. T. Suzuki – Albert J. Edmunds – occultism – Swedenborgianism – United States – Meiji and Taishō Japan – transnationalism Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 32/2: 249–281 © 2005 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture omas A. Tweed American Occultism and Japanese Buddhism Albert J. Edmunds, D. T. Suzuki, and Translocative History 249 omas A. Tweed is Zachary Smith Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the Uni- versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.