Masaharu Anesaki
Masaharu Anesaki | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | July 23, 1949 | (aged 75)
Resting place | Japan |
Other names | Anesaki Chōfū |
Occupation(s) | Philosopher, scholar of Comparative religion, member of House of Peers |
Masaharu Anesaki (姉崎 正治, Anesaki Masaharu, born July 25, 1873 – July 23, 1949), also known under his pen name "Chōfū Anesaki" (姉崎 嘲風, Anesaki Chōfū), was a leading Japanese intellectual and scholar of the
Biography
Early history and education
Masaharu Anesaki was born in Kyoto. His family was the Samurai class served at Katsura-no-miya. In his younger days, he studied English at a private school "Oriental School", built by Kinzo Hirai, a Buddhist social worker. He received higher education in the Third High School, and entered the Tokyo Imperial University in 1893. He majored in philosophy, and his teacher was Tetsujirō Inoue and Raphael von Koeber. He graduated from university in 1897.
After graduation
He started teaching
He spent more than another year abroad in 1908–09 with partial support from Albert Kahn, the French Philanthropist. During that time he traveled extensively through Italy, tracing the steps of Saint Francis of Assisi. His travelogue "Hanatsumi Nikki" (Flowers of Italy) recounts that journey.
He spent 1913 to 1915 as a visiting scholar at Harvard University lecturing on Japanese literature and life. The lecture notes from this period were revised and were later the base for the book "History of Japanese Religion".[1] He was also instrumental in founding the scholarly collection that became the library of the University of Tokyo.
A devout
Honor
- Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class (1918)
- Legion of Honour (1928)
Selected works
- Nichiren: The Buddhist Prophet, 1916.
- Hanatsumi Nikki, 1909 (recently translated as Flowers of Italy, 2009)
- Quelques pages d'histoire religieuse du Japon, 1921
- A Concordance to the History of Kirishitan Missions, 1930
- History of Japanese Religion. With special Reference to the social and moral Life of the Nation, 1930[2][1]
- Art, Life and Nature in Japan, 1933
- Religious Life of the Japanese People. Its present Status and historical Background, 1938
- Waga Shogai (My Life), 1951
References
- ^ a b c d e Kitagawa 1964, pp. 273–274.
- ^ Bloom 1964, p. 476.
Sources
- JSTOR 1200842.
- Ishibashi, Tomonobu (1943), Masaharu Anesaki. Ein kurzes Lebensbild, Monumenta Nipponica 6 (1/2), i-x – via JSTOR (subscription required)
- Isomae, Jun'ichi; Jacobowitz, Seth (2002), The Discursive Position of Religious Studies in Japan: Masaharu Anesaki and the Origins of Religious Studies. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 14 (1), 21-46
- Bloom, Alfred (May 1964). "Review: History of Japanese Religion; with Special Reference to the Social and Moral Life of the Nation". The Journal of Asian Studies. 23 (3): 476. S2CID 146818348.