Study on historical Afghanistan as a frontier

• Project/Area Number: 15K02893
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Asia and Africa
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Inaba Minoru 京都大学, 人文科学研究所, 教授 (60201935)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: アフガニスタン / フロンティア / 文化交流史 / 貨幣学 / イスラーム / 仏教 / 考古学 / 文化交流 / 文化接触 / 比較史 / 考古学調査 / 宗教 / 旅行記 / 貨幣

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The research on the historical Afghanistan as frontier between South, West and Central Asia has been carried out from multiple facets such as based on literary sources, archaeological findings, and coins. Some parts of the results were presented at international conference and research meeting. In 2017, I have organized, in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame, an International Symposium at London on the topic of Pre and Early Islamic history of eastern Iran and Central Asia, gathering many world leading specialists on the fields. The result of this symposium is now under editing and to be published from the University Press of Notre Dame next year. And from 2018, I am collaborating colleagues within the frame work od Austrian Scientific Fund (FWF) Research Project "Cultural Formation and Transformation" to carry out overall research on the history and culture of eastern part of historical Afghansitan.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

前近代中央アジアに関する研究は、日本が特に大きな業績を残してきた領域であり、前世紀後半には活発な発掘調査も行われてきた。それらの実績の上に立ち、文献資料、考古資料、貨幣資料等の研究成果を総合して、南アジア、西アジア、中央アジアのフロンティアに位置し、どの地域の記録においても詳細な情報が残っていない領域を、現代の我々がどのようにして研究できるか、という課題にとりくみ、一定の成果を上げたという点は意義があると考える。また、2019年度以降に採用された基盤研究Bや、オーストリア科学財団研究プロジェクトなど、本研究計画に深く関連を持つ新たな研究が計画される土台を形成したという点も重要である。

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] University of Vienna/Austrian Academy of Sciences(オーストリア)
• [Int'l Joint Research] University of Notre Dame(米国)
• [Journal Article] Between Zabulistan and Guzman: A study on the early Islamic history of Afghanistan (2017)
  • Author(s): Minoru INABA
  • Journal Title: Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology Volume: 7 Pages: 209-225
  • DOI: 10.1484/j.jiaaa.4.2017011
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] From Caozhuja to Ghazna/Ghaznin: Early Medieval Chinese and Muslim Descriptions of Eastern Afghanistan (2015)
  • Author(s): Minoru INABA
  • Journal Title: Journal of Asian History Volume: 49 Pages: 97-117
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Archaeological Mission of Kyoto University and Bamiyan (2019)
  • Author(s): Minoru INABA
  • Organizer: International Workshop: Towards the Comprehensive Image Database on Bamiyan Buddhist Site
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Did the Hindukush really kill Indians? ― Geography and historical routes across Afghanistan (2018)
  • Author(s): Minoru INABA
  • Organizer: Harvard Inner Asian and Altaic Lecture
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Buddhist Monuments to the West of Afghanistan: Was there a Western Propagation of Buddhism? (2018)
  • Author(s): Minoru INABA
  • Organizer: University of Delaware Asian Studies Program Special Lecture
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Historical Geography and Routes across Afghanistan (2018)
  • Author(s): Minoru INABA
  • Organizer: Shahi Art Project First Annual Meeting at Vienna
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Islamic History of Bamiyan Buddhas (2016)
  • Author(s): Minoru INABA
  • Organizer: 復旦大学映日講座
  • Place of Presentation: 復旦大学（上海）
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-28
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Central Asia in the mid-eighth century: Wukong's itinerary towards India (2016)
  • Author(s): Minoru Inaba
  • Organizer: Moving Borders: Current Research on Afghanistan between Inner and South Asia
  • Place of Presentation: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria
  • Year and Date: 2016-01-26
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] On the Muslim Descriptions of Bamiyan Colossi (2015)
  • Author(s): Minoru Inaba
  • Organizer: Buddhist and Muslim Encounters in Premodern South Asia
  • Place of Presentation: University of Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-13
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Book] The History and Culture of Iran and Central Asia in the First Millennium CE (2020)
  • Author(s): Deborah G. Tor and Minoru Inaba (co-editors)
  • Total Pages: 450
  • Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• [Book] The 'Abbasid and Carolingian Empires: comparative studies in civilizational formation (2017)
  • Author(s): D. G. Tor
  • Publisher: E. J. Brill
  • ISBN: 9789004349896
• [Book] テュルクを知る61章 (2016)
  • Author(s): 稲葉穣(共著)
  • Total Pages: 392
  • Publisher: 明石書店
• [Book] 統治の書 (2015)
  • Author(s): 井谷鋼造・稲葉穣
  • Total Pages: 398
  • Publisher: 岩波書店
• [Book] Medieval Central Asian and the Persianate World (2015)
  • Author(s): Minoru Inaba（共著）
  • Total Pages: 228
  • Publisher: I.B.Tauris
• [Remarks] Cultural Formation and Transformation
  • URL: https://www.univie.ac.at/cirdis/research/cultural-formation-and-transformation
• [Funded Workshop] Towards the Comprehensive Image Database on Bamiyan Buddhist Site (2019)
• [Funded Workshop] The History and Culture of Iran and Central Asia in the First Millennium CE (2017)