The first full-scale use of personal documents of Japanese nationals in Thailand to elucidate the social structure of Thailand during its transition to a modern state

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K12486
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 80010:Area studies-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Murashima Eiji 早稲田大学, 国際学術院(アジア太平洋研究科), 名誉教授 (70239515)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 南北仏教近代交流史 / テラワーダ仏教近代史 / タイ近現代史 / 在タイ邦人

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Eiji Murashima, Encounters between North and South Buddhism: Japanese Buddhists in Modern Thailand, 1888-1945 (Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, September 2023, ⅶ + 771 pages, ISBN 978-4-9106-0325-4), is the result of research conducted over the past five years. This book outlines the Japanese Buddhists who visited Thailand from 1888, when Ikuta Tokunoh was the first Japanese Buddhist to visit modern Thailand, to 1945, picking up as many Japanese Buddhists as possible from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs records of passport issuance. The 22 Japanese Buddhists, many of whom are recorded in Japanese and Thai, are then used to clarify their activities in Thai Buddhist society and the social structure of Thailand as seen by them.

Free Research Field

東南アジア大陸部を主とする地域研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、近代日本の仏教者の南方（テラワーダ＝上座部）仏教圏との交流を、日本語タイ語英語等の文献及びインタビュー記録等によって、詳細かつ広範に明らかにしている。このように南北仏教双方の多量の資料を用いて、近代日本仏教者多数のテラワーダ仏教圏における経験と彼等のテラワーダ仏教社会に関する見解を明らかにした研究は、既存研究には見られないものであり、テラワーダ仏教社会、テラワーダ仏教近代史および日本の近代仏教などの研究分野において新たな知見を増大させた貢献は少なくない。