"Uzoqboy"s vs. "Uzbek Sorge": Conflict over Japanese Advance into Central Asia in the 1930's

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K13206
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 03030:History of Asia and Africa-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Ono Ryosuke 早稲田大学, 人間科学学術院, その他(招聘研究員) (00804527)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: トルキスタン / 新疆 / 中央アジア / 諜報 / 亡命者 / シベリア出兵 / カザフ / 東トルキスタン共和国

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to reconsider my research plans, and as an alternative, I have switched my focus mainly to Japanese diplomatic archives. Consequently, I elucidated the activities of the Japanese military mission stationed in Xinjiang between 1918 and 1920 in connection with the Siberian Intervention and further explored this issue by examining a request to the Japanese Government by the leader of Alash Orda, the Kazakh Autonomous Government, for support, together with Professor Tomohiko Uyama (Hokkaido University). I also homed in on the Near East Conference held in Turkey in 1938 to argue that the anti-Soviet approach of Japanese officers and diplomats toward Turkic Muslims who had fled from Central Eurasia ultimately failed. Additionally, I compiled indexes of two Tatar-language journals published in the interwar period and made them available on my website.

Free Research Field

テュルク民族史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の特徴は、日本の対ソ戦略を中央ユーラシア出身のテュルク系ムスリムの政治家や亡命者と関連付けながら考察したことにある。従って、日本語、英語、トルコ語などの多言語史料を活用したことにより、従来互いに没交渉であった戦間期の日本外交史研究と中央ユーラシア史・トルコ史研究を架橋するアプローチを提示したことが本研究で得られた成果の学術的意義と言える。また、研究過程で報告者自身が発見した上記マルセコフ要請書は、共同研究者の宇山氏によってカザフスタンの学術界にも紹介され、アラシュ・オルダ研究に新たな光を当てる史料の発見として高い評価を得た。