Hajime Nakamura

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Nakamura, H.

Nakamura Hajime Visit Matsue.jpg
PersonType Category:Professors
Category:Translators
FirstName / namefirst Hajime
LastName / namelast Nakamura
MainNamePhon Hajime Nakamura
SortName Nakamura, Hajime
bio Hajime Nakamura (中村 元, Nakamura Hajime, November 28, 1912 – October 10, 1999) was a Japanese Orientalist, Indologist, philosopher and academic of Vedic, Hindu, and Buddhist scriptures.

Nakamura was born in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. In 1943 he graduated from the Department of Literature at Tokyo Imperial University on a study on "The History of Early Vedanta Philosophy" under the supervision of Prof. Hakuju Ui. In 1943 he succeeded Prof. Ui and was appointed Associate Professor of Tokyo Imperial University.

He was a professor there from 1954 to 1973. After retiring from Tokyo University, he established Toho Gakuin (The Eastern Institute, Inc.) and lectured on philosophy to the general public.

Nakamura was an expert on Sanskrit and Pali, and among his many writings are commentaries on Buddhist scriptures. He is most known in Japan as the first to translate the entire Pali Tripitaka into Japanese. This work is still considered the definitive translation to date against which later translations are measured. The footnotes in his Pali translation often refer to other previous translations in German, English, French as well as the ancient Chinese translations of Sanskrit scriptures.

Because of his meticulous approach to translation he had a dominating and lasting influence in the study of Indic philosophy in Japan at a time when it was establishing itself throughout the major Japanese universities. He also indirectly influenced the secular scholastic study of Buddhism throughout Eastern and Southern Asia, especially Taiwan and Korea. Japan, Korea, Taiwan and recently China is the only area in which all major scriptural languages of Buddhism (Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali) are taught and studied by academics of Indic philosophy.

Nakamura was influenced by the Indian philosophy of Buddhism, Chinese, Japanese and Western thought. He made remarks on the problem of bioethics.

Nakamura published more than 170 monographs, both in Japanese and in Western languages, and over a thousand articles. (Source Accessed Sep 7, 2021)

YearBirth 1912/11/28
YearDeath 1999/10/10
BornIn Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
associatedwebsite https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/NakamuraHajime.html
publications
  • Nakamura, Hajime (1964), Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan, University of Hawaii Press.
  • Nakamura, Hajime (1989), A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy. Part One, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
  • Nakamura, Hajime (2004), A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy. Part Two, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
  • Nakamura, Hajime (1980), Indian Buddhism: A Survey With Bibliographical Notes, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
  • Nakamura, Hajime (1992), A Comparative History of Ideas, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
  • Nakamura, Hajime (2000), Gotama Buddha: A Biography Based on the Most Reliable Texts, Kosei
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Full Name

Hajime Nakamura

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Publications