 Professor
Karashima Noboru is prominent scholar of Asia in the studies of South
Indian and South Asian histories. It is not exaggerating to say that Professor
Karashima has rewritten the historical accounts on South India. His interest
is to throw light upon the whole picture of the historical processes in
the development of South India's society. In doing so, Professor Karashima
took a positivist standpoint based upon strict criticism he had of historical
materials. In his area of scientific focus, which covers periods from
the 10th to 17th centuries, a researcher has to refer to inscriptions
carved on stone monuments and walls in temples as basic materials. However,
to read those epigraphs requires such high skills that many of his predecessors
depended only upon the limited number of published references on epigraphs.
Professor Karashima, on the other hand, has painstakingly worked to discover
new historical facts by scrupulously reading Tamil inscriptions and statistically
processing collected data on computer, while he has continued to search
for unpublished materials on epigraphs in cooperation with Indian scholars.
His proof that a landownership system already existed during the 12th
to 13th centuries, which is the end of the Chola Dynasty, is one of such
examples. This was an epoch-making discovery in not only the history of
South India, but that of South Asia. Furthermore, it presents a reliable
criticism of conventional historical views which have supported the idea
that Asian societies had long stagnated. In addition, Professor Karashima
demonstrated excellent scholastic achievements in a variety of subjects,
including studies on state administration, system, society, economics
and life space in Indian history. In appreciation of these accomplishments,
he was appointed President of the Epigraphical Society of India in 1985
and President of the International Association of Tamil Research in 1989
and thereafter. In the field of humanities and social sciences, it is
very rare for a Japanese scholar to be named as a head of an academic
society in the country of his or her scientific subject, and it plainly
shows how highly his academic contributions have been evaluated.
It should also be emphasized
that he had a prominent insight upon caste, ethnics, religion and other
issues that are currently arising, by adding a viewpoint of an ordinary
person in India to that of a historian in understanding South Asia. Such
an attitude comes from his years' experience in residing in India as an
exchange student. It is a critical viewpoint for an area study researcher
to have. He further organizes and promotes international research projects
contacting scholars in the concerned nations with the objective reexamining
the historical relations between South Asia and Southeast Asia. In Japan,
he has played a major role in the establishment of the Japanese Association
for South Asian Studies as well as the compilation of encyclopedias, including
"Cyclopedia of South Asia". Studies on South Asia in Japan could
not have progressed if Professor Karashima had not been present.
Professor Noboru Karashima's
global contributions to studies on South Indian history, promotion of
mutual understanding between South Asia and Japan, and advancement of
area studies on South Asia in Japan are genuinely monumental and make
him a truly worthy recipient of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes' Domestic
Academic Prize. |
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