PERSIAN LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

Academic Contributions of Japanese Scholars from 1920's up to 1980's

Morio FUJII*

1. Linguistic Approaches to "Modern Persian (New Persian)" and its Literature In Japan, the study of Persian language and literature in the Islamic period began in the 1920's with academic but tentative discussions brought about by a scholar whose major interest was historical linguistics. The first systematic introduction to Persian literature for Japanese people, Considerations on the History of Persian Literature (1922) was written by Shigeru Araki, a linguist who had been a pupil of A.V. Williams Jackson, Professor at Columbia University in the Sanskrit and Iranian Languages. Araki in his work presented, for the first time in Japan, a historical perspective of Iranian languages and literature from the pre-Islamic period (Achaemenian times) up to the time of Abd al-Rahman Jami, the last great Persian classic poet of the Timurid period. ' Araki has also some of the earliest comments on the Rubayyat of 'Umar Khayyam (1920) in Japanese. In comparison with the academic standards of pre-Islamic studies, the basis of philological studies of Persian Language in the Islamic period (Modern Persian) has not been firm in Japan. Atsuuji Ashikaga's chronological survey of Persian (1964) and Keigo Noda's approach to "Modern Persian" (1988), for example, are valuable studies highlighting some linguistic features which are characteristic of the grammatical structure of "Modern Persian" from the philological viewpoint of "Iranology". However, "Modern Persian" on its own is not a main or major subject in these studies. In this sense, Kametarto Yagi's contributions in this field must be noticed. Yagi, experienced in linguistics, presented some unprecedented studies of linguistic subjects centered on "Modern Persian" (Classic and Modern Persian

* Associate Professor,Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Vol. XXXVII 2002 77 language in the Islamic era) and its literature. In his articles appeared, for the first time, systematic analyses of linguistic subjects of Modern Persian, like "Colloquialisms of Contemporary Persian" (1959) , "Principles of loan-words of Modern Persian" (1964), vocabulary research on the "State-text-book of Modern Persian" (1964). Academic surveys on Persian Literature carried out by Yagi, like "Another Version of Golestan" (1953), "Miscellany on Narrative Literature :Scope and Divergency of Persian Narratives" (1961), clearly explain his firmly- established scientific apporoaches towards works written in "Modern Persian". The academic study of Persian literature, in the strict sense of the word, has been shaped in Japan by his articles. On liguistic approaches to Persian literary texts, a study on the vocal system of Shah-name by Eiichi Imoto also must be mentioned as a survey based on the scientific method (1959). On the dialectology of the Iranian languages, at an early stage in Japan, Shuji Matsushita presented the first descriptive article on the "Teheran Dialect" (1970). Koji Kamioka's surveys on the "Larestdni dialect" (Kamioka, Ymada, 1979) must be recognized as the most original contributions by Japanese scholars to this field. In addition to the Persian language of Iran, languages of Afghanistan ("Pashto", "Dari"), have also drawn the keen academic interest of Japanese scholars. After Takeshi Katsufuji's survey on the Pashto people and their language (1964), the first full-scale Pashto grammar in Japan was written by Tetsuo Nawata (1985), a specialist in Afghanistan languages.

2. Introduction to "Persian Culture" through the Translation of Persian Classical Literary Texts From the earliest encounter with "Persian Culture", a focus of Japanese scholars' ernest concerns has been 'Umar Khayyam, the Persian philosopher- Poet who gained world-wide fame by his quatrains ("Rubayyat"), which harbor a pessimistic Buddhism-like weltanschauung. Amongst the translations of the Rubdyydt into Japanese, Ryousaku Ogawa's translation, which is based on the version revised by the eminent Iranian writer Sadeq Hedayat (Tarane-ha-ye Khayyam, 1934), has become the most popular one in Japan (1948). During the past fifty years, many other Persian classical literary texts have been translated into Japanese. The whole text of Golestan was translated by Eizo Sawa (1951), and in 1964, the acknowledged Japanese version of this well-known Persian

78 ORIENT PERSIAN LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE text, that by Reiichi Gamo appeared under the title of Gulistan: An Intellectual Story of Medieval Iran. Gamo, undoubtedly a Japanese pioneer, has written two articles on this Persian text (1952, 63). It must be noted that Gamo also has written on the literary history of Iran based on cultural aspects (1941). This work is the most valuable and extensive attempt since Araki to write a literary and cultural history of Islamic Iran by a Japanese scholar. Tsuneo Kuroyanagi, Gamo's student in the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, has been most active in this sphere. He translated Qabus-name and Chahar Maqale (1963), Haft Paykar (1971), and most significant of all, all the lyrics (Ghazal) of Hafez in the Qazvini version (1977) from original Persian into Japanese. By his translations of Persian classical texts, the road to the study of Persian Literature has been greatly widened, and acquaintance with the essence of "Persian Culture" has become easier for the Japanese people. Emiko Okada, who studied Persian literature in Tehran University, has translated the poetic works of the so-called "the Persian Romance Epic", especially Khosrow va Shirin (1977) and Lyla va Majnun (1981) of Nizami, and Vis va Riimin of Gurgani (1991), into excellent Japanese prose. Of Shah-name, the great Persian epic, the famous parts of this epic also have been translated into Japanese by Kuroyanagi and Okada. Recently, extracts from famous Persian Sufi Text," Tadhkerat al-Ouliya of 'Attar have been translated from Persian into Japanese by Morio Fujii. All these translations of Persian classical literature have also served as an academic introduction to Persian culture by Japanese scholars who have a deep understanding of its cultural contexts and a sincere attitude towards it. Kuroyanagi and Okada have discussed literary subjects relating to the Medieval Iran in their articles. Okada's article entitled "the Image of Woman in Romance Epics in Classical Persian Literature" (1985) presented her special, original concerns towards Persian literature. Kuroyanagi's History of Persian literature (1977), based its contents not only on the results of the orientalists of the early 20th century, but also on some important new academic studies by distinguished Iranian scholars, like Safa's "Literary History of Iran". Kuroyanagi's work is the most popular historical description of Persian literature in Japanese. His Persian-Japanese dictionary has also established its place in academic studies on Persian texts, in addition to its role in teaching the Persian language today in Japan.

Vol. XXXVII 2002 79 3. Understanding Iranian Society by Studying Modern Iranian Literature In the study of literary works by some important modern "Iranian intelligentsia", two main approaches can be observed in Japan. Hiroshi Kagaya asserted the neccesity of studying the social and political conditions for any literary survey of Modern Iran (1962). It must be noted that Kagaya is the first Japanese scholar to write a monograph on Ahmad Kasravi (d.1946), an Iranian nationalist-intelligentsia renowned for his original integrationalist-views. Kasravi had made the fundamental criticism that "Persian Classical Literature" was a main cause of backwardness of the Iranian society. Hidemi Hidaka, agreed with Kagaya's type of survey of Modern Iranian literature and clarified the literary situation of contemporary Iran through inquiring into minute details of the political changes from the abdication of Reza Shah until the period of upheavals caused by the movement for nationalization of the oil company. Hidaka's "Sadeq Hedayat and the Tudeh Party" (1983) is an excellent commentary for understanding the background of Sadeq Hedayat's social criticism and his social and political consciousness in the context of the political history of contemporary Iran. Hidaka has also presented the excellent introduction to the Iranian writer Bozorg 'Alavi. Considering the close relation between literature and politics in modern Iran, understanding the social and political backgroud of the literary texts can not be neglected if one wishes to accomplish reliable research, although one must also consider the literary aspects of literary texts. With regard to the literary conditions in the period of the Constitutional Revolution, Morio Fujii wrote surveys of three important intelligentsia of this period (1982, 1983, 1987). Amongst modern Iranian writers, Sadeq Hedayat has been the most known in Japan through Kiminori Nakamura's energetic efforts to translate his works. The first Japanese translation of "Buf-e Kur (Blind Awl)" by Nakamura appeared in 1976; afterwards, Nakamura published an anthology of translations of his fiction works, including "Buf-e Kur" (1983). Nakamura, contrary to the tendency of literary studies to emphasize the importance of the political and social background, presented Sadeq Hedayat as an intelligentsia "thinker". One of the most complicated Iranian writers (and also, social critic), Jalal Al-e Ahmad, was introduced into Japanese society by the valuable efforts of Minoru Yamada, an outstanding Japanese scholar of modern Persian colloquial languages and folk culture. By translating Al-e Ahmad's "Nefrin-e Zamin (the

80 ORIENT PERSIAN LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE Curse of the Earth)", Yamada tried to bring some important social subjects introduced by this Iranian writer into consideration (1981). Yamada's contribution should be especially appreciated revealing some serious social problems rooted in contemporary Iran, and also by helping these problems be understood in Japan through the analysis of this fiction. Yuko Kagawa (Fujimoto)'s monograph on Al-e Akimad (1983) is the only study on Al-e Aljmad's life and works published in Japan. Translations of works of Persian literature by Japanese scholars were prolific in the 1970's and 80's. Methodology-oriented surveys of Persian literature, however, have not been so flourishing in Japan. Side by side with the endeavor to build up a store of the translations of Persian literary texts, critical studies which boldly look toward new fields of methodology of literary study for Persian literature are earnestly to be desired in Japan.

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