Pan-Asianism's religious undercurrents: the reception of Islam and translation of the Qur'ān in twentieth-century Japan

Recent scholarship has highlighted the importance of Islam for prewar Japanese pan-Asianists. Yet, by considering Islam solely as a political factor, this strand of scholarship has largely overlooked the religious dimension of Japanese pan-Asianism. The existence of six different complete translatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Krämer, Hans Martin (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 16 September 2014
In: The journal of Asian studies
Year: 2014, Volume: 73, Issue: 3, Pages: 619-640
ISSN:1752-0401
DOI:10.1017/S0021911814000989
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Online Access:Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43553338
Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911814000989
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Author Notes:Hans Martin Krämer
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Summary:Recent scholarship has highlighted the importance of Islam for prewar Japanese pan-Asianists. Yet, by considering Islam solely as a political factor, this strand of scholarship has largely overlooked the religious dimension of Japanese pan-Asianism. The existence of six different complete translations of the Qur˒ān into Japanese, however, amply bespeaks a genuinely religious interest in Islam, an impression that is corroborated by a look at the sociopolitical contexts of the translations and the biographical backgrounds of the translators. While explicitly anti-modern, anti-Western, and anti-Christian notions were at work in these broadly pan-Asianist Japanese appropriations of Islam, an analysis of the terminology used in the translations shows that, ironically, Christian precedents were not easily overcome.
Item Description:Gesehen am 21.04.2020
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1752-0401
DOI:10.1017/S0021911814000989