Hajime Nakamura

Hajime Nakamura (中村 元, Nakamura Hajime, November 28, 1912 - October 10, 1999) was a Japanese academic of Vedic, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures. 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 as 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 born in Matsue, Shimane. He graduated from the Department of Literature at Tokyo Imperial University, and 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. He was influenced by the Indian philosophy of Buddhism, Chinese, Japanese and Western thought. He made remarks on the problem of bioethics.

Nakamura was awarded the honorary degree of Vidya-Vacaspati by President of India Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Secondary literature

• Mayeda Sengaku. Remembering Dr. Hajime Nakamura // Philosophy East and West, Vol. 50, Number 3. (July 2000). University of Hawaii Press. P.Y. pp.IV-VIII.
• Корнеев М. Я. Хадзимэ Накамура как мыслитель-компаративист: первые подходы к анализу его творчества // Компаративистика- II: Альманах сравнительных социогуманитарных исследований. СПб., 2002. С. 84-87.