Masaharu Anesaki (姉崎 正治, Anesaki Masaharu, born July 25, 1873 – July 23, 1949), also known under his pen name "Chōfū Anesaki" (姉崎 嘲風, Anesaki Chōfū), was a leading Japanese intellectual and scholar of the Meiji period. Anesaki is credited as being the father of religious studies in Japan, but also wrote on a variety of subjects including culture, literature, and politics.[1] He was also a member of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations.
Biography
Early history and education
Masaharu Anesaki was born in Kyoto. His family was the Samurai class served at Katsura-no-miya. In his younger days, he studied English at a private school "Oriental School", built by Kinzo Hirai, a Buddhist social worker. He received higher education in the Third High School, and entered the Tokyo Imperial University in 1893. He majored in philosophy, and his teacher was Tetsujirō Inoue and Raphael von Koeber. He graduated from university in 1897.
He spent more than another year abroad in 1908–09 with partial support from Albert Kahn, the French Philanthropist. During that time he traveled extensively through Italy, tracing the steps of Saint Francis of Assisi. His travelogue "Hanatsumi Nikki" (Flowers of Italy) recounts that journey.
He spent 1913 to 1915 as a visiting scholar at Harvard University lecturing on Japanese literature and life. The lecture notes from this period were revised and were later the base for the book "History of Japanese Religion".[1] He was also instrumental in founding the scholarly collection that became the library of the University of Tokyo.
A devout Nichiren Buddhist, he also published such titles as "How Christianity appeals to a Japanese Buddhist" (Hibbert Journal, 1905). He translated Schopenhauer's "Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung" into Japanese and explored terms of understanding between Buddhism and Western Philosophy.[1]
Isomae, Jun'ichi; Jacobowitz, Seth (2002), The Discursive Position of Religious Studies in Japan: Masaharu Anesaki and the Origins of Religious Studies. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 14 (1), 21-46
Bloom, Alfred (May 1964). "Review: History of Japanese Religion; with Special Reference to the Social and Moral Life of the Nation". The Journal of Asian Studies. 23 (3): 476. doi:10.2307/2050784. JSTOR2050784. S2CID146818348.
