Nelly Naumann (

Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

ナウマン, ネリー; 20 December 1922 – 29 September 2000) was a German scholar of

Japanese studies , sometimes known as Japanology in Europe, is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese language, history, culture, litera ...

with a specialisation in Japanese mythology and folklore and

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

Life and career

Naumann was born Thusnelda Joch in

Lörrach Lörrach () is a city in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the district seat of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, inclu ...

, where she was educated at the Hebel Gymnasium, completing her

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1941. She studied Japanese and Chinese studies, ethnology and philosophy at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

.Klaus Antoni, "In memoriam Nelly Naumann", ''Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens'' 167–170 (2000/01) 7–14
pdf
, p. 7 . This also includes a chronological list of her publications.Maria-Verena Blümmel and Klaus Antoni, "In Memoriam: Nelly Naumann: Obituary", ''Asian Folklore Studies'' 60.1 (2001) 135–38 (edited translation), , p. 136. World War II delayed the completion of her dissertation, "Das Pferd in Sage und Brauchtum Japans" (The Horse in Japan's Mythology and Traditions) until 1946, when she became the first woman to receive a doctorate in Japanese studies from that university. After completing her doctorate, Naumann married a Chinese fellow student and moved to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

until 1954. She then returned to Germany after her divorceKazuo Matsumuro, "Nelly Naumann's Contribution to the Study of Japanese Religion and Myth", ''Religious Studies Review'' 32.3 (2006) 163–68, p. 163. and worked for the

Bavarian State Library The Bavarian State Library (, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the biggest universal and research libra ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. From 1966 to 1977 she taught at the universities in

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. In 1970 she completed her

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

with a dissertation entitled "Das Umwandeln des Himmelspfeilers" (The Circumambulation of the Pillar of Heaven); she was Professor of Japanese Studies at Freiburg from 1973 until her retirement in 1985. She continued to publish; her comprehensive works ''Die einheimische Religion Japans'' (1988–94) and ''Die Mythen des alten Japan'' (1996) were both published after she retired. A

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

in her honour appeared in 1993. She died in Freiburg in 2000.

Research and publications

Naumann's approach was that of the

Vienna School of Art History The Vienna School of Art History () was the development of fundamental art-historical methods at the University of Vienna. This school was not actually a dogmatically unified group, but rather an intellectual evolution extending over a number of g ...

, in which cross-cultural comparisons are used to deepen insight into a particular culture, in contrast to the then prevailing Japanese school of interpretation which considered Japanese heritage in isolation. Miyata Noboru wrote in 1989 on the importance of her broad viewpoint to Japanese studies, and a committee of Japanese folklorists has been formed to publish her works in Japanese. She was also unusual in her ability to understand both Japanese and Chinese works, and in the breadth of her view of ancient Japanese religion and myth, which she saw as encompassing some 2,000 years. She drew on iconographic as well as textual evidence.Blümmel and Antoni, p. 137. She did not do fieldwork, but nonetheless was one of the most important non-Japanese contributors to her field. Naumann's primary focus was the ancient, pre-Buddhist myths and religion of Japan, but she also published an anthology of classical Japanese literature in translation, ''Die Zauberschale'' (1973, with Wolfram Naumann) and in her last years was working on Japanese

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

with the linguist Roy A. Miller.Antoni, "In memoriam", p. 8.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naumann, Nelly 1922 births 2000 deaths Japanologists University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of Ruhr University Bochum Academic staff of the University of Münster Academic staff of the University of Freiburg 20th-century German historians German expatriates in China