, who often published as J. Takakusu, was a Japanese academic, an advocate for expanding higher education opportunities, and an internationally known Buddhist scholar.
He was an active

Esperantist An Esperantist () is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperanto and uses it for ...

Early life

Takakusu was born in Yahata in Hiroshima Prefecture, adopted by the Takakusu family of

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

, and sent to

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to study

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

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(1890). After receiving his doctorate, he continued his studies in France and Germany.

Academic career

Upon his return to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 1894, he was appointed lecturer and then professor at the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

and director of Tokyo School of Foreign Languages. He founded the Musashino Girls' School in 1924. The institution evolved on the principle of "Buddhist-based human education," moving in 1929 to its present location in

Nishitōkyō, Tokyo () is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 206,047, and a population density of 13,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Nishitokyo is located at th ...

and becoming Musashino Women's University. The institution Takakusu founded is now known as . From 1924 to 1934, Takakusu and others established the , later known as the , which collected, edited, and published the '' Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō''. This massive compendium is now available online as the SAT Taishō Database, and the CBETA

Tripitaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons.

. In 1930, he was named President of the Tokyo Imperial University. He was a member of the Imperial Academy of Japan and a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

. He was a recipient of Asahi Cultural Prize and the Japanese government's

Order of Culture The is a Japanese Order (decoration), order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japanese Art, Japan's art, Japanese Literature, literature, science, technolog ...

. He was awarded an honorary degree by Tokyo Imperial University; and he was similarly honored by the universities at

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, and

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. At the time of his death in June 1945, he was Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit at the Tokyo Imperial University.

Devotion to Esperanto

In 1906, he was one of the founder member of the Japanese Esperantists Association (JEA), and its head in the Tokyo section. When in 1919, a new organization, the (JEI) was founded, he became a member of the director board.

Honors

* Prix Stanislas Julien by the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles--Lettres of France in 1929 *

Asahi Prize The , established in 1929, is an award presented by the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun'' and Asahi Shimbun Foundation to honor individuals and groups that have made outstanding accomplishments in the fields of arts and academics and have greatl ...

in 1932The Asahi Prize (1932)
Asahi Shimbun *

, 1944

Selected works

* ''The Amitâyur dhyâna-sûtra'', trans J. Takakusu, in ''

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Mahâyâna Texts, Part 2'', published in

Sacred Books of the East The ''Sacred Books of the East'' is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious texts, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910. It incorporates the essential sacred texts ...

, vol. 49, pp. 161–201,

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, 1894. * '' A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago'', London: Clarendon Press, 1896. * ''Dai Nihon Bukkyō zensho'', ed. Takakusu Junjirō et al., 150 volumes, Tokyo: Dai Nihon Bukkyō zensho kankōkai, 1913-1921. (Re-edited, 100 volumes, Suzuki gakujutsu zaidan, Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1970-1973.) * ''Taishō shinshū Daizōkyō'' 大正新脩大蔵経, Takakusu Junjirō, Watanabe Kaigyoku. 100 volumes, Tokyo: Taisho Issaikyo Kankokai, 1924-1934. * Nanden daizōkyō 南伝大蔵経 (The Mahātripiṭaka of the Southern Tradition) apanese translation of the Pāli Canon">Pāli_Canon.html" ;"title="apanese translation of the Pāli Canon">apanese translation of the Pāli Canon ed. Takakusu Junjirō. 65 volumes, Tokyo: Daizokyo shuppansha, 1935-1941. * ''The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy'', ed. Wing-tsit Chan and Charles Moors. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. 1976

References