was a Japanese historian who specialized in the study of Thailand.

Biography

Ishii was born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. After excepting a recommendation by his teacher in learning a Thai language, he went to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. There, he was enrolled into the

Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU; ; , ) is a public university, public Autonomous university, autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally founded during King Chulalongkorn's reign as a school for training ro ...

and joined

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

shortly after. In 1958, due to his knowledge in history and religion of the region, he spent three months as a Buddhist priest at the

Wat Bowonniwet Wat Bowaniwet Wihan Ratchaworawihan (; , ) is a major Buddhist temple (''wat'') in Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok, Thailand. Being the residence of Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana, the late Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, it is the final resting place of ...

temple in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

. Later on, as a professor he joined Japanese Society of Ethnology and

Osaka City University , abbreviated to , was a public university in Japan. It was located in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka. The university merged with Osaka Prefecture University to form Osaka Metropolitan University in April 2022. History OCU's predecessor was founded in ...

. From there, he traveled to such countries as

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

in each one of which he studied cultures of those nations. He completed his studies there as well, and got hired at the Japanese embassy in

where he worked for seven years. In 1963 he returned to his native land to continue his work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and two years later got hired by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies where he pursued his academic career. By 1967 he became a professor there and later on became a director of it in 1985 and retired five years later. During that time, he wrote and published a five-volume book called ''The Computer Concordance to the Law of the Three Seals'', and was relocated to the Institute of Asian Cultures which was a part of

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese language, Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit research university in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1913 by ...

where he taught till 1993. Next year he was awarded Fukuoka Prize and is currently works at the 13th Congress of the International Association of Historians of Asia. In 1995 he became a President at the Kanda University and received

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

with the

Purple ribbon This is a partial list of awareness ribbons. The meaning behind an awareness ribbon depends on its colors and pattern. Since many advocacy groups have adopted ribbons as symbols of support or awareness, ribbons, particularly those of a single col ...

, and five years later became a fellow at the Sophia University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishii, Yoneo Academics from Tokyo 20th-century Japanese historians Yoneo Ishii Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon 2010 deaths 1929 births Historians of Thailand