Hajime Nakamura
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Nakamura Hajime(中村元 November 28, 1911 - 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 entire Pali Tripitaka in Japanese. His work is still considered as the definitive translation in which any later translation is measured against. His footnote of Pali translation often refer to other previous translation in German, English, French as well as ancient Chinese translations of Sanskrit scriptures in different era.
Because his meticulous approach to linguistic, he had dominating and lasting influence to the Indic Philosophy study in Japan at the time it was establishing itself in all major Japanese universities, he indirectly influenced the secular scholastic study of Buddhism in Orient particularly in Taiwan and Korea. Japan, Korea, Taiwan and recently China is the only area in which all major scriptural languages of Buddhism (Chinese, Tibettan, Sanskrit and Pali) are being taught and studied by academic in Indic Philosophy department.
Nakamura was born in Matsue, Shimane. He graduated from the Department of Literature at Tokyo 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 and Chinese, Japanese and Western thought. He made remarks on the problem of bioethics.
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