[INDOLOGY] Sad news — Masato Fujii passed away

Sun Oct 13 16:16:45 UTC 2024

I too feel very sad at the ununexpected and shocking news of Prof. Fujii's
death. Thanks, Asko, for circulating that news and a list of his
publications. Thanks, Jan, for suggesting an addition to the list.

On Sun, 13 Oct 2024, 01:43 Jan E.M. Houben via INDOLOGY, <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Very sad to read about the sudden and for me entirely unexpected passing
> away of Professor Masato Fujii.
> A great loss indeed for Vedic Studies and particularly for the study of
> the rare Jaiminiya Sama Veda tradition.
> Thanks, Asko, for this overview of his major publications, which I believe
> is very complete.
> We may still add the abstract of his presentation at the Seventh
> International Vedic Workshop in Dubrovnik (2019) printed on p. 25 of the
> book of abstracts, "Vedic *aghalá-/akhala-*", in which he refers to all
> Vedic occurrences of this rare word as well as to the opinions of other
> scholars (including the opinion which Willem Caland gave in his *Over en
> uit het Jaiminiya-Bramana* [Amsterdam 1915, in Dutch], viz. that it
> refers to Rudra). There was perhaps a handout, and it is to be hoped that
> he has prepared and sent his contribution for publication in the
> forthcoming proceedings of the Dubrovnik International Vedic Workshop.
> Condolences to his family, colleagues and students.
>
> I attach a photo of Masato Fujii speaking at the Third International Vedic
> Workshop that took place in Leiden (30 May - 2 June 2002), where he
> presented the paper "The Bodily Recovery after Death (JUB 3,20-28)" (cp.
> his 2011 article "The recovery of the body after death: A prehistory of the
> devayāna and pitṛyāna")
> (Don't know whether this picture gets through Indology list filters.)
>
> Jan Houben
>
> On Sat, 12 Oct 2024 at 12:20, Asko Parpola via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> I received from Professor Mieko Kajihara (Tokyo) the sad news that
>> Professor Masato Fujii passed away yesterday, the 11th of October 2024.
>> Having worked closely with Masato for decades, I personally feel his
>> passing as a great and painful loss, for he was a wonderful colleague and
>> friend.
>>
>> Masato Fujii was Professor of Indology at the Institute for Research in
>> Humanities, Kyoto University from 1993 to March 2020, when he retired at
>> the age of 65.  Soon afterwards he was diagnosed to have kidney cancer, and
>> he spent long periods in the hospital as the doctors were able to control
>> the cancer to some extent. Eventually, however, his cancer spread to liver
>> and could no longer be checked.
>>
>> Masato studied Sanskrit, Buddhism and Indian Philosophy at the University
>> of Osaka under Professor Noritoshi Aramaki. Aramaki suggested the
>> Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa and its contribution to Indian philosophy as
>> the themeforf Masato’s doctoral research. Aramaki also suggested that in
>> preparation for this task, Masato should study Sāmaveda and its ritual.
>>
>> Masato spent the academic year 1984-85 as my student at the University of
>> Helsinki. We translated into English the Jaiminīya-Śrautasūtra and its
>> commentary by Bhavatrāta, a Brahmin from Kerala who lived around 700 CE. In
>> 1985 Masato was part of my research team studying the Gṛhya rituals of
>> Jaiminīya Sāmaveda and photographing manuscripts of texts belonging to this
>> Vedic school in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We continued hunting, documenting
>> and photographing Jaiminīya manuscripts and history together during many
>> years until 2006, mostly with Japanese funding obtained by Masato, who
>> published our cumulative results in 2012. A detailed catalogue of the texts
>> photographed in 2002-2006 was published in 2016. After our Jaiminīya
>> project was over, Masato continued documenting the Nampūtiri Vedic
>> traditions in Kerala with his Japanese colleagues, focusing now of the
>> Vādhūla school earlier documented by Yasuke Ikari.
>>
>>   In 2004, Masato took his doctoral degree at the University of Helsinki
>> with a thesis entitled *The Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa: A study of the
>> earliest Upaniṣad, belonging to the Jaiminīya Sāmaveda. *The official
>> opponent was Professor Henk Bodewitz (Leiden/Utrecht). The thesis comprised
>> a number of his penetrating papers related to this text, which remained the
>> main topic of his research until the very end. His truly monumental
>> critical edition, annotated translation and study of the
>> Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa has been “almost ready for publication” already
>> a long time, and will now come out posthumously.
>>
>>
>> Bibliography
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1984. On the unexpressed gāyatra-sāman in the
>> Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa. *Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies
>> (Indogaku bukkyōgaku kenkyū)* 32 (2): 1123-1121.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1986. The Bahiṣpavamāna ritual of the Jaiminīyas. *Machikaneyama
>> Ronso (Philosophy)* 20 (12), Osaka University: 3-25.  [An annotated
>> English translation of JŚS 1,10-11 and Bhavatrāta's commentary.]
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1987. The Gāyatra and ascension to heaven
>> (Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa 1,1-7; 3,11-14). *Journal of Indian and
>> Buddhist Studies (Indogaku bukkyōgaku kenkyū) *35 (2): 1005-1002.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1988. Three notes on the Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa
>> 3,1-5. *Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku bukkyōgaku
>> kenkyū)* 37 (1): 1002-994.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1989. Saishoki-upanishaddo-bunken no seiritsu to densho
>> [On the formation and transmission of the Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa]. *Machikaneyama
>> Ronso (Philosophy)* 23 (12), Osaka University: 13-25.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1990. Nidōsetsu no seiritsu — kōkivēda no saiseisetsu.
>> [The formation of the Devayāna and Pitṛyāna theory.] *The Journal of the
>> Nippon Buddhist Research Association* 55: 43-56.
>>
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1991. The Brahman priest (Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa
>> 3,15-19). *Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku bukkyōgaku
>> kenkyū)* 39 (2): 1054-1050.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1994. On the textual formation of the Nīlamata-Purāṇa. Pp.
>> 55-82 in: Yasuke Ikari (ed.), *A study of the Nīlamata: Aspects of
>> Hinduism in ancient Kashmir. *Kyoto: Institute for Research in
>> Humanities, Kyoto University.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1997. Kena-Upaniṣad (= Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa 4,10
>> [4,18-21]). Pp. 821-842 in: *Imanishi Junkiihi  kyojukanreki kinen
>> ronshoo: Indo shishoo to bukkyoo bunka *(Collected essays in memory of
>> the 60th anniversary of Professor Imanishi Junkiihi: Indian Philosophy and
>> Buddhist culture.) Tokyo: Shunjuusha.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1997. On the formation and transmission of the
>> Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa. Pp. 89-102 in: Michael Witzel (ed.), *Inside
>> the texts, beyond the texts: New approaches to the study of the Vedas. *(Harvard
>> Oriental Series, Opera Minora, 2.) Cambridge, Mass.: Department of Sanskrit
>> and Indian Studies, Harvard University.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1999. The gâyatra: chanting innovation and Sâmavedic
>> textual development. Paper read at the Second International Vedic Workshop,
>> Kyoto 31 Oct 1999 (handout 7 pp.)
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 1999. A common passage on the supreme prāṇa in the three
>> earliest Upaniṣads (JUB 1,60 - 2,12; BĀU 1,3; ChU 1,2). *Zinbun: Annals
>> of the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University,* 34 (2):
>> 51-86.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2001. The Brahman priest in the history of Vedic texts.
>> Pp. 147-160 in: Klaus Karttunen & Petteri Koskikallio (eds.), *Vidyārṇavavandanam:
>> Essays in honour of Asko Parpola.* (Studia Orientalia, 94.) Helsinki:
>> The Finnish Oriental Society..
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2004. *The Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa: A study of the
>> earliest Upaniṣad, belonging to the Jaiminīya Sāmaveda.* (Publications
>> of the Institute for Asian and African Studies, 4.) Helsinki: Institute for
>> Asian and African Studies, University of Helsinki. 200 pp. Ph. D.
>> dissertation, University of Helsinki. 200 pp.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2009. The Kena-Upaniṣad and its succeeding portions in the
>> Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa.  Paper read at the 14th World sanskrit
>> Conference, Kyoto, 1-5 September, 2009. Handout of 3 pp.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2009-2010. The Gāyatra-Sāman: Chanting innovations in the
>> Sāmavedic Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣad. *Zinbun: Annals of the Institute for
>> Research in Humanities, Kyoto University,* 42: 1-37.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato 2010. Kodai-Indo ni okeru Ōken to Girei. Pp. 114-117 in: N.
>> Nara and M. Shimoda (eds.), *Bukkyō Shutsugen no Haikei. *Tokyo:
>> Kōsei-Shuppan.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2011. The Sāmavedic śākhā backgrounds of the
>> Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa and the Chāndogya-Upaniṣad: A comparison. Paper
>> read at the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, Bucharest 20-23 Sept 2011.
>> Handout 2 pp.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2011. The recovery of the body after death: A prehistory
>> of the devayāya and pitṛyāna. Pp. 103-120 in: Bertil Tikkanen & Albion M.
>> Butters (eds.) 2011. *Pūrvāparaprajñābhinandanam: East and West, Past
>> and Present. Indological and other essays in honour of Klaus Karttunen.*
>> (Studia Orientalia 110.) Helsinki: The Finnish Oriental Society.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2012. The Jaiminīya Sāmaveda traditions and manuscripts in
>> South India. Pp. 99-118 in: Saraju Rath (ed.), *Aspects of manuscript
>> culture in South India. *(Brill's Indological library, vol. 40.) Leiden:
>> Brill.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, & Asko Parpola 2016. Manuscripts of the Jaiminīya Sāmaveda
>> traced and photographed in 2002-2006. Pp. 127-162 in: Asko Parpola &
>> Petteri Koskikallio (eds.), *Vedic investigations.* (Papers of the 12th
>> World Sanskrit Conference, vol. 1.)  Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2016. The Veda and the Nampūtiri society. Paper read at
>> the Kickoff International Symposium "Brahmanism and Hinduism: Change and
>> continuity in South Asian society and religion - prolegomena", Kyoto 11
>> March 2016. Handout 4 pp.
>>
>>
>> Fujii, Masato, 2020-2021.  Soma and Surā: The Sautrāmaṇī in the Vedic
>> kingship rituals. Journal of Indological Studies 32 & 33: 1-20.
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
>
> *Jan E.M. Houben*
>
> Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology
>
> *Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite*
>
> École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)
>
> *Sciences historiques et philologiques *
>
> Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120)
>
> *johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <johannes.houben at ephe.psl.eu>*
>
> *https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben
> <https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>*
>
> *https://www.classicalindia.info* <https://www.classicalindia.info>
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