[INDOLOGY] Sad news — Masato Fujii passed away

Tue Oct 15 06:05:14 UTC 2024

It is indeed a very sad news.
I knew Prof. Fujii from my days in Kyoto. He was a remarkable scholar, a 
great teacher and a fine gentleman. We will miss him a lot, for sure.
Please convey my condolences to his family.

François Voegeli

On 12.10.24 12:19, Asko Parpola via INDOLOGY 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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