Sophia Magazine vol.4 / WINTER 2016

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Monumenta Nipponica:Sophia’s International Platform for Japanese StudiesFounded in 1938 by Sophia University, the journal Monumenta Nipponica is a pioneering resource for premodern and modern Japanese studies. One of the oldest English-language academic journals in the field, it has long served as an authoritative forum for scholars of various nationalities and disciplinary backgrounds to publish original research on Japanese literature, history, thought, re-ligion, and art history. To discuss Monumenta Nipponica’s history and its role in the field of Japa-nese studies, as well as the submission process and the journal’s plans going forward, we joined former Chief Editor and Professor Emerita Kate Wildman Nakai and current Chief Editor and Professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts Bettina Gramlich-Oka. The central figure behind Monumenta Nipponica’s es-tablishment in 1938 was Fr. Johannes B. Kraus, S.J. (1892–1946), Professor of Economics at Sophia. Considering the time period, the university’s decision to begin an academic journal, let alone a foreign-language journal, was ambitious and faced many challenges. The university was still recover-ing from damage inflicted by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and growing nationalist sentiment was generating hostility towards “foreign” institutions such as Sophia. Pro-fessor Kraus’s commitment to creating the journal despite these hurdles required courage and vision. “At the time, Sophia was still extremely small in terms of both student body and faculty. It was strongly oriented to-wards the teaching of German language and subjects con-cerning the West. As far as classes went, there weren’t as yet any offerings on Japan. The decision to create a journal dedicated to research on Japanese history, literature, reli-gion, and such necessarily required cooperation from a wide network of scholars both within Japan and abroad. The first issue declared that Monumenta Nipponica was intended to provide ‘a common platform’ for scholars around the world to share the results of their research. This founding ideal continues to be the journal’s goal,” says Professor Nakai. Monumenta Nipponica initially carried articles in several different European languages, particularly German, as well Contributing to the Deepening of Research on Japan both Domestically and Abroadas English. The first issue, for instance, featured a German translation of the Noh play Manjū by the scholar Karl Florenz and several other articles in German together with articles in French and English, including one by the authority on Zen Buddhism Daisetz Teitarō Suzuki. The journal continued to be multilingual until 1964, when English officially became the sole language of publication. Due to the difficulties of the war years and immediate postwar period, the journal ceased publication from 1944 to 1950, but since resuming publica-tion in 1951, it has continued to consolidate a reputation as a leading venue for research on Japan. This reputation led to its being among the first Asian studies journals to be added to JSTOR and Project MUSE, U.S.-based electronic con-Right: Professor Emerita Kate Wildman Nakai (former Chief Editor of Monumenta Nipponica) Left: Professor Bettina Gramlich-Oka (current Chief Editor)7Approach

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