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Vol.10 April 2025
Facing the Unknown Across Eras: A Historian's Recommendation for Academic Pursuits

Overview

Modern society tends to demand efficiency, rationality, and a return on easily understood value as symbolized by the popular terms ‘cost performance’ and ‘time performance.’ The question of usefulness is always the standard by which value is determined. Things are judged by the quantity of resources invested in them and how a return on that investment can be realized.
Given this trend, learning and research activities in the humanities, in particular, are somewhat unpopular. When Professor and historian Kazushi Iwao was asked, “What use is the humanities, and by extension, learning?” he replied, “To live better.” This is because learning has the potential to help us face the mysteries and fears of the world.
The significance of learning is passed down through the ages, from ancient times to the present day and beyond. After building up all of this understanding, it must provide a means to improve a world facing turmoil. We will deliver a modern version of Recommendation for Academic Pursuits to encourage everyone who is currently studying, as well as everyone who aspires to study in the future.

Opinions

Supervision Kazushi Iwao / Professor, Faculty of Letters, Ryukoku University / Doctor of Literature

We learn to make our lives better

“When asked ‘How useful is history/academic study?’, I would answer ‘It is absolutely useful!’ ” says Professor Kazushi Iwao. However, academic study is not something that has an instant effect on a specific aspect of life. The history that Professor Iwao studies is an effort to understand the past based on texts written by human beings. We cannot know the future, but we can review the past from the current viewpoint. And this can also lead to opening up a new perspective for the future.
For example, when environmental issues became pressing, there was more emphasis on the history of environmental destruction, which in turn led to the invention of environmental history. Similarly, the genre of emotional history was created when the rise of Nazi Germany and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States drew attention to human emotions in the past.
The historical records of ancient Tibet which Professor Iwao studies describe how Tibetan soldiers suffered harsh lives after being dispatched to Central Asia, to the extent that the local cooks ran away. We can imagine the hardships of defending the frontier. In addition, the notes left by pilgrims of different eras on the walls of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang teach us that the same religious beliefs were shared even by people from different ethnic groups, speaking different languages and living in different eras.

The humanities are useful in a ways we don’t even realize

Life is full of things we don’t or can’t understand. Learning and research have helped us to overcome the fear and difficulty of not understanding things that we feel in our daily lives. If we understand the true nature of what we’re unsure about, we will be able to know how to deal with that uncertainty. Understanding the world through the power of learning can make life itself better.
The humanities go even deeper, trying to understand what it is that we don’t understand—in other words, trying to understand the structure of society and the system of absurdity that surrounds us. With this learning, we can put into words the true nature of our fuzzy feelings of absurdity, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. This is useful in everyday life and in society. In fact, it may be something that is already too useful so that we’re not even aware of it. The phrase “Man cannot live by bread alone” also refers to a rich spiritual life and to learning.

There are many more opportunities for academic learning through work than you might think

One might have the impression that the world of academia is somewhat cloistered and isolated from ordinary society. However, academics are aware of the need to proactively connect with society and are taking action to improve this connection. For example, many academics write academic paperbacks（concise introductory books on specialized topics ）, which are compact volumes that the general public can pick up and read and which provide an opportunity for people to become familiar with the world of academia. Japan publishes more academic paperbacks than any other country in the world.
Universities are also putting a lot of effort into providing Continuing Education (in other words, helping working individuals to learn again). Learning is open to everyone. It is integrated into society. In other countries, it is common for people with academic backgrounds to become politicians. Further integration between learning, business, and politics might enrich society.

Collaboration which transcends time: Research as a baton passed on to the future

One aspect of academic study is that it requires discipline and doesn’t produce immediate results. Professor Iwao’s research in literature is also the result of a long period of solitary work. While browsing through a large edition of the Hannya Shingyo sutra at the British Library, he once asked himself, “What use is this?”
“I think many researchers have experienced a loss of motivation due to not being able to seek understanding from those around them,” Professor Iwao says. “All fields of study should be approached from the long-term perspective of ‘passing the baton to humanity at large.’ “
In this way, his own research into ancient Tibet has made progress by connecting the achievements of researchers from many countries who developed their work in different ages and regions. “If you think of it as a collaboration with researchers across time and space, research is not a solitary pursuit,” Professor Iwao says. “Your research may be useful in the future, a century from now.”
In recent years, the spread of social networking services has led to an increase in the number of people who explicitly abuse historical contexts. The importance of accurately interpreting history and passing it on to future generations will only increase.

Suggestion

Guidance of reading that opens the door to learning

[Recommended by Professor Iwao] This section introduces books, mainly academic paperbacks, which can help you deal with “fuzzy feelings” and provide new ways of looking at the world.

Nakane, Chie. Japanese Society (Published by Kodansha)

Comment by Professor Iwao: “This book uses the methods of social anthropology to analyze and explain the characteristics of Japanese society. When it was first published in 1967, it became a bestseller. Nearly 60 years have passed since then, but it is still a book that should be read. It clearly explains the reasons why an academic background, the company you work for, and the region you live in are so important in Japan, the differences in group structure between Japan and India, and the structure of a society where the relationships between senior and junior members are always kept in mind. I was forever feeling alienated because I couldn’t fit in with the group, so reading this book was a great help for me. Even when I was treated unfairly, I was able to deal with it by understanding the principles of social structure.”

Momiyama, Akira. New and Expanded Edition: The Han Empire and Frontier Society: Scenes of the Great Wall (Published by Shigakusha) *Japanese only

Japanese Title
Kan Teikoku to Henkyō Shakai: Chōjō no Fūkei

Comment by Professor Iwao: “This book vividly depicts the daily lives of soldiers sent to a frontier area based on wooden slips (narrow wooden strips on which official messages were written) from the Han dynasty. It was first published by Chuko-shinsho in 2009, but a revised edition with additional content was published by Shigakusha in 2021. The systems, lifestyles, and culture of that time are revealed concretely and vividly based on Han dynasty wooden slips excavated from present-day Gansu Province in China. I first read this book when I was a postgraduate student, and I was really excited to see how the world of that time could be reconstructed by collecting and categorizing a large number of these wooden slips and analyzing their contents, even though the contents of each individual wooden slip were fragmented, providing limited information. At first glance, each wooden slip looks like a collection of boring records but, in fact, you can truly feel the lives and thoughts of people from ancient times. This is what makes wooden slips fascinating from a philological and paleographical perspective. In the final chapter of the book, the wooden slips left by soldiers on the frontiers of the Roman Empire are introduced, which enables us to learn about these frontiers. Although the time period and region are different, I myself have looked at wooden slips from the ancient Tibetan Empire, so I can’t help but think about the lives of the people entrusted with the defense of the frontiers as I relate to them. The guards of the Asuka and Heian periods may be a similar example. Speaking of which, the book Il Deserto dei Tartari by Dino Buzzati (translated by Isao Wakiand published by Iwanami-Bunko in 2013), which was a popular topic of discussion a while ago, is also about frontier defense.”

Nakao, Sasuke. The Origin of Cultivated Food and Agriculture (Published by Iwanami-Shinsho) *Japanese only

Japanese Title
Saibai Shokubutsu to Nōkō no Kigen

Comment by Professor Iwao: “This is a academic paperback by Dr. Nakao, a leading expert on the botany of cultivated foods for humans. It was published in 1966. The staple foods we eat every day, such as wheat and rice, are all cultivated, but they were originally wild. The author states that these cultivated foods are ‘cultural assets’ that humans have developed and improved over time. The book explains in a clear and concrete way how humans began farming, and how there are four main types of cultivated culture: root-crop farming culture (e.g. bananas, potatoes), Mediterranean farming culture (e.g. wheat), savannah farming culture (e.g. cowpeas, finger millet), and new world farming culture (e.g. potatoes, corn). Human history reminds us of what we have eaten in the past. When I first read it, I realized that knowledge of what we have eaten in the past all passed down to us through history. I also recommend Taizo Shima's Eating Fish was the Driving Force of the Spread of Humanity (Published by NHK Books in 2020).”

Hirata, Masahiro. 10,000 Years of People and Milk (Published by Iwanami-Junior-Shinsho) *Japanese only

Japanese Title
Hito to miruku no 1-man-nen

Comment by Professor Iwao: “This book focuses on the theme of how humans have used the milk of mammals. The practice of raising livestock began ten thousand years ago at the end of the Ice Age and gave rise to the development of techniques for milking and preserving milk, which spread around the world. Author Dr. Hirata traveled the world researching the reality of milk processing. This Iwanami-Junior (!) book is packed, like a block of aged cheese, with the results of Dr. Hirata’s tireless research. Nevertheless, there is a dazzling diversity of milk processing technology created by mankind. It seems as if a new form of human society will emerge by re-examining these, rather than having the perspective of only one kind of milk processing.”

Kitamura, Sae. Expanded Edition: Sugar, Spice, and Something Explosive (Published by Chikuma-Bunko) *Japanese only

Japanese Title
Osatou to supaisu to bakuhatsuteki na nanika

Comment by Professor Iwao: “This book, written by an author specializing in Shakespearean studies and feminist criticism, provides a commentary on a number of films and novels. It is written from the perspective of ‘theatrical feminist criticism’ based on academic theory and a vast amount of time watching movies and reading books. As it is an easy-to-read essay, it gives you a new and vivid perspective, making you want to watch/read its sources all over again. In particular, I was shocked by the review of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. I had read his work several times, and I was stunned to think about what I had been reading. Different perspectives change the way we see the world. I think this is the power of learning.”

Information Learning and Initiatives at Ryukoku University

General Editorial Supervision

Kazushi Iwao
/ Professor, Faculty of Letter, Ryukoku University / Doctor of Literature

I am researching the history of ancient Tibet before Buddhism was fully established there. This was the subject of an academic publication I read for the first time was when I was an university student, and it was so difficult to read that it made me obsessed with Tibetan history. I spend my days groaning over the interpretation of a single word in a manuscript, and reading the almost-erased characters of a local stone monument with my mind’s eye.

Supervision: Kazushi Iwao

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