Japanese Tamil scholar Susumu
Ohno passes away
Prof. Susumu
Ohno (1.02.1928 - 13.01.2000)
Professor Susumu
Ohno, distinguished scholar of Japanese linguistics, known for his phenomenal
research of linking the origins of Japanese language with Tamil, passed away on
Monday in Tokyo
at the age of 89, reported The Japan Times. He was working on the relationship
between Tamil and Japanese languages for the last 30 years and even last year
came out with a publication, reasserting to his theories. A 1999 book of him on
Japanese language sold nearly 2 million copies. Born on 23rd August 1919 and
initiated into linguistics in the late 1930s at the Tokyo University ,
his academic contributions date back to the times of the Second World War. He
later became a Professor at the Gakushuin University of Tokyo.Ohno’s researches
included the study of language found in the earliest poetry of Japan, compiled
in the 8th century, and in an epic-novel of 11th century. His monumental
publications dealt with the origins, practice and usage of the Japanese
language.
In the late
1970s he came out with his first writings on the affinities between Tamil and
Japanese. He was not the first to come out with such a study, but he became the
central figure in theorizing it. Ohno’s Tamil-Japanese studies didn’t just stop
at linguistics: comparing sounds, words, grammar, and literature, but involved
a wider area covering archaeology, folklore etc. It is well known that Chinese
and Japanese are fundamentally different languages despite their geographical
proximity. Linguists, account to this difference by speculating maritime
origins for the Japanese language.
Prof. Ohno,
while accepting a Polynesian base for the Japanese language in prehistoric
times, put forwarded the theory of the influence of Dravidian languages,
especially Tamil shaping Japanese, along with the introduction of agriculture
in Japan in the Yayoi period between 500 BCE and 300 CE. He envisaged maritime
contacts behind such developments.
To substantiate
his theories he conducted research on the comparison of the Yayoi burials of Japan with the Megalithic burials (1300 BCE –
300 CE) of South India and Sri
Lanka . This study in early 1990s revealed
amazing similarities in pottery, burial habits and above all in the graffiti marks
between the two cultures.
Prof. Susumu
Ohno maintained a long connection with Tamil institutions and scholars. He
encouraged many Japanese students to learn Tamil.Sri Lankan Tamil scholars,
Prof. A. Sanmugadas and Manonmani Sanmugadas worked for a long time with Prof.
Ohno and have brought out joint publications while Dr. P. Ragupathy was
associated with him in the study of Yayoi burials. Encyclopedia of Languages
& Linguistics refers to his Tamil-Japanese studies in the following words:
"His search
for the roots of Japanese language started in 1957. He compared Japanese with
Korean, Ainu, and Austronesian languages. Unable to establish any kind of
genetic kinship between them, he turned to a branch of Dravidian. Encouraged by
professors Emeneau and Kothandaraman, Ohno pursued his Japanese-Tamil
hypothesis in spite of withering criticism by some Japanese scholars.
Commenting on it, Zvelebil (1990) said: 'The similarities between Japanese and
Dravidian cannot be regarded as mere freakish coincidence and may indeed
reflect a very deep genetic kinship...' Ohno's studies are trying to prove this
kinship."
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