On the afternoon of December 17th, Dr. Taku Watanabe, Associate Professor of the Organization of Research and Development Promotion of Kokugakuin University, visited the “Lecture Hall on Air” in Nankai University, and gave an academic lecture entitled “The History of the 1300-Year Reception of Nihon Shoki”to teachers and students. This lecture was hosted by the Research Center of East Asian Culture of the College of Foreign Languages, and was chaired by Associate Professor Wang Kai, the Deputy Dean of the College. It took a combination of online and offline forms. More than 60 teachers and students from the Japanese Department of the College of Foreign Languages, the Japanese Institute, and the Faculty of History participated.
Nihon Shoki is the first officially-complied history ordered by the Emperor in Japan; and the year 2020 coincides with its 1300th anniversary. Dr. Watanabe discussed the background of the establishment of Nihon Shoki, the lectures held after its establishment, the relationship between Bube and Nihon Shoki, the edition system of Nihon Shoki, and the researches on the Nihon Shoki by Edo Japanologists. Through the comparison with Kojiki, the history of the acceptance of Nihon Shoki as a norm of Japanese culture for 1300 years was completely outlined. The lecture was rich in materials with profundity and an easy-to-understand approach. The teachers and students had all benefited a lot. In the interactive session, teachers from the Japanese Department and the Faculty of History had extensive discussions with Dr. Watanabe, reflecting the charm of interdisciplinary academic exchanges.
In his concluding remarks, Professor Liu Yuzhen, Director of Research Center for East Asian Culture, spoke highly of Dr. Takuya Watanabe’s contribution to promoting the academic exchanges between Nankai University and Kokugakuin University over the years. He hoped the COVID-19 epidemic would end soon so as to continue the face-to-face academic exchanges with teachers and students of Kokugakuin University.
