Japanese
Tamil scholar Susumu Ohno passes away
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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