Dear Lothar and friends,

thanks for the info. I agree that we should respect the ownership
rights of authors, and under the copyright laws, written permission
is needed or reference should be made to the author of the work,
among other things.

Kogen Mizuno (born 1901, yes he is 103 years old now!) is the
authority of Pali scholarship in Japan. His Pali Grammar and
Dictionary are still available:

1. Amazon Japan
Pali Dictionary http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4393101030/
Pali Grammar http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4796300104/

2. Shunjusha
Pali Dictionary http://www.shunjusha.co.jp/book/10/10103.html
Shunjusha is the publisher of the dictionary, but not the grammar.

A popular book by Mizuno is The Beginnings of Buddhism:
English http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4333003830
USA --- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4333003830

The latest edition of the book in Japanese:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4333013941

Japanese Buddhist research has influenced similar studies in Taiwan
(and Hong Kong), if nowhere else, since the other parts of the world
conduct Buddhist research quite independently from East Asia. And the
majority of Mizuno's works are made available in Chinese by Taiwanese
translations. http://www.humanity.com.tw/237/114.htm


metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Lothar Schenk wrote:
Copyright law in Japan goes much further back than 1968, as you can
see on this site: http://www.cric.or.jp/cric_e/csj/csj.html

As to fair use practices, I do not see a clear-cut provision in the
Japanese law (see here: http://www.cric.or.jp/cric_e/clj/clj.html,
under Subsection 5 Limitations on Copyright) which would specifically
endorse your proposed use of the work. It is dubious, at best. More
so, if one feels the Buddha's precepts should be kept.