Japanese MS

Re:

> By the way, how about your search for Mahaanirutti manuscript in Japan?
>
> I sent a mail to a well-known Japanese scholar long time ago requesting
> information about the Mahaanirutti ms, but until now I have not had a reply
> to my request. He asked me to be patient, though. I have now been patient
> for several months.

Although I don't know if this will be useful to mention: I once received a
lecture on the difficulty of seeing MS in Japan from a specialist on
Japanese Buddhism (it was Dr. N. McMullin, if the truth be told; he's now
"retired" in disgrace).

What he explained to me is that the MS are often (either legally or
informally) the property of a family, and it can be difficult to negotiate
one's way through the family hierarchy to gain permission from whoever was
deemed to be in charge (sometimes, more than one patriarch/matriarch).

This was easier for him, as he was fluent in Japanese, and learnt many of
the formalities of the culture as a zen monk; however, it may be that your
contact in Japan is going through the procedure on your behalf.

Dr. McMullin also reflected that the answer was sometimes "simply no", on
the grounds that the family would somehow lose prestige (rather than gain
it?) if a Western scholar were to see "their" MS.

Again, I do not know if any of this applies to your situation.

Another brief observation: a large collection of Pali MS turned up in
Taipei, provided by an "anonymous donor".  I believe they are largely
Burmese, and were quite likely pillaged by the Japanese in Burma, and
resided in Taiwan while the pillager waited out the possibility of court
martial and human rights trials (even Laos has been host to a few aged
Japanese veterans in this situation).  At the National Palace Museum, I was
told various interesting things about semi-legal donors and anitquities of
Japanese origin that were in Taiwan for "unspecified reasons".  I note all
this in case anyone wants to take up a search for Pali MS in Taiwan or Japan
  --as I neither speak Chinese nor Japanese, I wouldn't attempt it myself.

E.M.


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