Manabu Waida (4 December 1936 – 28 April 2000) was a Japanese historian.'Dr. Manabu Waida', ''Moshi Moshi'', Vol. 25, No. 5 (May–June 2000), p. 9. He was born in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he moved with his family to

Maibara, Shiga is a city in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 38,259 in 14761 households and a population density of 150 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Maibara is located in northcentral Shiga Pre ...

. He graduated from

Tokyo Union Theological Seminary is a private university in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1930, and it was chartered as a university in 1949. Tokyo Union Theological Seminary is a Seminary of the United Church of Christ in Japan The Unite ...

in 1961 and then served as an assistant pastor for the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

for three years. On 30 March 1963 he married Kyoko Matsuoka, whom he had met at a conference for United Church youth in Shikoku. After Waida received a request from Tokyo Union Theological Seminary to teach comparative religious studies, he studied religious history and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

Taisho University is a private university in Nishi-sugamo, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1885, and it was chartered as a university in 1926. Its school precepts are based on the Tendai school of Buddhism. The concept for t ...

. In 1966 Waida moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to study religions at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. In 1970 he decided to remain in North America because of student unrest in Japan and moved to

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

, where he taught at St. Mary's University. In 1974 Waida was awarded a PhD in the history of religions from Chicago University and in the same year he moved to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, where he served as professor of religion studies at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

Works

*'Symbolism of "Descent" in Tibetan Sacred Kingship and Some East Asian Parallels', ''Numen'', Vol. 20, Fasc. 1 (Apr., 1973), pp. 60-78. *'Conceptions of State and Kingship in Early Japan', ''Zeitschrift für Religions-und Geistesgeschichte'', Vol. 28, No. 2 (1976), pp. 97-112. *'Sacred Kingship in Early Japan: A Historical Introduction', ''History of Religions'', Vol. 15, No. 4 (May, 1976), pp. 319-342. *'Notes on Sacred Kingship in Central Asia', ''Numen'', Vol. 23, Fasc. 3 (Dec., 1976), pp. 179-190. *'Symbolisms of the Moon and the Waters of Immortality', ''History of Religions'', Vol. 16, No. 4, The Mythic Imagination (May, 1977), pp. 407-423. *'Birds in the Mythology of Sacred Kingship, ''East and West'', Vol. 28, No. 1/4 (December 1978), pp. 283-289. *'Central Asian Mythology of the Origin of Death: A Comparative Analysis of Its Structure and History', ''Anthropos'', Bd. 77, H. 5./6. (1982), pp. 663-702. *'Problems of Central Asian and Siberian Shamanism', ''Numen'', Vol. 30, Fasc. 2 (Dec., 1983), pp. 215-239. *'The Flower Contest between Two Divine Rivals. A Study in Central and East Asian Mythology', ''Anthropos'', Bd. 86, H. 1./3. (1991), pp. 87-109. *'The Patterns of Initiation in Japanese Shamanism', ''Anthropos'', Bd. 89, H. 4./6. (1994), pp. 461-469.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waida, Manabu 1936 births 2000 deaths People from Osaka Members of the United Church of Christ in Japan University of Chicago alumni Academic staff of the Saint Mary's University (Halifax) Academic staff of the University of Alberta 20th-century Japanese historians