, commonly known as , was a Japanese historian and

Sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

. He was the founder of the Kyoto School of

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

, and along with

Shiratori Kurakichi Shiratori Kurakichi (白鳥庫吉, March 1, 1865 – March 30, 1942) was a Japanese historian and Sinologist who was one of the pioneers of the field of "Oriental History". Biography Shiratori graduated from Tokyo Imperial University and joined ...

(the founder of the

Tokyo School Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

), was one of the leading Japanese historians of East Asia in the early twentieth century. His most well-known book is called ''

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

''.

Biography

He was born in what is today

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

. He distinguished himself as a journalist. In 1907 he discovered

Manwen Laodang {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 ''Manwen Laodang'' (滿文老檔) is a set of Manchu official documents of the Qing dynasty, compiled during the late Qianlong The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his Tem ...

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provi ...

. As an authority of Chinese history, he was invited to

Kyoto Imperial University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 billion USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to disting ...

by Kano Kokichi in 1907 and got involved in the foundation of the Department of Oriental History. Naitō's most influential contribution to historiography was the recognition and analysis of the "Tang-Song transition" as an important watershed. He argued that the social, political, demographic and economic changes that occurred between the mid-

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

and early

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

represented the transition between the medieval (''chūsei'') and early modern (''kinsei'') periods of Chinese history. In Japanese history, Naitō argued that

Yamataikoku Yamatai or Yamatai-koku is the Sino-Japanese name of an ancient country in Wa (Japan) during the late Yayoi period The Chinese text '' Records of the Three Kingdoms'' first recorded the name as () or (; using reconstructed Middle Chinese ...

was located in

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

rather than in

Kinki The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naito, Torajiro 1866 births 1934 deaths People from Akita Prefecture Japanese Japanologists Japanese sinologists Kyoto University faculty Japanese journalists 20th-century Japanese historians Akita University alumni Historians of Japan Historians of China

Biography

Further reading

References