Naiqi Li

Designated Assistant Professor, Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University *Profile is at the time of the award.

2025Inamori Research GrantsHumanities & Sociology

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Research topics: Research for the Construction and Publication of the "Ancient Buddhist Dictionary Database"

Keyword

Summary: This research will cross the academic fields of Japanese linguistics, Chinese linguistics, Indo-European linguistics, humanities information science, Buddhist studies, and Dunhuang studies, and will conduct an integrated study using ancient Buddhist dictionaries held in various parts of the world. Specifically, we will construct and publish a “Database of Ancient Buddhist Dictionaries” and focus on the differences in the translated words of Buddhist scriptures by period, region, and sect, and examine the spread of Buddhist scriptures throughout Asia and the methods of translating Buddhist scriptures.

Comment

The civilizations in the eastern part of the Eurasian continent, the region known as Asia, have been shaped mainly by the exchange and fusion of Indian and Chinese character cultures. However, there have been very few studies that empirically examine Asian civilizations from the perspective of the history of language exchange. In this study, we will take up the challenge of elucidating the history of exchange and fusion between the Indian cultural sphere and the Kanji cultural sphere, a historical issue in the history of Asian language exchange, by using linguistic historical documents as the research object.

Outline of Research Achievements

This project aims to construct and publish the “Database of Ancient Buddhist Dictionaries (DABD)” by systematically organizing Buddhist lexical and phonetic glossaries (yinyi) compiled between the 7th and 14th centuries. The study focuses on integrating dispersed manuscripts and printed editions preserved worldwide. During the project period, major yinyi materials were transcribed, collated, and digitized, and their internal structures—such as headwords, phonetic glosses, semantic explanations, and annotations—were systematically encoded. Furthermore, comparative analysis of textual variants and lexical distributions has provided a new foundation for investigating the processes of scriptural interpretation and translation practices in premodern East Asia.

Hisashi Hayakawa, et al. (2026) Variable Earth’s Rotation Speed in the 14th to 16th Centuries: New ΔT Constraints from Chinese Eclipse Records Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag656

Naiqi Li (2026) 音義書における『金光明最勝王経』 ournal of Indian and Buddhist studies

Naiqi Li (2025) 漢文注から見た世尊寺本『字鏡』の成立 The journal of humanities Nagoya University Vol.8 DOI: 10.18999/jouhunu.8.253

Naiqi Li (2025) 玄応撰『一切経音義』第二十巻における『仏所行讃』音義 Journal of the Research Institute for Old Japanese Manuscripts of Buddhist Scriptures Vol.10

Naiqi Li (2025)「古代仏教辞典データベース」の概要と課題 ournal of Indian and Buddhist studies Vol.73