In Search of Textual Treasures: The Ōtani Expeditions and Tibet

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter carefully reconstructs some of the Ōtani expeditions that at the beginning of the twentieth century aimed to study the early transmission of Buddhism through Central Asia and to develop relations between Japan and Tibet. By contextualizing these Japanese missions and fleshing out the expectations and reactions of those writing about them, this contribution explores the ways in which Japanese scholars perceived and observed Asian habits and rituals with a focus on religious pilgrimage and sites of worship.Thus, this contribution integrates all the other essays by expanding the volume’s reflections on travel and relationship between past, space, and travelers. It is especially in the spiritual geographies described in Aoki Bunkyō's travel account that we find a spatial ordering of Asia that embodies intra-Asian friendship. This genuine motivation challenges political maps and imperial tensions, adding another dimension to the concept of curiosity, and opening new vistas on the contribution of religious networks and spiritual fellowship to the dissemination of knowledge.