(c)Nirmala Sharma

1987 The Japan Foundation Special Prize

Director, International Academy of Indian Culture / Buddhist studies

Lokesh Chandra

[India]

Japan Foundation reminds of 1936 when my first Japanese reader began sakura ga saita that enshrines the mythographies of values as the mind of Japan kindles the divinity of nature. This unique cultural persona has become a global mirror as the Japan Foundation honors foreign scholars who seek the fundaments of sakura and samurai, the purity and power of the heart of Japan. The Foundation has verily become the Sun to dispel the darkness of WWII as it broadens the networks of the cultural exchanges. Like the great sculptor Enku who expressed his devotion in a hundred thousand Chip Buddhas, the Japan Foundation brings to life her immense cultural cosmos in continuous sharing with the vast international academia. The Foundation is Japan’s pilgrimage to the world, the kamikaze of humankind. To me, the investiture by the Japan Foundation was the lyricism of centuries, the sweet floral fragrance that brings togetherness of the countries. The Foundation is ever creating vital bonds across the world, which are a scintillation of a glorious future. May I end with a poem of Saigyō that echoes the vision of the Foundation:

In many springs
I’ve come here to meet
And unite my mind
With the opening blossoms.

The substantive voices have to come from the raptures of the roots to live in the kinetics of tomorrows.

Lokesh Chandra

(Original text in English)

Awards and Special Prizes: Recipients List 1973 - 1995