PIS'MENNYE PAMYATNIKI VOSTOKA 1(14) Spring-Summer 2010 Journal based in 2004 Issued twice a year   Full text as a *.PDF file PUBLICATIONS “Description of Ezo” by Hayashi Shihei (Introduction, Translation from Japanese into Russian by Vasily Shchepkin) — 5 Summary This publication is a translation of the Description of Ezo, which is an abstract from the General description of three countries by Hayashi Shihei (1738-1793), a famous scholar of the Edo period. This description concerns geographical characteristics and boundaries of the lands north of Japan, as well as customs, clothes, food and activities of the Ainu who inhabited those lands. “Uji Shui Monogatari” (“Tales Collected in Uji”), 13th century . Introduction and Translation from Classical Japanese by Diana Kiknadze — 18 Summary The article introduces selected stories from Uji Shui monogatari, 13th c. - the collection of Japanese narrative prose setsuwa. These short stories describe the status of popular Buddhism which coexisted with Chinese magical practices in daily life of the Japanese at the end of the Heian period (9-12th cc.). Previously these stories have not been translated into Russian. M.I. Vorob’yova-Desyatovskaya, S.H. Shomakhmadov. The Khotanese Version of Ajitasena-vyākarana-nirdeša-nama-mahāyāna-sūtra from the Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the RAS — 26 Summary A brief outline of the history of the discovery and the study of two Ajitasena-vyākarana’s versions — Gilgit’s and Khotanese manuscripts (the latter one is the manuscript SI 2085 from the collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the RAS) is given. Authors of this article introduce readers to the Acad. Sergey F. Oldenburg's short commentaries previously unknown for wide range of researchers concerning the study of the Khotanese manuscript’s text. There is a re-transliteration of the manuscript SI 2085 in this article. RESEARCH WORKS I.I. Nadirov. Allat — the Creator of Everything — 42 Summary Based on the analysis of the inscriptions Nos. 34, 35 from Hatra (dat. 135 AD) and CD 37/76 from Palmyra, the paper is dedicated to the cult of the goddess Allat revered by ancient Arabs, bringing into focus her aspect of being not only “mother of gods”, but of “demiurge”, who “had created everything” (bnyt kwl) in a manner of Khanaanian god. The findings of prominent role of a goddess in the Arabic pantheon of Palmyra and Hatra would be suggestive to widen the kinship among the ancient Arabs up to that north Mesopotamian fortress demolished in 240 by Shapur I. Moreover, noteworthy is probability of Allat’s being a Moon goddess for the Arabs of the time and a principal deity in Mecca’s Kaʿba. Another finding seems to confirm the influence of Babylon (sgyl) and Assyria (ʾšrbl) on Hatra that could be traced in several terms survived in the local inscriptions. Aida Gasimova. Acquaintance with the Mystery of Heavens in Ancient Arabia — 55 Summary This paper explores the significance of the ancient Arabian astrological views in the mental-spiritual life of pre-Islamic Arabs who divinized the celestial bodies, and endeavored to pierce the veils of the future by the study of the motions and relative positions of the planets, sun, and moon, and their interpretation in terms of human characteristics and activities. First, I discuss the echoes of ancient astrological views in Arabian religious-philosophical system, rituals and mysteries, and in their mythology. Arabs as the other Semitic peoples personified celestial bodies, gave them human characters and told stories about them. Building on these observations this paper aims to identify the traces of astrological notions in the early Arabian tradition — pre-Islamic poetry and early Muslim hagiography. Of particular interest for us is an important role of ancient Sabians in astrological views of pre-Islamic Arabs, particularly in kahin practices. Key words: Jahiliyya Arabs, astrology, Sabians, kahins, divinations, mythopoetical images. I.S. Gurevich. “The Pinghua on the Springs and Autumns of the Seven Kingdoms” and the Novel “The Legend of the Kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou” — 65 Summary The paper proposed should be considered one more step of investigation the problem of comparing grammatical structures of texts identical in topic but different in genre and epoch. In the paper in question grammatical structures of the The Pinghua on the Springs and Autumns of the Seven Kingdoms (14th century) and a number of fragments of the novel The Legend of the Kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou (16-17th centuries) based on the pinghua are inspected carefully. The result of examining the grammatical structure of the texts mentioned is as following: with respect to the new function words though the text of the former (pinghua) is rather poor but in the grammatical structure of the latter (novel) they are still less being met in few rare cases. Giorgio Meloni. Some Remarks on Manchu Verb -habi Form — 79 Summary The aim of this article is to clarify the meaning and uses of the habi form of Manchu verbs. This form indicates a completed action when the actual meaning of the verb is that of a completed action; if the verb used indicates an ongoing action or a state, its use compares to that of present tense in most European languages. habi and ha bihe forms compared reveal a tense opposition. Key words: Manchu language, Manchu verb, Manchu grammar, Tungusic, Altaic. I.T. Kaneva. To the Question of Incomplete Sentences in Sumerian (Based on Business Texts) — 86 Summary In business texts sentences with unnamed parts are widespread. A subject is omitted because it is expressed by a special marker in a predicate. The absence of predicate is caused by transformation of complete sentences into formulas. Appearance of sentences with incomplete word combinations is invoked by omission of recurrent parts in a string of word combinations of the same type of structure. J.S. Musaelyan. On the History of the Kurdish Mukri Tribe (first half of the 15th — beginning of 20th c.) — 94 Summary The article is a study in the biggest Kurdish tribe of South-Eastern Kurdistan — the Mukri. The tribe inhabits an area on the border between Iran and Iraq where it joins the Turkish frontier, also known as “Mukri Kurdistan.” The genealogy of the Mukri rulers goes back to the Mukriyyih tribe, which was settled in the region of Shahrizoor and was formerly part of the Shahrizoori tribe of Baban. Having appeared in the region of Soujbulak (Mahabad) the Mukri Kurds formed a tribal federation with the Bilbas tribe in the 15th century, expanded the territory they inhabited and consolidated their position. In 17th–18th centuries there emerged and existed along the border between Iran and the Ottoman Empire a big semi-independent feudal domain of “the serdar of Mukri” with its centre in Soujbulak. The article deals with the tribal structure (serdar of Mukri, five families, xanzadih, bekzadih, kurds-ra’yet), their leaders, the social and economic structure, and traces their economic and political relations. It also contains information about the towns of the tribe, the number of their inhabitants, the description of their houses and clothing and provides some data on their folklore and literature. Val.V. Polosin. To the Interpretation of the Arabian Texts on the Silver Persian Talisman from the Hermitage — 111 Summary The artifact under discussion is a silver plate with six charitable texts and the name of its owner which are written in an unusual order on both sides of the plate. The complex analysis of the object shows that the talisman attributes are mixed with the secret message of an unknown man to the named woman. The author of the article republishes the Arabic texts, analyses the architectonics of this witty message, proves by means of the metrology the Iranian origin of the artifact. He also suggests the method for identifying the author of the message and names ‘Adil, the Shah of Iran in 1747-1748, as one of the possible pretenders to the authorship. Being accepted, this supposition would require other dating of this artifact - the 18th c. instead of the 16th c. HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY Imre Galambos. The Tangut Translation of the “General’s Garden” by Zhuge Liang — 131 Summary The Tangut collection of the British Library includes an incomplete manuscript of a Tangut version of the Jiangyuan (The General’s Garden), a Chinese military strategy text ostensibly written by Zhuge Liang in the 3rd century AD. The authenticity of the text has been repeatedly called into question, and since none of its known editions precede the Ming dynasty, modern scholars believe it to be a late forgery. The discovery of a Tangut translation, however, demonstrates that the text existed as far back as the 12th century. This paper offers a few additional observations regarding the Tangut manuscript. The first issue raised here is the connection of the translation with extant Chinese editions, and whether we can learn anything about the edition used by the translator. Second, the paper points out the significance of the red marks that appear next to several characters on the manuscript, as these could help us to determine whether we are dealing with the translator’s autograph or a subsequent copy in a longer line of transmission. Third, since the manuscript is damaged and all lines are incomplete, the original line length is reconstructed in order to see how much of the Tangut text is missing and how close the translation was to the Chinese original. Key words: Tangut manuscripts, Zhuge Liang, General’s Garden, Stein Collection, British Library, edition history, codicology. Semyon Iakerson. The “Ethic Will” of Judah ibn Tibbon as a Manual for Calligraphy — 143 Summary This publication deals with the masterpiece of Judah Ibn Tibbon (12th cent.), a famous mediaeval intellectual and translator from Judeo-Arabic into Hebrew. The publication focuses on one aspect only - on the Hebrew secular calligraphy. All the author’s remarques on the subject collected together let us reconstruct his understanding of the rules of the proper writing and the necessity of studying the calligraphy for a mediaeval Jewish intellectual. Yulia Mikhailova. Prime-minister Koizumi Junichiro in Political Cartoons: on Characteristic Features of Contemporary Japanese Cartoons— 161 Summary The article claims the usefulness of political cartoons as an object of research. It is based on cartoons mocking at the former Japanese prime-minister Koizumi Junichiro which appeared in newspapers during July-September 2005 when he struggled for the bill on the postal reform. The article examines the characteristic features of contemporary Japanese political cartoons arguing that in contrast to television which aims to create attractive images of politicians, cartoons, by virtue of the genre itself, look at them more critical. However, in the post-war Japanese society where consensus and conformism prevail, political cartoons have lost their function of satire and serve as a means of entertainment. Their sarcasm refers only to the behaviour of politicians, but not to the essence of politics. In this sense, Japanese political cartoons fit well into the contemporary political style characterised by performance and attention to persona. V.M. Rybakov. Tampering with the Voters in the T’ang Dynasty Manner: Handling a Public Opinion as a Felony under the Laws of the Chinese T’ang Dynasty— 179 Summary The article analyses and interprets of the T’ang Code instructions, which is difficult for understanding but rather essential for comprehension of the Chinese legal thought. The given instruction sets the punishments for the officers who lack the actual administrative success a merits, but who try to induce the subordinate population to build illegally undeserved landary monuments in their honor or to send petitions with the requests for such installations. COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES M.I. Vorob’yova-Desyatovskaya. Matherials of Nikolay F. Petrovsky in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the RAS — 184 Summary Nikolay Feodorovich Petrovsky (1837–1908) was the Russian consul-general in Kashgar, in Central Asia, from 1882 until 1902. Being the Russian General, he was very severe but just man. He was very interested in collecting materials on the history of Central Asia. Manuscripts and their fragments, artifacts, description of the ancient ruins were collected by him on the instruction of the Asiatic Museum of RAN in St. Petersburg. The academician S.F. Oldenburg guided his work. The bulk of his manuscript collection such as manuscripts in Sanskrit, Khotanese Saka, Tocharian language B, Tibetan, Sogdian Petrovsky was donated to the Asiatic Museum in S. Petersburg. Now they kept in the Institute of Oriental manuscripts RAN. This Institute have the very big manuscript collection from East Turkestan - about 500 items. This is a merit of Petrovsky. Petrovsky was the best archaeologist, historian, philologist, and politic. He had a big authority among the local population. It was a reason why they wanted to pass into the power of the White Tsar. Petrovsky actively took part in so called Great Game and attentively followed strictly for the Russian interests. T.A. Tchernaja. Siebold’s Сollection of Botanical Illustrations “Flora Japonica Delineationibus”— 197 Summary I. History of its creation and existing during Siebold’s life. The article lights how doctor Philip Franz von Siebold created his unique collection of botanical illustrations portraying the Japanese plants. A special consideration is given for factors and circumstances that defined peculiarities of the delineations and specific features of the collection as a whole. These peculiar terms had played their part and enriched scientific, art and historical content of the collection. Key words: Philip Franz von Siebold, Japan, botanical art, botanical illustration, Kawahara Keiga. K.G. Marandjian. The Collection of the Japanese Wood-block Prints from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Library of the Komarov Botanical Institute — 220 Summary The article contains a catalogue of Japanese wood-block prints from the Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Library at the Komarov Botanical Institute (St. Petersburg). The catalogue is supplied with short introduction which covers the history and the structure of the collection. Description entries consist of the following elements: library code, title (characters, transcription and Russian translation, author, language, editor, illustrator, publisher, date and place, size, number of volumes, additional remarks (whether it is mentioned in the Union Catalogue of Early Japanese Books, or contained in the collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, etc.). I.O. Volkova. Urdu Lithoprinting Books in Munshi Naval Kishor’s Commercial Catalog 1874 — 239 Summary The article is dedicated to the analysis of Munshi Naval Kishor’s commercial catalogue. His publishing house, organized in 1858, became the most popular in India. Contents of this catalogue give the opportunity to understand the interests of Indian readers at the end of XIX century. HISTORY OF ORIENTAL STUDIES IN PERSONS V.S. Vorob’yov-Desyatovsky, N.A. Dulina, G.D. Ivanova, A.Z. Rosenfeld, O.I.Smirnova— 260 ACADEMIC LIFE S.M. Prozorov. Scholarly Islamic Studies in the Context of Islamic Education in Russia — 270 I.V. Kulganek, T.A. Pang . 53rd Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference — 279 M.I. Vorob’yova-Desyatovskaya, Ye.P. Ostrovskaya. The Fourth Oriental Readings in Memory of O.O. Rosenberg — 284 Yu.V. Boltach. The Fourth Dorjiev Readings “Buddhism and Modern world” — 287 O.V. Vodneva. Annual Scientific Conference at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS — 290 REVIEWS Ornament of Realizations. Chapters I–III. Study of the Mahayana Way at the Gomang-datsan of the Drepung Tibetan Monastery. Translation from Tibetan, Preface, Introduction and Commentary by R.N. Krapivina. Saint-Petersburg, 2010. 738 pp. (by Yu.V. Boltach) — 296 Hamamatsu-chunagon Monogatari. Matsura-miya Monogatari. Translation from Japanese, Introduction and Commentary by V.I. Sisauri. Moscow, Natalis Publishers, 2010. 364 pp. (by K.G. Marandjan) — 297 IN MEMORIAM Bogoliubov Mikhail Nikolaevich (by O.M. Chunakova) — 300 Akimushkin Oleg Georgievich (by A.A. Hismatulin) — 304 Smirnova Iraida Anatolievna (by Z.A. Yusupova) — 307 Kabanov Aleksandr Mikhailovich (by K.G. Marandjan) — 309