Vol 21, No 2 (2024)

This publication is a Russian translation of four biographies from the unique 19th c. manuscript Liexianzhuan (Biographies of Outstanding Transcendents), kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS (NOVA collection, H56). The biographies selected for translation go back to the Han era (206/202 BC — 220 AD) work of the same name (from which, however, manuscript differs considerably both in scope and contents), traditionally attributed to the high official and writer Liu Xiang (77–6 BC). Moreover, since the biographies from the manuscript are much larger than their prototypes from the Han collection, their translation is accompanied by a translation of the original biographies from the latter, which allows us to evaluate the editorial work carried out by the anonymous compiler of the manuscript. The heroes of the translated biographies are characters from the times of legendary antiquity: the “rain master” Chisongzi, the horse veterinarian Mashi Huang, the “Rope Father” Chijiang Ziyu and the pine nut lover Wo Quan.

Analysis and attempt to precisely translate the traditional Chinese administrative terms into Russian can be very interesting and fruitful for the understanding of the basic concepts of Chinese culture. Each title more or less explicitly encodes general ideas about the social functions of an institution or office and about the supposed ways to perform these functions. Of special interest are those cases when it is impossible to find a close Western functional analogue for the name and, therefore, it is impossible to simply replace the Chinese term with a Western one instead of trans­lati ng it. In cases cases, each name just was the function. The name is an extremely concise symbolic, allegorical description of the ideal concepts about the tasks that the state sets for this institution or official, and, at the same time, of the ideal concepts about the methods by which these tasks will be implemented. Having understood the name, we get an idea of both the task and the method. Interesting examples of such names are the positions of the female staff of the institution that we traditionally call the imperial harem.

In 1799, the military government Bakufu 幕府 transferred the Lands of the Ainu Ezochi 蝦夷地, which had previously been subordinate to the Matsumae Family 松前藩, under its direct control. These territories were divided into the Eastern Lands of the Ainu Higashi Ezochi 東蝦夷地 and the Western Lands of the Ainu Nishi Ezochi 西蝦夷地. The Japanese also included the southern islands of the Kuril ridge, Kunashir and Iturup, in the Eastern Lands; the border between the lands ran along the island of Hokkaido. It is known that by this time Japanese administration had been created only in the southern part of this island. It was extremely important for the bakufu to establish full control over these territories, as well as to prevent the penetration of Russian researchers and traders into the lands of the Ainu. Proxies of the military government were sent there to carry out this task. The diary entries of Matsuda Denju:ro:’s Tales of the Northern Barbarians provide a list of the leaders of the first sea crossing in Japanese history from Edo to Akkeshi in Hokkaido. An analysis of the titles and ranks of the listed leaders allows us to see the seriousness of the military government’s approach to preparing the expedition. This article is devoted to the translation and analysis of the list given in the Tales.

The article is devoted to the outstanding 20th-century researcher of Iran — V.A. Ivanov (or Wladimir Ivanow, as he often styled himself), whose scholarly studies combined two spheres: Persian/Iranian dialectology and Ismailism, while he himself stood at the origins of research in both these spheres. The author tried to consider Ivanov’s studies in both these areas altogether for a full-scale assessment of his great personality as a scholar, as well as of his contribution to world Oriental studies. The article, published in two parts, includes V.A. Ivanov’s biography, sections concerning his works on linguistics/ethnography and Ismailism, as well as data on the significant replenishment by Ivanov of the IOM, RAS, collection of manuscripts and lithographs. Among the sources used for the article are V.A. Ivanov’s own memoirs and IOM, RAS, archival materials.