Teacher Profiles
Onuma, Takahiro Professor (Early Modern and Modern History of Inner Asia)
Research topic
My specialization is in the history of various ethnic groups in Inner Asia, primarily focusing on Xinjiang (East Turkestan) during the early modern and modern periods.
Research Topics
Tash Rabat, a caravanserai remaining in the innermost part of Eurasia.
A rugged mountain range, capped with perpetual snow, lies across the central part of the Eurasian continent, a challenge merchants and travelers have historically had to overcome to traverse. Today, in southeastern Kyrgyzstan, near the border with China, at an altitude of 3,200 meters, remains a stone structure called Tash Rabat (meaning "Stone Inn"). This caravanserai was built in the early 15th century on the trade route extending north from Kashgar, a transit trading city on the Silk Road. Tash Rabat provided a temporary resting place for many who passed through. It can be said to be one of the important historical sites that supported the dynamic history of exchange in the inland Asian world, woven together by various ethnic groups.
Tashi Rabat (August 2023, photographed by Onuma)
Examples of graduation thesis titles from the Konuma Seminar
- "Immigration to Sichuan and the Regional Economy during the Kangxi Period: Focusing on Chongqing"
- "The Formation of Chinese Drama and its Connection with Japan: Focusing on the Shunryu-sha Society"
- "The Timurid Empire as Seen Through Claviho's Travelogue"
Recent works
- "The Qing Dynasty and the Central Asian Steppe: From the World of Nomads to the Frontiers of the Empire," University of Tokyo Press, 2014.
- "Crossing the Muzart Pass: An Introduction to the Study of North-South Transportation in the Tian Shan Mountains," *Oriental Studies*, Vol. 143, 2022.
- "The Activities of the Yunuchi Family in Gurja in the First Half of the 20th Century," *Tohoku Gakuin University Journal: History and Culture*, combined issue 69/70, 2024.