Collecting and Constructing Database of Chinese Stone Stele Inscriptions from the Late Southern and Northern Period to Sui and Tang Dynasties and Research into Regional Society and Culture

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Our research focuses on stone stele inscriptions from the 6th through the 9th centuries, from the Late Southern and Northern Dynasties period through the Sui and Tang, collecting them into a database and using them as the basis for research into regional society and culture. Today gravestones, epitaphs, and other stone inscriptions are valued as primary sources, but the lack of a comprehensive systematization and categorization of these materials has hindered the sharing of information and understanding about them. We have sought to remedy this through collecting and organizing these materials and entering them into a database, as well as studying them. In terms of specific results we offer the following :1. We identified the location of approximately 7000 Tang-era grave inscriptions and published them as Catalog of Bibliographic Sources Tomb Inscriptions from Tang Period(Shinpan Todai boshi shozai sogo mokuroku). This project was hailed by scholars both here and abroad as a valuable c … More ontribution to our knowledge of grave inscriptions from this period.2. We published the first comprehensive summaries of pre-Tang grave inscriptions as Catalog of Bibliographic Sources Tomb Inscriptions from Sui Period(Zuidai boshi shozai sogo mokuroku, 483 entries) and Catalog of Bibliographic Sources Tomb Inscriptions from Northern Dynasties Period(Hokucho boshi shozai sogo mokuroku, 779 entries). In addition, We translated Ma Changshou's Beiming suojian Qianqin zhi Suichu de Guanzhong buzu 碑銘所見前秦至隋初的関中部族(111 entries), which discusses ethnographic issues in Guanzhong(Shanxi Province) from the Northern Dynasties through Sui using stone inscriptions ; our translation added a number of relevant inscriptions and generally contributed to an understanding of regional society.3. In order to enable access and organized dissemination of stone inscriptions and related materials over the long term, We established the Institute of East Asian Epigraphy and Stone Artifacts, Meiji University(the Higashi Ajia Sekkoku Bunbutsu Kenkyujo at Meiji University) and published the inaugural issue of its organ, the Journal of East Asian Epigraphy(Higashi Ajia sekkoku kenkyu). Along with this we have been collecting valuable rubbings of inscriptions, working to acquire newly produced reports and discoveries, and preparing annual exhibits and symposia drawn from these materials, to which we have added explanatory essays(these will be held annually beginning next year).4. On-site research is essential in the study of stone inscriptions. We have taken graduate students and young scholars on three trips to the Shandong, Hunan, and Hubei regions to study ruins and visit artifact repositories. We have reported the results of these trips to study groups, and discussed them in two published reports.5. Researchers working under our direction have reported their results in two seminars, Issues Relating to Chinese Stone Inscriptions and Buddhism in the Northern Less