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Comments by Selection Committee Chair

Comments by Selection Committee Chair

Masatake Matsubara

Until last year, this program was run as a Special Subject under the Research Grant Program with the title "Preservation, Compilation, and Annotation of Indigenous Documents in Peripheral Regions of Asia." It was reorganized in fiscal 2009, and is now a Special Subject under the Asian Neighbors Program with the title "Preservation, Utilization, and Transmission of Indigenous Documents in Asia."

The application period ran from March through May 2009. We received a total of 74 proposals. This was more than double the number received the previous year (31 applications). It seems two major factors were behind the dramatic increase in applications this year: first, the decision to expand the area addressed by the program from "peripheral" regions to the whole of Asia, and second, the decision to broaden the definition of "indigenous documents" to include a full range of documents written by hand in addition to ancient maps and letters. It is also true that the preservation and utilization of indigenous documents in Asia is increasingly regarded as an issue of vital importance, given the frequency of natural disasters and conflict in the region.

Of the 74 applications, 14 concentrated specifically on document preservation; the remaining 60 projects were focused more widely on the preservation, utilization, and transmission of indigenous documents. Projects relating to preservation, utilization, and transmission of documents in a wider sense therefore outnumbered those focusing preservation alone by more than four to one. This perhaps reflects the fact that utilization and transmission are to a certain extent essential aspects of any preservation project involving indigenous documents.

The table below shows the geographic distribution of the proposals received. It shows that we received applications focusing on almost every part of the continent, with the exception of Central Asia.

The selection committee met on July 28, 2009. In advance of the meeting, each committee member read the applications and prepared an evaluation and comments on each. The four evaluation criteria were: (1) viability of the proposed subject; (2) soundness of the proposed methodology; (3) likely results and diffusion of results; and (4) future potential.

At the selection committee meeting, applications were divided into projects that focused on preservation alone and those concerned with preservation, utilization, and transmission. We referred to the results of hearings carried out by the Toyota Foundation as we evaluated each application. After each committee member had reviewed the applications, the decision whether to recommend a proposal for a grant depended on an evaluation of the suitability of the proposal, the organization of the research team, the viability of the budget, and the potential of the project to produce results that would be of value to the wider public. In the end, taking into consideration the geographical balance of the project as a whole, the committee agreed unanimously to select the 11 projects described below for grants. (Projects are introduced in the order of their application number.) The selection committee also carried out budget allocations for the selected projects at the same time.

	Name	Subject
1	Gananath Obeyesekere	The Collection, Transcription, and Translation of Palm-Leaf Manuscripts Dealing with National and Local Geographies (Topographia), Including Multiple Accounts of the Migration of Peoples from South India into Sri Lanka
	This project deals with palm-leaf manuscripts written between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries in the kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy. It is hoped that the project will produce wide-ranging results, including information on the migration of peoples from South India to Sri Lanka.
2	Hiroshi Kato	Collection of Local Documents on the Oasis Region in Egypt's Western Desert
	This was the only selected project to concentrate solely on document preservation. The project inspires confidence thanks to the international make-up of the team and the experience of its researchers.
3	Long Yuxiao	Cataloging, Transcription, Annotation, and Compilation of the Qingshuijiang Manuscripts on Indigenous Hmong Agroforestry Contracts in Guizhou
	This project aims to catalog and digitalize a collection of land contracts written by the indigenous Hmong people. With a well-chosen team, the project should prove a starting point for further document preservation and publication in future.
4	Ii Heyon	Excavation, Collection, and Preservation of Indigenous Documents on Korea's Cheju Island
	This aims to research, collect, and preserve Joseon Dynasty documents on Cheju Island in the Republic of Korea. It is hoped that this project will lead to the development of a new type of social history on Cheju Island.
5	Ritsuko Hirota	Preservation and Use of Texts for the Tou Sai Ritual Among the Iu Mien, Hunan, China
	This is a unique attempt to organize, compile, and utilize documents used to communicate with deities in Lanshan Prefecture, Hunan Province, China.
6	Akira Kamimura	Landscapes Represented by Nomads: Preservation, Utilization, and Transmission of Old Mongolian Map Manuscripts by Digitizing the Images, Compiling a Database, and Creating a Website
	This is a significant project, as very little solid work has been done on researching, organizing, and cataloguing old Mongolian maps. It is hoped that the compilation of a database of the place names listed on the maps will lead to further developments in research into shifting patterns of land use and changes in the environment.
7	Chung Seung-mo	Historical Ecology of Early Modern and Modern Sea Village Documents of the Yellow Sea Coast: Reconstruction and Introduction of the Seongho-ri Documents, Hongseong-gun, Chungcheongnam-do
	A particular advantage of this project is its broad perspective, moving beyond the local area to examine the issues as part of the larger ecosystem and cultural zone of the wider Yellow Sea area. The makeup of the team suggests that further collaborative efforts are likely in the future.
8	Yasuhiro Yokkaichi	Collaborative Research and Results Compilation Among Iran, China, and Japan on Official Documents Written in Multiple Languages in the Mongol Empire, Including the Ardabil Documents
	Researchers from Iran, China, and Japan will cooperate in an attempt to compile multilingual Ardabil documents reflecting the ethnic and religious diversity of the Mongol Empire. The documents themselves promise to be of great interest.
9	Choiraljav	Inventorying, Preservation, and Annotation of Civilian Land Contracts in the Western Part of Inner Mongolia
	Looks at land-related documents from the mid Qing dynasty onward scattered throughout western Inner Mongolia. The documents are fascinating in their own right.
10	Singgih Tri Sulistiyono	Inventing Peaceful Islam in Indonesia: Preserving Naskah Rambang (the Rambang Manuscript) Through Digitization, Microfilming, Transliteration, Translation, and Contextualization
	This project won praise for trying to bring a new approach to interpretations of Islam.
11	Naoki Yoshihara	Collection, Arrangement, Preservation and Handing Down of the Awig-awig Legal Code of Hinduism Remaining in Bali: An Attempt to Interpret and Reformulate Traditional Documents from the Viewpoint of Comparative and Historical Sociology
	This project, prompted by dismay at the deterioration and dispersion of the surviving documents, looks to preserve, compile, and organize local legal code documents in Bali. The project is also extremely interesting from a research point of view.

Of the 11 projects described above, only Hiroshi Kato's concentrates specifically on document preservation alone. The other 10 are all designed to be first attempts at the preservation, utilization, and transmission of indigenous documents within their regions. When these plans are realized and their results shared, they seem certain to increase the importance of the documents as part of our shared intellectual heritage.

However, there was some debate among the members of the selection committee in terms of issues facing the program and the approach the program should take in the future.

Project Follow-Ups and Review

It is essential for the Foundation to know how its projects are being run. The broader purpose of the program this year makes it particularly important to get a good sense of how each project is working. With this in mind, we would like to see the Foundation carry out a general review of the program through fiscal 2008, and a follow-up study on the projects selected in fiscal 2009. Solidarity and cooperation between grant recipients, selection committee members, and the foundation's program officers is essential to the successful management of the program.

Broadening the Definition of "Indigenous Documents"

Although the majority of proposals received in fiscal 2009 dealt with hand-written documents, it may nevertheless be time to broaden the definition of what constitutes an "indigenous document." There needs to be a discussion on whether the definition should be broadened to include oral history and printed materials, for example.

This program inherits a long history of grants supporting Asia-based projects, dating back to the earliest years of the Toyota Foundation. We hope that the program will play an important role in the years to come in helping to boost the importance of Asian indigenous documents as part of the intellectual heritage of people everywhere, far beyond the borders of the region in which the documents are found.