2026/05/16 by Hiroaki Kawanishi, Stefan Schreiner · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Asian Studies and History #China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations #Islamic Studies and History
paper · doi:10.1093/jis/etag018
openalex publication_date 2026/05/16 · openalex created_date 2026/06/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/25
Abstract The Russian Revolution (1917) and the subsequent civil war led to an increase in emigration of Tatar Muslims of the erstwhile Russian Empire, some of whom began settling in Japan as early as 1919. Tatar émigrés established their publishing house, the Tōkyō’da Mäṭbaʿä-i Islāmiyyä (Tokyo Mohammedan Press), which printed Islamic textbooks for children from 1930 to 1942. Despite numerous sociological and historical studies on Tatar exiles in Japan, their Islamic publications remain understudied. The present article argues that the Tōkyō’da Mäṭbaʿä-i Islāmiyyä’s publication of religious textbooks contributed to the preservation of Muslim identity among Tatar émigrés. Briefly outlining the transition of Tatar Islamic publications from pre-revolutionary Kazan to post-revolutionary Tokyo, this research analyses the three catechismal texts contained in the Shärāʾiṭ al-īmān wä-Yā Sīn shärīf (The Conditions for Faith and the Noble Qurʾānic Chapter of Yā Sīn), a textbook published by the Tōkyō’da Mäṭbaʿä-i Islāmiyyä (1934). This textual analysis sheds light on the doctrinal, legal, and Sufi affiliations of the Tatar émigrés, enabling a deeper understanding of their Muslim identity.