Department of Japanese

About The Department

The informal teaching of Japanese in Santiniketan can be traced back to 1905, with the arrival of the Jujutsu instructor, Jinnosuke Sano, who stayed here for a period of three years. The Department of Japanese was established in the year 1954, as an integral part of the Vidya-Bhavana, Visva-Bharati. Presently, the Department is under Bhasha-Bhavana. It takes the pride of being the first institution in India to offer formal courses in Japanese. Since its very inception, until mid-1980s, a number of Japanese scholars had graced the department and nurtured it.

Tagore’s wish of having a Japani Bhavana was fulfilled with the inauguration of Nippon Bhavana by Shri K.R. Narayanan, the then Vice President of India, on February 3, 1994. The inauguration provided an impetus to the teaching activities of the Department. It expanded its programmes from part-time Certificate and Diploma Courses to full-time 4-year Undergraduate Course (1-year Preparatory course followed by 3- year Honours course) in the year 1999, followed by Postgraduate course in 2006 and PhD course in 2011. The curriculum covers Japanese language, linguistics, literature, culture, history and society. The Japan Foundation and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provide support in fulfilling the endeavors of the department. The Department also carries out exchange programme with Japanese Universities. Presently it has MoU with Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan.