Project Description
After the Islamic Studies chairs in the US and China, the Center for Sufi Studies was established in Japan.
The official opening ceremony of the Kenan Rifai Sufi Studies Center, which was established at Kyoto University in Japan with the initiatives of the Turkish Women’s Cultural Association and Kerim Foundation, was held in Japan on Sunday, March 6, 2016.
This research center, which was opened in Japan with the initiatives of Cemalnur Sargut, president of the Istanbul branch of TÜRKKAD, founding member of the Kerim Foundation and known for her Sufi studies, is the third center established abroad. In 2009, Ken’an Rifai Chairs of Islamic Studies were established in Chapell Hill, North Carolina, USA, and in 2011 at the Institute of Advanced Humanities at Peking University, China. Kyoto University, on the other hand, is recognized in the academic community for its high-level research and ranks among the top three universities in Japan.
The Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies at Kyoto University, which was established with the initiative initiated by TÜRKKAD and Kerim Foundation, aims to deepen the studies on Islam in Japan and to increase Sufi studies. The Center is expected to contribute to the development of mutual institutional understanding and cultural relations between the two countries in the field of education. Prof. Yasushi Tonaga, a faculty member of the Faculty of Asian and African Studies at Kyoto University and a researcher at the University’s Center for Islamic Studies, has been appointed as the director of the Center. Prof. Tonaga is recognized as an expert on Ibn ‘Arabi. He works on Sufi thought and movements, especially in the Ottoman period. Prof. Yasushi Tonaga is fluent in Turkish.
The official opening of the Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies was held at Kyoto University on Sunday, March 6, with the participation of university officials, TÜRKKAD and Kerim Foundation executives, and with the participation of Prof. Dr. Mahmud Erol Kılıç, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Osman Nuri Küçük, Assist. Assoc. The opening ceremony was held with the participation of Prof. Dr. Ahmet Murat Özel as well as members of the press who came from Turkey to watch the opening. Ambassador of Japan Ahmet Bülent Meriç attended the ceremony from Tokyo. At the ceremony, Dean Prof. Yasushi Kosugi, Ambassador of Turkey Ahmet Bülent Meriç and Cemalnur Sargut made opening speeches. Prof. Yasushi Tonaga and Prof. Dr. Mahmud Erol Kılıç from Turkey gave speeches under the title of Sufism.
Kyoto University Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies website http://kias.sakura.ne.jp/krcss_ku/en/ You can reach them at
