Introduction

Islam was introduced in Japan in the later decades of the nineteenth century, and the earliest conversions were thus reported in 1891. However, despite over 130 years of existence, the Muslim population in Japan is limited to less than 0.2% of the total population. Nevertheless, there has always been a certain interest in Islam among intellectuals and the general public; thus, various publications on Islam have emerged. The Qurʾan, the sacred text of the Muslim religion has attracted the attention of the Japanese people who wish to understand Islam and Muslims. Since its original language, Arabic, was foreign to Japanese readers, translation played an important role in disseminating the Qurʾan's contents. Over the last 100 years, at least eleven complete Japanese translations of the Qurʾan have been published. This chapter elaborates on how the publications of the Japanese translations of the Qurʾan introduced “God's words” to people in Japan through its various translations.

Several studies have discussed the translations of the Qurʾan. Azuma and Krämer introduced and compared the major works and discussed the influences of terms and concepts that originated from other religions in Japan, especially Buddhism, whereas Haggag's linguistic studies have compared expression styles used in the translations. Further, Morimoto and Goto traced the historical development of the Japanese translations of the Qurʾan. From these studies, we understand that these translations have been a product of the translator's academic zeal, high value on the Muslim faith, and above all, their attempt to introduce the Qurʾan, the most respected text for Muslims, to Japanese readers.