Kojiro Nakamura (中村 廣治郎, Nakamura Kōjirō, 1936 – 5 December 2023) was a Japanese scholar of Islam. He was professor emeritus of Islamic studies at both Tokyo University and Oberlin University.[1][2] Tokyo University's Department of Islamic Studies was the first such department in Japan, established in 1982 with Nakamura appointed its first professor.[3]
Nakamura translated and commented on portions of Al-Ghazali's Revival of Religious Sciences, his most important work, for the Islamic Texts Society in 1992.[4][5] Much of Nakamura's effort had been spent on analysis of al-Ghazali's works, a number of which Nakamura has translated to the Japanese language.[6] Nakamura's Islam and Modernity also focuses on what he held are four main streams of modern Islamic thought in order to frame Islamic studies within the wider field of religious studies.[7] He also served as a conference chair at the first al-Manar conference organised by Routledge.[8]
Nakamura received his PhD from Harvard University in 1970.[9]
Nakamura died from a subdural hematoma on 5 December 2023, at the age of 87.[10]