Makino Motonori
牧野元紀

Motonori Makino currently holds a dual appointment in Tokyo as the Chief Curator of Toyo Bunko Museum and as a Senior Research Fellow of Toyo Bunko (The Oriental Library). He earned his B.A. in History from Gakushuin University (formerly Peers School) and then received an M.A. in Area Studies from the University of Tokyo in 1999. Before being awarded his Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo in 2009, he spent several years as a graduate student at the University of Paris VII and at the Archives of the Society of Missions Etrangeres de Paris while conducting documental research. During Makino’s stay at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, he will comparatively analyze Catholicism across East Asian Countries that share a common socio-cultural background of Chinese characters and Confucianism. This research will expand upon his Vietnam-focused doctoral dissertation, which is titled The Formation and Transformation of Catholic Communities in Northern Vietnam before French Colonization: under the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Tonkin of the Society of Missions Etrangeres de Paris. Before Makino took his present post at Toyo Bunko in 2009, he worked for several years at the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records of the National Archives of Japan under the late Dr. Yoneo Ishii. As Chief Curator of Toyo Bunko Museum, Makino is interested not only in research but also in educational outreach and informational activities on Oriental Studies.