A Japanese Turkologist Prof. Dr. Masao Mori: His life and influence on Turkology

The aim of this thesis is to find out the contributions of Prof. Dr. Masao Mori, who was a Japanese Turkologist lived in 20th century, to Turkology, analyzing his life, academic carrier and works in the method of biographical studies. Prof. Dr. Masao Mori is a specialist in the history of Turks in ancient North and Central Asia and a scholar of international eminence in this field. Most of his works and the studies about them were written in Japanese. Therefore, there is not any information about him and his works sufficiently in the field of Turkology in Turkey. This study aims to introduce Masao Mori, one of the most important Japanese Turkologsit, to Turkology in Turkey. For this purpose, Masao Mori's life is explained biographically, and his academic carrier and academic activities are described in the first chapter of the thesis. In the second chapter, Masao Mori's academic studies in the fields of Turks in North Asia and Anatolian Turks and the representative works of his studies are assessed. In the third chapter, the significance of his works and the contributions of Masao Mori to Turkology are examined. In the light of his contributions, the origins of the studies about Anatolian Turks in Japan and its progress over time is mentioned. As a result of the study, it is indicated that Masao Mori produced significant works in the historical study of Turks in North and Central Asia; Mori acted a huge part of the development of Japanese Turkology by founding the basis of the Turkish archive collection of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library) in Tokyo and educating researchers of younger generations; and he also contributed to Turkology in Turkey and founded the basis of Japanese education in Turkey while he worked at universities in Turkey.