67^th Annual Meeting

of the

Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC)

Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan, August 26 to 30, 2025

Hosted by the RINRI Institute of Ethics, Gotemba, Shizuoka

Report
by
Oliver Corff

Introduction

The 67^th Annual Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC) was hosted by the RINRI Institute of Ethics at the Institute’s Fuji Education Center in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, under President Miyawaki-Okada Junko, from August 26 to 30, 2025. After exactly 30 years, it was only the second time that a PIAC Meeting has been convened in Japan. The first Meeting was held in Kawasaki from August 7 to 12, 1995, under the Presidency of the late Okada Hidehiro.

The central theme was Retrospect and Prospect of Altaic Studies, but as PIAC Meetings go, the participants presented papers on a much wider range of topics and subjects than the central theme indicates.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony began with a welcome speech by Miyawaki-Okada Junko,  followed by the President of the RINRI Institute of Ethics, Maruyama Toshiaki, and finally by the Secretary General, Oliver Corff. In remembrance of PIAC members having passed away in 2024 and 2025, a minute of silence was held for:

Nullo Minissi, Naples († January 27, 2024)
Hendrik Erik Boeschoten, Mainz († February 18, 2024)
Wang Teh-Yi, Taipei († April 29, 2024)
Sigrid Kleinmichel, Berlin († Sept. 09, 2024)
Zeynep Korkmaz, Istanbul († February 6, 2025)
Roberte Hamayon, Paris († March 18, 2025)
Typhaine Cann, Ulaanbaatar († June 2025)
Britta-Maria Gruber, Bonn († July 2025)
Michael Weiers, Bonn († July 17, 2025)

PIAC Prize for Altaic Studies

The PIAC Prize for Altaic Studies, colloquially known as PIAC Medal, was awarded to Juha Janhunen. In the eyes of the Medal Committee (elected in Göttingen 2024, consisting of President and Secretary ex officio members as well as Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky, Barbara Kellner-Heinkele und Marcel Erdal) Juha Janhunen is an outstanding linguist who represents the finest tradition of Finland’s linguistics. His numerous books and articles cover an impressive horizon of languages, while his scholarly approach reaches far beyond linguistical questions alone, as Oliver Corff pointed out in his award speech.

Confessions

With 51 participants, this year’s meeting really met a “sweet spot” as far as the number of participants is concerned. The number is enough to make sure that a good cross-section of  disciplines and ideas is offered during paper presentations while this number still allows to have everybody listen to all presentations. Given the time constraints of this year’s Meeting, only a few sessions had to be run in parallel. At the meeting, a healthy number of first-time participants demonstrated that the PIAC is on a good way to continue into the future.

Keynote Speeches

Before the regular lectures began, Miyawaki-Okada Junko gave a keynote speech on the subject of “Why Altaic studies have become popular in Japan“. With August 26 (the day of arrival the night before) in mind, Juha Janhunen introduced the Soviet turkologist Nikolaj Alexandrovich Baskakov (March 9 (22), 1905 — August 26, 1996), recipient of the PIAC Medal in 1980. After that, Oliver Corff remembered three more PIAC members: Erich Haenisch (Aug. 27, 1880 — Dec. 21, 1966), Mecdut Mansuroğlu (Sep. 4, 1910 – Aug. 27, 1960) and Alessio Bombaci (Aug. 27, 1914 — Jan. 20, 1979).

In his keynote speech, Oliver Corff introduced the “PIAC Perspective on Altaic Studies in Japan,” with a focus on “Participation by Japanese Scholars in the PIAC and Their Contributions to the PIAC.” In the course of the history of the PIAC, nearly 60 Japanese scholars could be identified as participants, among them outstanding scholars and long-term contributors to the PIAC. Three Japanese scholars were awarded the Indiana University Prize for Altaic Studies:  Hattori Shirō (1983), Okada Hidehiro (1999) and Ikegami Jirō (2002). According to the records, the earliest participation of a Japanese scholar in a PIAC Meeting can be traced back to the 4^th Meeting in Cambridge, 1961 (Ikegami Jirō), and already a few years later the first reports on Altaic activities in Japan were published in the PIAC Newsletter.

Presentations

For this Meeting, the presentations were not grouped by subject but rather followed the general idea of the PIAC: an interdisplinary approach to a cross-section of subjects. Unfortunately for the rapporteur, the original programme was not followed strictly with regard to the order of presentations.

Cultural Programme and Excursions

On the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 27, the members of the PIAC were invited to the screening of a movie about the traditional Shaman culture of the Manju in China: “Saman Heaven.” The movie was directed and produced by Kin Taii, son of a Manju father and Japanese mother. The movie featured performances of Saman rituals as well as interviews with Samans, both in Manju and Chinese, at locations in China’s Northeast and Northwest (Cabcal in Xinjiang).

On Thursday, the members of the PIAC were invited to a tour to the eastern foot of Mt. Fuji where Two Asama Shrines could be visited, and a guided tour of the former Prime Minister Kishi’s home at Lake Yamanaka.

In the evening of the same day, the President presented many photographs taken at previous Meetings, thus engaging all participants in lively discussions about who could be identified on which picture.

During the Farewell Party following the Dinner on Friday, August 29, our Japanese colleague Todoriki Masahiko gave an impromptu  concert of Central Asian music. Mastering vocals as well as numerous traditional musical instruments, he enthralled the audience with a performance of amazing beauty.

On Monday, September 1st, the participants of the 67^th Meeting were invited to the Tōyō Bunko (東洋文庫), or Oriental Library, in Tōkyō. They were given an exclusive tour of the holdings; numerous rare manuscripts were on display, like an old specimen of the Hua-Yi Yiyu, Qianlong copper engravings (also known as “Schlachtenkupfer”) of the Ten Great Campaigns (十全武功) of the Qing Dynasty, an illustrated album of plants endemic to Japan (the open page showed a flower growing in Etorofu), a collection of bilingual  Manju texts including dictionaries as well as a collection of Soviet era journals. The visit ended with a get-together at the Library’s Oriental Café.

Business Meeting

The agenda of the business meeting was read to the participants and approved unanimously. Michał Németh volunteered as note taker. The rules of elegibility of voting rights for the PIAC Medal Committee were explained: Every participant with a record of at least three participations (the present meeting included) in at least two different countries is entitled to cast votes for the election of members of the Medal Committee whose task it is to identify the recipient of the PIAC Medal. Three members can be elected while two members of the Committee are ex officio members, namely Secretary General and President of the Next Meeting.

Proceedings of the current Meeting:

The President of the Meeting, Miyawaki-Okada Junko, noted the difficulties of editing the volume she has as an independent researcher and asked for assistance. The exact procedure for producing the Proceedings will be announced to the participants in September 2025.

Status of Previous Meeting Proceedings:

• 61^st Meeting (2018, Bishkek): Publication is still pending, but the Secretary General expressed confidence it would be completed by the end of the year.
• 65^th Meeting (2023, Astana): Editor Uli Schamiloglu reported that only one article had been received so far. The Secretary General reassured him that a solution would be found for publishing it.
• 66^th Meeting (2024, Göttingen): The Secretary General apologized for not having requested in advance a report from Johannes Reckel, President of the 66^th Meeting 2024. This will be done in the near future and the information shared with participants of the 66^th Meeting.

68^th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, 2026:

Since he could not participate in person, Prof. Sombat Mangmeesukhsiri (Silpakorn University, Thailand) sent a video, inviting the members of the PIAC to participate in the 68^th Annual Meeting of the PIAC to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted by the Sanskrit Studies Centre, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, in cooperation with the Centre for Korean Studies, Institute of East Asia Studies, Thammasat University.

After the counting of the ballots, the following members of the new Medal Committee were elected: Juha Janhunen, Mehmet Ölmez and Barbara Kellner-Heinkele, with Oliver Corff and Sombat Mangmeesukhsiri as members ex officio.

Resolution

Be it resolved that the members assembled in the 67^th Annual Meeting of the PIAC

• warmly thank Miyawaki-Okada Junko, President of the 67^th Meeting of the PIAC, for her tireless efforts to make this meeting a great success;
• warmly thank the RINRI Institute of Ethics and its President, Maruyama Toshiaku, for hosting the participants in the wonderful premises of the Fuji Education Center at the foot of Mt. Fuji;
• warmly thank the volunteers whose work, more often than not, is invisible but indispensable for the successful execution of this meeting,
• and, last but not least, warmly thank the generous donors who made this meeting possible with their financial and material contributions.

Words of Appreciation:

Barbara Kellner-Heinkele, as the senior member of the meeting, expressed on behalf of all participants heartfelt thanks to the Secretary General and the President of the 67^th PIAC Meeting for their excellent organization. She emphasized the participants’ honor and joy at being guests of the RINRI Institute for Ethics at the foot of Mt. Fuji.