Hitoshi Igarashi
{{Short description|Japanese writer and translator (1947–1991)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Hitoshi Igarashi
| image = Hitoshi Igarashi.jpg
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| birth_date = 10 June 1947
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| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1991|7|11|1947|6|10}}
| death_place = Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
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| notableworks = Translation of The Satanic Verses
| spouse = {{Interlanguage link multi|v=ib|Masako Igarashi|ja|3=五十嵐雅子}}
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{{nihongo|Hitoshi Igarashi|五十嵐 一|Igarashi Hitoshi|extra=10 June 1947 – 11 July 1991}} was a Japanese scholar of Arabic and Persian literature and history and the Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. He was murdered in the wake of fatwas issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran – who, by the time of Igarashi's murder, had died – calling for the death of the book's author and "those involved in its publication." His murder remains unsolved.
Early life and education
Career
Igarashi was an associate professor of comparative Islamic culture at the University of Tsukuba.{{cite news|last=Helm|first=Leslie|title=Translator of 'Satanic Verses' Slain|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-13-mn-1822-story.html|access-date=11 February 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=13 July 1991}} He translated Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses{{cite web|title=One person's story|url=http://www.iranrights.org/english/memorial-case-24015.php|publisher=OMID|accessdate=11 February 2013}} and wrote books on Islam, including The Islamic Renaissance and Medicine and Wisdom of the East.
Death
{{See also|The Satanic Verses#Violence, assassinations, and attempted murders}}
In early 1989, Supreme Leader of Iran Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for the death of "the author of the Satanic Verses book, which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Qur'an". In March 1991, Khomeini's successor, Ali Khamenei, issued a further fatwa and multimillion-dollar bounty for the death of "any of those involved in its publication who are aware of its content".Jomhuri Eslami, 1991, 16 March In 1990, one year after the issuing of these fatwas, Igarashi and his publisher Gianni Palma held a press conference in Tokyo to announce their translation into Japanese of The Satanic Verses. Shi'a Muslims attended the event in order to protest the publication, and midway through, a Pakistani Muslim rushed onto the stage and attempted to assault Palma. The attacker was arrested and deported.{{cite news |last1=Reid |first1=T. R. |title='SATANIC VERSES' TRANSLATOR FOUND SLAIN |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/07/13/satanic-verses-translator-found-slain/6ee67d24-9b02-4eaf-994e-107ff814f64f/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=13 August 2022 |date=13 July 1991}}
A year and a half later, Igarashi was stabbed repeatedly in the face and arms by an unknown assailant and died. His body was found on 12 July 1991 in his office at the University of Tsukuba.{{cite web|title=Hitoshi Igarashi (1947-1991)|date=24 July 2006 |url=http://fukumimi.wordpress.com/2006/07/24/hitoshi-igarashi-1947-1991/|publisher=Fukimimi|accessdate=11 February 2013}}{{cite news|last=Weismann|first=Steven R.|title=Japanese Translator of Rushdie Book Found Slain|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/18/specials/rushdie-translator.html|accessdate=11 February 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=13 June 1991}}
In 2006, the statute of limitations on the stabbing expired.{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Cullen |date=2015-02-22 |title=Iran's Cold Cases Are Coming Back to Haunt Us |language=en |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/22/iran-s-cold-cases-are-coming-back-to-haunt-us |access-date=2022-07-13 |quote=In 2006 the 15-year statute of limitations on his murder expired. Hitoshi’s wife, Masako, was still crying out for justice, pressing the Japanese police not to give up on her husband’s case.}} Kenneth M. Pollack alleged in The Persian Puzzle that the attack was a covert operation by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.{{cite web |last1=Komamura |first1=Yoshishige |title=（3ページ目）迷宮入りの「悪魔の詩」訳者殺人、問題にされた2つのポイント【平成の怪事件簿】 |url=https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2019/04291100/?all=1&page=3 |website=デイリー新潮 |access-date=13 August 2022 |language=ja}}
See also
{{Portal|Japan|Biography}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:20th-century Japanese translators
Category:Deaths by stabbing in Japan
Category:English–Japanese translators
Category:Japanese murder victims
Category:People from Niigata (city)
Category:People murdered in Japan
Category:University of Tokyo alumni