IN THE NEWS / Researcher unravels Angkor mystery

By Hiromi Kanekita 

Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer 

Oct. 26, 2012

In his new book, Yoshiaki Ishizawa, former president of Sophia University, has answered the longstanding question of how Angkor Wat, a huge complex of stone temples in northwestern Cambodia, was first established.

Ishizawa, who has studied and worked to preserve the World Heritage Site of Angkor monuments for more than 50 years, recently published "Challenging the Mystery of the Angkor Empire: Realizing the Mission of Sophia University in the Asian World."

The Angkor civilization is known to have flourished for about 800 years from the early ninth century, but how it was established is still a mystery. Ishizawa, 75, found that temples and roads related to the Angkor Empire had spread over the Indochinese Peninsula by reading inscriptions written in Sanskrit and old Khmer, which were discovered in the Angkor monuments. He concluded this huge network of trade and logistics must have supported and nurtured the once-great civilization.

Meanwhile, Ishizawa has fostered Cambodian experts in the preservation of the Angkor monuments since 1980, when he was asked to help with the restoration work by a Cambodian researcher. Most of the original Cambodian researchers were killed during the years of the Pol Pot regime.

His philosophy is that "the preservation and restoration of the site should be carried out by Cambodians, for Cambodians." The university established its Asia Center for Research and Human Development in 2002; six Cambodians had received doctorate degrees and 13 have received master's degrees from the university as of March 2009.

In 2001, the university's investigation mission, including Cambodian trainees, successfully excavated 274 discarded Buddhist statues at the Banteay Kdei temple about 30 kilometers from Angkor Wat. According to Ishizawa, the discovery rewrote the history of the final days of the Angkor empire.

French researchers long maintained the empire perished due to fatigue from continuous constructions of temples.

According to Ishizawa, the empire's throne was traditionally seized by force, not inherited through bloodline succession, as is the case of the Japanese Imperial family. Ishizawa explained the discarded statues were evidence of political conflicts in which a king displayed his new power, and that the empire continued to flourish until its fall.

"The discovery gave great confidence to the Cambodian trainees. They have overturned the negative image of the Pol Pot regime through the preservation and restoration of famous historical sites," Ishizawa said.

Ishizawa, who visits Cambodia five or six times a year, said he intends to keep helping develop that country's human resources as much as possible.