Basic Biographical Information
Ryuzo Torii (1870–1953) (Fig. 1) was a Japanese archaeologist and anthropologist. He was born in Tokushima in 1870, as the second son of a wealthy tobacco merchant. He left elementary school in the second grade and studied anthropology by himself. He became a member of the newly established Tokyo Anthropological Society when he was 16 years old and moved to Tokyo in 1892. He obtained a job organizing specimens for anthropology classes at the Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo). Torii undertook his first fieldwork abroad at the Liaodong Peninsula in 1895 by chance and became fascinated with dolmens. This was the beginning of his tireless fieldwork in many areas of East Asia such as Taiwan, Siberia, northeast China, Mongol, the Chishima Islands, and Okinawa, conducted over 50 years. Torii married Kimiko in 1901. She often accompanied him on fieldwork and helped with his research.
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Nakazono, E. 2005.Torii Ryuzo: Ajiawosoha-shitajinrui-gakusha. [Ryuzo Torii: an anthropologist who walked across the Asia.] Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten (in Japanese).
Tabata, H. 1997. Minzoku-gakusha Torii Ryūzo: Ajiachosa no kiseki. [Ryūzo Torii as an ethnologist: trajectory of his fieldworks in Asia.] Tokyo: Kokon Shoin (in Japanese).
Torii, R. 1918.Yushiizen no Nippon. [Prehistoric Japan.] Tokyo: Isobe Koyo-do (in Japanese).
- 1953. Arukoko-gakuto no shuki. [A personal account of an archaeologist.] Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun-sha (in Japanese).
Yamaji, K. 2006. Kindai Nihon no kaigaigakujutsuchosa. [Academic researches abroad by modern Japan.] Tokyo: Yamakawashuppan-sha (in Japanese).
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Matsumoto, N. (2014). Torii, Ryūzō. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2453
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