Makoto Sawai

Visiting Academic
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
mvsawai@sta.tenri-u.ac.jp
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Biography

Makoto SAWAI is Associate Professor at Tenri University, Japan. He received his BA from Tenri University and his MA degrees from Tohoku University and the American University in Cairo. He was awarded a PhD by Tohoku University in 2015. His research interests include religious studies, Islamic studies, Tenrikyo theology, and religious education within Tenrikyo. He is particularly interested in symbolism in Sufism, especially the divine names, Adam, questions of life and death, and the development of Sufism in the West. 
 
His first book, Adam in Islam: An Anthropological Approach to Sufi Thought (originally published in Japanese), received awards from the Japanese Association for Religious Studies and the Japanese Association for Religious Studies and Indology. His publications include “From Mysticism to Philosophy: Toshihiko Izutsu and Sufism” (Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies, vols. 1–2, 2022, pp. 112–121) and “Appealing to Sufis: From Islamic Studies to Gender-Focused Sufism” (Orient, 56, 2021, pp. 107–120). His latest paper, “Refining the Self towards Spiritual Perfection: Methods for Attaining Knowledge of God,” appears in Philosophies of Education in Asia (Bloomsbury, forthcoming in 2026). =

Educational Background 

2002–2006: B.A. in Religious Studies, Tenri University (2006). 
B.A. Thesis: William James’ Theory of Religion. 
 
2006–2008: M.A., Graduate School of Tohoku University (2008). 
M.A. Thesis: Inquiry into Religious Experience: A Study of William James’ Philosophy. 
 
2012–2014: M.A., The American University in Cairo (2014). 
M.A. Thesis: The Divine Names in Ibn ʿArabī’s Theory of the Oneness of Existence. 
 
2008–2015: Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Graduate School of Tohoku University (2015). 
Dissertation: Mystical Islam on the Divine Names. 

Research Interests   

Religious studies, Islamic studies 

Recent publications 

Edited Books 
  • Kazuo Morimoto, Kie Inoue, Junichi Ono, and Makoto Sawai (eds.), Perspectives from within and beyond Islam: Studies in Honor of Professor Shigeru Kamada. Kyoto: Nakanishiya Shuppan, 31 March 2023, pp. 268–285. 
  • Sawai, Makoto and Kageki Takemura (eds.), Education with Prayer — Doctrinal Education at Tenri High School, Tenri University, 2024. 
  • Takemura, Kageki and Makoto Sawai (eds.), Toward the Further Development of Faith-based Education: An Interview with Michiharu Watanabe, Tenri University, 2025. 
Articles and Book Chapters 
  • “A Theory of Sainthood in the Formative Period of Islamic Mysticism: Reconsidering the Concept of the walī,” in Perspectives from within and beyond Islam: Studies in Honor of Professor Shigeru Kamada. 
  • “Faith-based Education and Its Significance: The Origin and Development of Tenrikyo’s Religious Education,” Annual Bulletin of Oyasato Institute for the Study of Religion, 2023. 
  • “The ‘Restoration’ and Faith-based Education,” Annual Bulletin of Oyasato Institute for the Study of Religion, 2024. 
  • Sawai, Makoto and Hitomi Ono, “The View on Body and Life in Islamic Thought,” in Who is ‘Human Beings’, Osaka University Press, 2024. 
  • “Textbooks for Tenrikyo in the History of Faith-based Education,” Bulletin of the Tenri University Research Center for Human Rights Issues, 2025. 
  • “The Educational Attitude of Oyasama in the Divine Model,” Bulletin of the Tenri University Research Center for Human Rights Issues, 2025. 
  • “Mystical Identity in Islam: The Connections of Asceticism with Sufism,” Resonating Themes and Intersecting Perspectives in Sufi Studies: Festschrift in Honor of Professor Yasushi Tonaga, Kyoto: Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University, forthcoming in 2026. 

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