Sachiko Murata

Sachiko Murata (村田幸子, born 1943) is Japanese scholar of comparative philosophy and mysticism and a professor of religion and Asian studies at Stony Brook University.

Life
Born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan in 1943, Murata received her B.A. in family law from Chiba University in Japan. She worked at a law firm in Tokyo for a year, and later attended Iran's University of Tehran, where she was the first woman and first non-Muslim to study fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). She received her PhD in Persian literature in 1971, and then moved to the faculty of theology. She received her MA in Islamic jurisprudence in 1975, but shortly before completing her PhD in fiqh, the Iranian Revolution caused her and her husband William Chittick to leave the country. Murata resettled at SUNY Stony Brook in Stony Brook, New York, in 1983 where she teaches Islam, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

Throughout her career, Murata has received various academic distinctions, which include being named the Kenan Rifai Distinguished Professor at the Institute of Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University, and an Honorary Professor at the School of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Minzu University. She has also been granted fellowships by esteemed organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Harvard Centre for the Study of World Religions, and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS).