Junichiro Itani


Junichiro Itani was a Japanese anthropologist who served as a professor emeritus at Kyoto University and as president of the Primate Society of Japan. He is considered a founder of the discipline of Japanese primatology.

Biography

Junichiro Itani was born at Tottori. His father, Kenzo Itani, was a Yōga painter.
He entered Kyoto University, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University|Faculty of Science]. He majored in ethology under Kinji Imanishi, eventually becoming one of the leading figures in Japanese primatology. He received a BS in March 1951, and became a researcher at Japan Monkey Centre, Inuyama, Aichi. He observed Japanese macaques at Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden. In 1962, he submitted his doctoral dissertation titled "Communication of wild Japanese macaque".
He became an assistant professor at Kyoto University, Faculty of Science in October 1962, and was promoted to professor in 1981. He founded the Primate Research Institute and the Center for African Area Studies at that university in 1986, and he served as the first chief of the latter center until his retirement. He retired from Kyoto University in 1990 and became a professor at Kobe Gakuin University.
He died at age 75 of pneumonia.
As with most Japanese primatologists, his early research was on Japanese macaques , but most of his career focused on African primates, especially chimpanzees. He started research in Africa in 1958. The majority of his work was based around the social structures of primate society.

Awards

Books available in English

Japanese Monkeys in Takasakiyama Hominid culture in primate perspective / Duane Quiatt and Junichiro Itani, editors A Comparative study of ecological anthropology in tropical Africa Great Ape Societies by William C McGrew; Linda F Marchant; Toshisada Nishida; Jane Goodall and Junichiro Itani

Relatives