TEHRAN – The Iranian Culture Center of the Embassy of Iran in Tokyo organized a webinar on Saturday to discuss the works of Persian poet Sheikh Muslih od-Din Sadi Shirazi who lived during the 13th century CE.

The webinar in observance of Sadi Day was organized in collaboration with Iran’s Sadi Foundation, an organization that promotes the Persian language abroad, the center announced.

The event began with a video message from Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, director of the foundation who is also the director of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature.

The virtual colloquium continued with a speech by Naho Nakamura, a professor of the Persian language at Daito Bunka University in Tokyo.  

Nakamura and Shuri Suzuki have earlier co-translated Iranian scholar Zahra Taheri’s book “The Silence of Old Mirrors: The Lost Voice of a Muslim Woman in the Constitutional Period” into Japanese. The book was released by Michitani Publishing House in Tokyo in 2012.

Sadi Day, which marks the anniversary of the completion of his masterpiece Gulistan (The Rose Garden), was celebrated during virtual meetings in Iran and several other countries on April 21.

The Iranian Culture Center in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku also commemorated the day along with students of the Persian language.  

“The Persian language is rooted in the works and thoughts of great figures such as Sadi, Ferdowsi, Rumi, Nezami and Rudaki,” Iranian cultural attache Qorbanali Purmarjan said during the webinar.

He described the personalities as “the stars of the sky of Persian literature” and added that Sadi has always been known as “an ambassador of humanity and a promoter of coexistence in the world.”    
  
As one of the greatest figures of classical Persian literature, Sadi is famous worldwide for his Bustan (The Orchard) and Gulistan (The Rose Garden), which have been translated into many languages.

Photo: A poster for the Iranian webinar for the Japanese devotees of Sadi poetry.

MMS/YAW