Background
Naumann was born Thusnelda Joch in Lörrach, where she was educated at the Hebel Gymnasium, completing her Abitur in 1941.
ナウマンネリー
Naumann was born Thusnelda Joch in Lörrach, where she was educated at the Hebel Gymnasium, completing her Abitur in 1941.
She studied Japanese and Chinese studies, ethnology and philosophy at the University of Vienna.
World World War II delayed the completion of her dissertation, "Das Pferd in Sage und Brauchtum Japans" (The Horse in Japan"s Mythology and Traditions) until 1946, when she became the first woman to receive a doctorate in Japanese studies from that university. After completing her doctorate, Naumann married a Chinese fellow student and moved to Shanghai until 1954. She then returned to Germany after her divorce and worked for the Bavarian State Library in Munich.
From 1966 to 1977 she taught at the universities in Bochum, Münster and Freiburg.
In 1970 she completed her Habilitation with a dissertation entitled "Das Umwandeln des Himmelspfeilers" (The Circumambulation of the Pillar of Heaven). She was Professor of Japanese Studies at Freiburg from 1973 until her retirement in 1985.
She continued to publish. Her comprehensive works Die einheimische Religion Japans (1988-1994) and Die Mythen des alten Japan (1996) were both published after she retired.
A Festschrift in her honour appeared in 1993.
She died in Freiburg in 2000.