A study on the differences of folk culture in the littoral of the Sea of Japan

1996 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 06451060
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 文化人類学(含民族学・民俗学)
• Research Institution: NIIGATA UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: FUKUTA Azio NIIGATA UNIVERSITY,FACULTY OF HUMANITIES,Professor, 人文学部, 教授 (60120862)
• Project Period (FY): 1994 – 1996
• Keywords: EAST AND WEST / FOLKLORE / REGIONAL DIFFERENCE / TURN SYSTEM / COUNCIL SYSTEM / HOMESTEAD / INDIVIDUAL / LITTORAL OF THE SEA OF JAPAN

Research Abstract

In the central part of Japan, village landscape is very different in the East district and West district. What the village landscape shows is a reflection of the internal order of the society ; in the east where the ie (homestead) is stressed, and the west where the mura (village) is stressed. The village landscape of eastern Japan shows the individual homestead as closed spaces, where facilities necessary for daily life have tended to be setup in or near the homestead. Village landscape in the west, on the other hand, does not show individual homestead clearly. The village as a whole is one entity, and concentration as a mura is shown by the density of the village and the openness of individual houses. Individual homesteads are merely places to live in, and facilities necessary for other living and production activities are set up by and for the whole villages.
And this time I moved my viewpoint from the Pacific Ocean area to the Sea of Japan littoral. As a result of investigations in Fukui, Toyama, Niigata and Yamagata prefecture for three years, I could approximately confirm the difference of east and west at the Sea of Japan littoral in the same way. Specially in a village of Kamijima, Toyama prefecture, individual homestead is stressed. Toyama prefecture shows the eastern social order.