A Historico-Ethnographic Study of a Japanese Colony in Brazil

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H05172
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 海外学術
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Kanagawa University
• Principal Investigator: Sano Kenji 神奈川大学, 経済学部, 教授 (90131127)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 泉水 英計 神奈川大学, 経営学部, 教授 (20409973) ; 内田 青蔵 神奈川大学, 工学部, 教授 (30277686)
• Research Collaborator: Mori Koichi ; Mori Takemaro ; Tanaka Kazuyuki ; Suzaki Fumiyo ; Sunami Soichiro ; Nagai Miho ; Kurose Ikuji ; Oguma Makoto ; Watanabe Yuko ; Kato Saori ; Mori Takemaro ; Yoneda Seiji ; Fukuzawa Kazuoki ; Shimizu Rubens ; Hijioka Akemi ; Hisatsugu Bruno
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ブラジル / 日系人 / 海外移住史 / 民俗 / 墓 / 建築

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The city of Registro, Sao Paulo, has developed from an early Japanese colony. Successive field visits resulted in architectural data of the surviving houses built by Japanese settlers and in informed data of the cemetery plots in the city grave yard. During the fieldwork, communal activities of religious organizations in Japanese tradition, local historical monuments and their related celebrations, and cultural activities of the settlers of Okinawan descent were observed and recorded. Historical materials regarding self-governing organization of early Japanese settlers and a further organizational development to another Japanese colony, and Brazilian governmental documents on the establishment of the Registro colony were collected and analyzed.

Free Research Field

民俗学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究には、民俗学が日本国内および東アジア研究で培ってきた研究視角と調査手法をブラジル日系社会へ適用することで日本民俗学の対象地域を拡張するという学術的意義があり、レジストロの日系人組織の郷土史編纂事業に助力し且つその事業を日本に紹介するという社会的意義がある。