An Ethos analysis of Aesop' s Fables, the Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales and Japanese Folk Tales in moral education textbooks of the Meiji Period

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25870826
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: History of thought; Sociology
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: SAKAMOTO MAYUKO 早稲田大学, グローバルエデュケーションセンター, 助教 (40648317)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 修身教育 / 明治文化 / 寓話 / 童話 / 昔話

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to examine the evolution of oral literature that was published in moral education textbooks, and its relation with autobiographies of significant figures of that time. Data collection from markings by Japan’s Ministry of Education on moral education textbooks revealed that there may have been many modifications of Japanese myths.
In addition, the biographies of Ninomiya Kinjiro from various textbooks in the Meiji period demonstrated how the father-child relationship had gradually shifted to the mother-child relationship, which can also be linked to the author’s findings from earlier related studies on the relationship between the ethos of Aesop’s Fables and that of Ninomiya Kinjiro’s biographies. These findings can thus be further applied to examine the relationship between fables and biographies in future.

Free Research Field

文化学