Basic study on organizational transformation of Yanakhita Kunio's folklore after the war

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K00947
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03020:Japanese history-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Tsurumi Taro 早稲田大学, 文学学術院, 教授 (80288696)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 民間伝承 / 柳田国男 / 郷土研究 / 民間伝承の会 / 橋浦泰雄

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The influence of Yanagida's folklore on rural areas in the early 1950s continued to be investigated, with a focus on the centers that have been the subject of intensive study so far. The study also verified that local historians who accepted Yanagida Kunio's folklore in areas such as Tottori, Niigata, and Matsumoto in Shinshu gradually established local folklore study groups and further developed their activities as the "Society of Folklore" made organizational progress before and during World War II, and that the postwar reorganization into the "Folklore Society of Japan" has gradually created a new generation of local historians who have not had contact with Yanagida.　The impact of the academicization of the society has drastically transformed Yanagida Folklore itself in terms of its organization.

Free Research Field

日本近現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本の民俗学は郷土研究によって支えられてきたことは、周知の事項に属するが、それを組織化するにあたって、全国の民俗事象を比較する上で日本各地に自身の「郷土」を研究する郷土史家が必要とされた。この傾向は戦後もしばらく続く。ただし、「郷土」を離れ、その後長く東京その他都市部の教育・研究機関で活動する事例が目立ってくる。この範疇に属する場合、当該の人物の位置付けは狭義の郷土史家とは異なる要素を持つ。しかも、中央に終始拠点を置くことなく、郷土との往還をしばしば行う事例も見られ、この点において中央の研究者と郷土史家ーという研究史上に見られた関係は次第に後退しているといっていい。