Chaoyue 20Shiji Minsuxue (Japanese Folkloristics in the Twenty-First Century - Duihua Futian Yaxinan)

Contemporary folklore is seeking to transform itself into a new discipline through the addition of new knowledge and perspectives to “20th-century folkloristics.” Here, “20th-century folkloristics” refers to the movement started in the 20th century by Kunio Yanagita to understand and revitalize indigenous cultures in Japan as well as the movement to establish the study of indigenous culture as a scholarly discipline. It was a “product of the times” created by the demands of the age that started as “grassroots scholarship“ and has been systematized, organized, and institutionalized over nearly a century. One of the folklorists who played an important role in the final stages of the establishment of “20th-century folkloristics” and the folklorist who is the subject of this book is Ajio Fukuta.
 
Fukuta inherited but was critical of the Yanagita’s folkloristics. It would not be an overstatement to say that Fukuta was a child of “20th-century folkloristics.” To bring folkloristics into the 21st century, we need to take a leap forward from “20th-century folkloristics,” which means that we must surpass the discipline of Fukuta and folklorists of the same age. But have we shown the drive needed to deliberately surpass the work of these folklorists? Are we not simply succumbing to the inertia of 20th-century folkloristics? Driven by such doubts and sense of crisis, we planned a seminar to directly meet and discuss these issues with Fukuta, a leading controversialist with respect to “20th-century folkloristics.” The seminar was subtitled, “Can We Move beyond ‘20th-Century Folkloristics’?” with the intent of reawakening the drive of individuals seeking to create a folkloristics that can be described as “contemporary.”
 
However, moving forward will involve the onerous work of revising, and in some cases throwing away, the foundations—objectives, methods, and targets of research—of “20th-century folkloristics” upon which Japanese folkloristics has unconsciously relied up to now.
 
This book is a Chinese translation of the record of the discussion with Fukuta that occurred as part of the symposium titled “Debate: Surpassing Ajio Fukuta—Can We Move beyond ‘20th-Century Folkloristics’?” held on July 31, 2010, at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. Our hope is that this book helps to create a starting point for transforming folkloristics by bringing to the fore the rivalry between the two directions of “intentionally carrying on with ‘20th-century folkloristics’” and “discarding ‘20th-century folkloristics’ and creating a new folkloristics.”
 
NOTE: This book is a translation of Fukuta, A., Suga, Y., Tsukahara, S. (2012). Nijuseiki Minzokugaku o Norikoeru—Watashitachi wa Fukuta Ajio tono Toron kara Nani o Manabu ka [Surpassing 20th-century Folkloristics—What Can We Learn from Discussion with Ajio Fukuta?]. Iwatashoin (187 pages). ISBN: 978-4872947793
 

(Written by SUGA Yutaka, Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia / 2022)