著者

クライナー ヨーゼフ

出版者

法政大学国際日本学研究所

雑誌

国際日本学 = INTERNATIONAL JAPANESE STUDIES (ISSN:18838596)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, pp.157-170, 2014-03-31

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This paper examines the ethnic and cultural autochthony of Japan through a review of paradigms in ethnology = cultural anthropology. In this process we discussed discourses of ethnologists, anthropologists or representatives of folklore studies like Edward Sylvester Morse, Henry von Siebold, Tsuboi Shōgorō, Torii Ryūzō, Koganei Yoshikiyo, Yanagita Kunio, Orikuchi Shinobu, Oka Masao, Izumi Seiichi and Sasaki Kōmei. As a result we could show that the ethnic and cultural autochthony of Japan is not a genuine and singular one but a pluralistic and complex one: we can adduce at least two "races" (the Yamato race and the Ainu race) and three cultures (the culture of Japan's mainland, Okinawan culture and Ainu culture). At the same time, inside of Japan's mainland, there is a great regional diversity of cultural elements and clusters. To pay attention to such a plurality will be beneficial when examining the "national identity" of Japan.