Folktale research after Yanagita: development and related issues

This article intends to trace the development of folktale research and to examine the associated problems and results achieved, as well as present contemporary research issues. It examines research on the background of religious belief in folktales, research of folktales as a reflection of society, research on folktales from a psychological perspective, structural analysis of folktales, socio-historical research, comparative research, and the development of storytelling in that order. It is clear that due to the changes (or extinction) of the places of storytelling since the period of rapid economic growth, the gap between two types of research-that which focuses on the storytellers and the place of storytelling, and that which aims to analyze the structure of meaning of folktales-has grown wider. This has made it difficult to find common ground between them. In order to address this situation, I believe it is necessary to consider the meaning of storytelling within the life of storytellers. Reprinted by permission of Nanzan University Anthropological Institute