Yanagita Kunio: An interpretive study

Abstract

Interest in the life and work of Yanagita Kunio has grown steadily in recent years in Japan. It is noteworthy, for example, that some leaders of the student movements protesting against the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960 and again in 1970 became disenchanted with Marxist ideas of social change and turned to the study of Yanagita. A similar shift in orientation occurred at the beginning of the Sh6wa period (1926), but at that time government oppression of Marxism was the chief factor. By contrast, the chief factor in the postwar student leaders' turn to Yanagita, if occasioned by reflection on the breakdown of their movements, was their own free will. Paul Tillich once maintained that one of the greatest issues in modern life is the religious encounter with Marxism. The focus of Yanagita's research is on the faith of the Japanese people, and the turn from Marxism to Yanagita would seem to suggest a tacit refutation, or at least modification, of Tillich's view. From this perspective alone the motivations and methods of Yanagita's research constitute a study theme of considerable importance.

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