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Folklore Studies in Germany and Austria1 Doku-Ō Ni Okeru Minzokugaku-Teki Kenkyū2

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Folklore Studies in Germany and Austria1 Doku-Ō Ni Okeru Minzokugaku-Teki Kenkyū2 Classic Japanese Anthropology Special Issue Contemplating Masao Oka’s Call for Ethnic Research in War-time Japan Folklore Studies in Germany and Austria1 Doku-Ō ni okeru Minzokugaku-teki Kenkyū2 Masao Oka In: Yanagita, Kunio, ed., Inquiries into Japanese Folklore Studies (Nihon Minzokugaku Kenkyū), pp. 327-372. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1935 Translated by JRCA editorial committee Introduction Chapter 1 The Beginnings of Folklore Studies I Justus Möser (1720-1794): Pioneer of historical and social folklore (1) Historicist scholarship and German history (2) National social policy (3) Pioneering folklore studies II Herder 1 This is an excerpt translation. The original table of contents is presented here with the translated sections underlined. The article was based on a lecture Oka delivered at the commemoration of Yanagita’s 60th anniversary held in July 1935, which was included in the collection of lecture texts edited by Yanagita. Footnotes were added by Akitoshi Shimizu, the commentator. 2 The German word Volkskunde is translated as minzoku-gaku in Japanese. Both words indicate folklore studies as an academic discipline. In English, the discipline is usually called “folklore,” but this word can also mean “folklore” in the sense of folk customs, or the like. In order to avoid confusion, minzoku-gaku is uniformly translated as “folklore studies,” whereas Volkskunde is given in its original spelling. In the inter-war years, Japanese folklorists began to categorize their primary objects of investigation, i.e., those cultural features that were distinctively “traditional” and had been primarily maintained by common people, as minzoku (民俗, literally meaning min[folk]-zoku[customs], largely equivalent to English “folk life, folkways, folk customs, folklore” and the like). The same sound minzoku means “ethnic peoples” as well. The two homonyms have distinct written forms, 民俗 (folk customs) and 民族 (ethnic peoples), respectively. In the same way, the disciplines that study them are indicated by a set of homonyms with distinct written forms, minzoku-gaku (民俗 学, folklore studies) and minzoku-gaku (民族学, ethnology), respectively. In the article, Oka deliberately distinguished folk customs and ethnic peoples. However, as a device to avoid confusion, he used dozoku-gaku, an old word meaning ethnography, in place of ethnology. Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology, vol. 18-2, 2017 16 Masao Oka Chapter 2 The Romantic School of Folklore Studies Chapter 3 Folklore Studies as an Independent Science I Research trends after the Romantic school (1) Research after the Romantic school (2) Emergence of Dilettantism II Establishing scientific folklore studies: [W.] Heinrich Riehl’s social folklore studies as a contemporary science Chapter 4 Issues of Modern Folklore Studies I Collection and organization II The objects of folklore studies (1) Theories pursuing the Volk (2) Theories pursuing the Volksgut III Methodological issues in folklore studies (1) Historical method (2) Sociological method (3) Geographical method (4) Comparative ethnological methods Chapter 5 Folklore Studies Today I Naumann’s folklore studies II Sociological folklore studies III Racial and social folklore studies: Nazi folklore studies Concluding Remarks Chapter 1 The Beginnings of Folklore Studies I Justus Möser (1720-1794): Pioneer of historical and social folklore Born in Osnabrück, Hanover, Möser was a social critic and a first-rate writer. Möser’s era was that of the so-called Enlightenment, and as is well-known, the Enlightenment proclaimed nature, liberty, equality, rationality, progress etc., and scoffed at “tradition” or “history” as nothing but ignorance and convention. Peasants, who lived mostly within tradition, were therefore despised as the most ignorant and in need of Enlightenment. The cultural and social unity of the middle ages had already collapsed, and capitalism of the early modern era had already caused transformations in rural living conditions, so that rural villages were facing a culturally, socially, and economically crucial period. In such times, Möser profoundly recognized the value and significance of history and tradition, and supported and defended peasant beliefs, rural festivals, old customs, and customary legal and economic practices. At the same time, contending that the peasantry constituted the backbone of the state organization, he presented and advocated principles for social policy regarding the social, economic, cultural, and moral significance of peasants in essay-style writings. Masao Oka Folklore Studies in Germany and Austria 17 Chapter 2 The Romantic School of Folklore Studies The historical significance of Möser’s work is found in two directions: historicist Chapter 3 Folklore Studies as an Independent Science scholarship and the new descriptive methodology of “German history” on the one hand, and I Research trends after the Romantic school his discussion of nationalist social policy on the other. (1) Research after the Romantic school (2) Emergence of Dilettantism (1) Historicist scholarship and German history II Establishing scientific folklore studies: [W.] Heinrich Riehl’s social Möser is the father of historicist scholarship in general and the founder of the historicist folklore studies as a contemporary science [approach to] history. In one of his major works, The History of Osnabrück3 Möser stated that Chapter 4 Issues of Modern Folklore Studies the peasantry was the authentic component of the [German] nation [Nation], while such I Collection and organization upper classes as lords and ministers were merely incidental beings for the national structure. II The objects of folklore studies When we take this into account, [so he wrote,] we realize that from here on, approaches to (1) Theories pursuing the Volk German history began to develop in a totally new direction. Historical description should not (2) Theories pursuing the Volksgut remain a simple chronology of historical incidents. He claimed that historians should III Methodological issues in folklore studies observe the origins, development, and varied conditions of the national character, (1) Historical method throughout every transformation of those factors. Looking back from now, his idea may seem (2) Sociological method obvious, but at the time, he presented a truly path-breaking historiography. Möser (3) Geographical method dismissed the rational, universalist outlook, or way of thinking of the Enlightenment, and (4) Comparative ethnological methods opened a new historicist methodology for recognition of phenomena under historical Chapter 5 Folklore Studies Today circumstances. Moreover, while the Enlightenment separated “the present” from “the past,” I Naumann’s folklore studies Möser connected “the past” to the “present.” He himself lived and thought within this II Sociological folklore studies connection, sought out the sacredness of legal customs from within the significant “past,” III Racial and social folklore studies: Nazi folklore studies and at the same time gave life to “the past” from the “present” daily life. Concluding Remarks In The History of Osnabrück, Möser probably attempted not so much to narrate historical facts as to represent historical logic (historische Logik), that is, how to think historically. His Chapter 1 The Beginnings of Folklore Studies historicism became the [literally] original impact towards the so-called “historical school” in I Justus Möser (1720-1794): Pioneer of historical and social folklore social sciences. Born in Osnabrück, Hanover, Möser was a social critic and a first-rate writer. Möser’s era was that of the so-called Enlightenment, and as is well-known, the Enlightenment (2) National social policy proclaimed nature, liberty, equality, rationality, progress etc., and scoffed at “tradition” or Möser, a statesman and a critical writer from Osnabrück, apparently directed his “history” as nothing but ignorance and convention. Peasants, who lived mostly within aspirations not to historical research itself, but instead to cultural and social policies, an tradition, were therefore despised as the most ignorant and in need of Enlightenment. The arena to which he was best suited. His historicism was in fact the foundation and cultural and social unity of the middle ages had already collapsed, and capitalism of the methodology for his policy formulation. He published his opinions on policy in numerous early modern era had already caused transformations in rural living conditions, so that essay-type articles he contributed to newspapers and journals. In those writings, he sought rural villages were facing a culturally, socially, and economically crucial period. In such themes in the daily life of peasants and bourgeois, and impressed the readers with the times, Möser profoundly recognized the value and significance of history and tradition, and beauty and value of the traditions, customs, manner, and lifestyle in peasants’ life, whereas supported and defended peasant beliefs, rural festivals, old customs, and customary legal on the other hand, he convincingly showed how “modern trends” were undesirable, and gave and economic practices. At the same time, contending that the peasantry constituted the instructions towards the future orientation of Volk’s4 life. I will explain his main ideas on backbone of the state organization, he presented and advocated principles for social policy regarding the social, economic, cultural, and moral significance of peasants in essay-style 3 Möser [also Mösers], Justus, Osnabrückische Geschichte:
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