Kunio Yanagita - Major Works

Major Works

  • Tōno Monogatari (遠野物語)
a record of folk legends (as opposed to a folk tale) gathered in Tono, Iwate Prefecture. Famous yōkai in the stories include kappa and zashiki-warashi.
  • Kagyūkō (蝸牛考)
Yanagita revealed that the distribution of dialects for the word snail forms concentric circles on the Japanese archipelago.
  • Momotarō no Tanjō (桃太郎の誕生)
He depicted some facets of Japanese society by analyzing the famous folk tale Momotaro. His methodology was followed by many ethnologists and anthropologists.
  • Kaijō no Michi (海上の道)
He sought the origin of the Japanese culture in Okinawa, though many of his speculations were denied by later researchers. He was inspired by picking up a palm nut borne by the Kuroshio Current when he was wandering in a beach in Iragomisaki, Aichi Prefecture.

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