Keigo Seki

Keigo Seki (関 敬吾, Seki Keigo, 1899–1990) was a Japanese folklorist. He joined a group under Yanagita Kunio, but often came to different conclusions regarding the same folktales. Along with collecting and compiling folktales, Seki also arranged them into a series of categories.[1]

This work culminated in his Nihon mukashibanashi shūsei (Collection of Japanese Folktales) (1928, revised 1961), in three volumes, which classified Japanese folktales after the model of the Aarne-Thompson system.[2]

A selection was published as Nihon No Mukashi-Banashi (1956–7), and was translated into English as Folktales of Japan (1963) by Robert J. Adams.[3][4]

University Life

Seki was a native of Nagasaki Prefecture and graduate of Toyo University.[5][2] He studied philosophy and worked as a librarian for the university.[2] He founded the Japanese Society for Folk Literature (Nihon Koshobungei Gakkai) in 1977 and was its first president.[2] Seki understood German and translated two works of folktales from German to Japanese, Kaarle Krohn’s Die folkloristische Arbeitsmethode (Folklore Methodology, 1926) and Aarne’s Vergleichende Märchenforschung (Comparative Studies of Folklore, 1908).[2]

Research and Hypotheses

Keigo Seki's research was on how folklore came to Japan and if some folktales had been imported to Japan from countries such as India and China.[2] Seki's second hypothesis was that folktales should be examined to understand their impact on ordinary events and are to help people in their daily lives.[6] Seki also thought that there was a universal element to folktales and that they are not based on particular ethnic groups.[6]

Major works
  • Nihon Mukashibanashi Shūsei (日本昔話集成, "Compilation of Japanese Folktales")
  • Seki, Keigo, ed. (1963), Folktales of Japan, Robert J. Adams (tr.), University of Chicago Press, ISBN 9780226746159

Categorization

In “Types of Japanese Folktales.” Asian Folklore Studies, vol. 25, 1966, Keigo Seki details his own categorization system for folktales, but it did not catch on and the Aarne-Thompson system prevailed. Seki's system had Japanese folktales divided into in the following 18 categories:[7]

  1. Origin of Animals
  2. Animal Tales
  3. Man and Animal
    • Escape from Ogre
    • Stupid Animals
    • Grateful Animals
  4. Supernatural Wives and Husbands
    • Supernatural Husbands
    • Supernatural Wives
  5. Supernatural Birth
  6. Man and Waterspirit
  7. Magic Objects
  8. Tales of Fate
  9. Human Marriage
  10. Acquisition of Riches
  11. Conflicts
    • Parent and Child
    • Brothers (or Sisters)
    • Neighbors
  12. The Clever Man
  13. Jokes
  14. Contests
  15. Osho and Kozo
  16. Lucky Accidents
  17. Fools and Numskulls
    • Fools
    • Blunderers
    • Village of Numskulls
    • Foolish Son-in-Law
    • Foolish Daughter-in-Law
  18. Formula Tales

References
Citations
  1. Morse, Ronald A. (2015), Yanagita Kunio and the Folklore Movement (RLE Folklore): The Search for Japan's National Character and Distinctiveness, Routledge, ISBN 9781317549208
  2. Ozawa, Toshio (2008), "Seki Keigo (1899-1990", in Haase, Donald (ed.), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: Q-Z, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 846, ISBN 9781317549208
  3. Jenkins, Esther C.; Austin, Mary C. (1987), Literature for Children about Asians and Asian Americans, Greenwood Press, p. 99, ISBN 9780313259708
  4. Seki (1963).
  5. Enzyclopädie des Märchens" (2007), de Gruyter, p. 541
  6. Kawamori, Hiroshi (2003). "Folktale Research after Yanagita: Development and Related Issues". Asian Folklore Studies. 62 (2): 237–256. ISSN 0385-2342. JSTOR 30030288.
  7. Seki, Keigo (1966). "Types of Japanese Folktales". Asian Folklore Studies. 25: 1–220. doi:10.2307/1177478. ISSN 0385-2342. JSTOR 1177478.
Bibliography


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