KUNJO YANAGIDA was a folklorist of the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods.
Background
KUNJO YANAGIDA was born in 1875 in Hyogo Prefecture. His elder brother was Inoue Michiyasu, a doctor, poet, and scholar of Japanese literature; his younger brother Matsuoka Shizuo was a scholar of linguistics, while another younger brother, Matsuoka Eikyu, was a Japanese style painter.
Education
Yanagida graduated from the political course of Tokyo Imperial University in 1900 and took a position in the Agricultural Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce.
Career
In 1901 he was adopted into the Yanagida family. In 1902 he transferred to the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and later to the Department of the Imperial Household. In 1914 he became chief secretary of the Upper House of the Diet, but retired from this post in 1919. He went to Europe to participate in the League of Nations mandatory rule committee, residing in Switzerland during the period 1921-22. In 1924 he became an editorial writer for the Asahi Shimbun, a position that he resigned in 1932. In 1946 he became an advisor to the Privy Council, in 1947 a member of the Japan Art Academy, and in 1948 a member of the Japan Academy.
Personality
In his youth he was friendly with such literary figures as Shimazaki Toson, Tayama Katai, and Kunikida Doppo and became known as a writer of modern style poetry. He also w'as instrumental in introducing new works of foreign literature to Japan. Later he ceased to be active in the literary world, and his scholarly interests turned from his specialty, agricultural policy, to the field of folklore. He traveled extensively around the country, making walking tours of remote mountain areas and gathering data. In 1909 he published a collection of such data entitled Nochi-no-kari kotoba-no-ki, a work that marked the beginning of Japanese folklore studies. The following year he brought out a second collection entitled Tono monogatari.