The Exploration Of Japanese National Character In Yanagita Kunio’s Monster Studies

This paper starts with the studies of monster by Yanagita Kunio,a master of Japanese folklore,to investigate Yanagita Kunio’s monster studies as the same imagination of Japanese,which deeply embodies the authenticity of Japanese people that has not been eroded by modernization and reflects the nature of Japanese national character.The first chapter starts from the monster culture in Japan,explores the origin of the monster culture in Japan and its development in different periods,and discusses the connotation and characteristics of Yanagita Kunio’s monster culture as a community of national imagination.The second chapter starts with the “legend of witches” in Yanagita Kunio’s monster studies.Taking the legends of women with spiritual power and women being sacrificed as examples,and discusses the contradictory views of Japanese people on symbolized women in relation to the status of women in Japanese society.The third chapter selects the monster image of “oneeyed monk”,briefly describes the origin of the one-eyed god and related legends,discusses the “one-eyed monk”,the monster image of “one-eyed monk”,points to the hero image of fallen hero and the noble scapegoat image,and expounds the relationship between this hero image and Japanese hero worship;The last chapter starts with the “spirited away” legends collected by Yanagita Kunio,and divides the legends into two categories: the people who spirited away and the hidden legends,so as to expound the significance of the afterlife world and the present world to Japanese people.The legend of the witch,the image of the “one-eyed monk” and the legends of“spirited away”,points to the misogyny of Japanese society,the unique heroism and the Japanese view of life and death.In summary,this thesis seeks to explain the multilayered nature of Japanese nationality in the imagination of the community of“monster culture” from the perspective of folklore,and to point out the national character embedded in its imaginary homogeneity,continuity,and authenticity.