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Yanagita established in 1928 a journal called ''Tabi to densetsu'' (旅と伝説, "Travels and Legends"), in which he outlined instructions to readers for traveling to countryside locations and collecting tales. Shortly after this, he published a guidebook for the same purposes, encouraging even more folktale submissions. After these early attempts at gathering tales, greater interest arose in his works, and through the sponsorship of the Japan Broadcasting Association, he and his students and colleagues such as Seki Keigo embarked on larger hunts for information, using as sources direct conversations with people like "rice farmers, deep-sea fishermen, and their wives" from "remote villages" (Seki viii). By 1935, several independent societies and institutes had formed with the goal of organizing similar collection efforts, most of which looked to Yanagita Kunio as their inspiration and authority. One of these was the Minzokugaku Kenkyûjo, or Institute for the Study of Japanese Folklore, which Yanagita himself established. While a great amount of material was collected by Yanagita's staff and students, he mostly limited the organization and analysis of these materials to himself in the early years (Mori 101).
Yanagita established in 1928 a journal called ''Tabi to densetsu'' (旅と伝説, "Travels and Legends"), in which he outlined instructions to readers for traveling to countryside locations and collecting tales. Shortly after this, he published a guidebook for the same purposes, encouraging even more folktale submissions. After these early attempts at gathering tales, greater interest arose in his works, and through the sponsorship of the Japan Broadcasting Association, he and his students and colleagues such as Seki Keigo embarked on larger hunts for information, using as sources direct conversations with people like "rice farmers, deep-sea fishermen, and their wives" from "remote villages" (Seki viii). By 1935, several independent societies and institutes had formed with the goal of organizing similar collection efforts, most of which looked to Yanagita Kunio as their inspiration and authority. One of these was the Minzokugaku Kenkyûjo, or Institute for the Study of Japanese Folklore, which Yanagita himself established. While a great amount of material was collected by Yanagita's staff and students, he mostly limited the organization and analysis of these materials to himself in the early years (Mori 101).
==Yanagita and Okinawa==
Yanagita left his government position in 1920, and later that year traveled to Kyushu and Okinawa. In January 1921, he traveled around various parts of [[Okinawa prefecture]], and met with many of the fathers of Okinawan Studies, including [[Ifa Fuyu|Ifa Fuyû]], [[Higa Shuncho|Higa Shunchô]], [[Kishaba Eijun]], and [[Shimabukuro Genichiro|Shimabukuro Gen'ichirô]]. Following his return to the capital, he published articles about Okinawa in the ''[[Asahi Shimbun]]'', and gave a number of lectures. A lecture meeting held on April 21, called ''Nantô danwakai'' ("Southern Islands Conversation Meeting"), is of particular significance, as a great many notable scholars of the time were in attendance, including Kishaba Eijun and [[Orikuchi Shinobu]].<ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 9-10.</ref>
==Later Years==
==Later Years==
* Mori, Koichi. (1980) [http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/120.pdf "Yanagita Kunio: An Interpretive Study"]. ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies''. Nanzan University.
* Mori, Koichi. (1980) [http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/120.pdf "Yanagita Kunio: An Interpretive Study"]. ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies''. Nanzan University.
* Seki, Keigo. (1963) ''Folktales of Japan''. University of Chicago Press.
* Seki, Keigo. (1963) ''Folktales of Japan''. University of Chicago Press.
* Mayer, Fanny Hagin. (1960) ''Japanese Folk Tales'', translated from ''Nihon no mukashibanashi'' by Yanagita Kunio. Tokyo News Service, Ltd.
* Mayer, Fanny Hagin. (1960) ''Japanese Folk Tales'', translated from ''Nihon no mukashibanashi'' by Yanagita Kunio. Tokyo News Service, Ltd.
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[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Historians]]
[[Category:Historians]]
