Kizen Sasaki Explained

Birth Date:5 October 1886
Birth Place:Tōno, Iwate, Japan
Othername:佐々木 喜善
Occupation:folklorist

, also sometimes Sun-Hee Sasaki and Kyōseki Sasaki[1] (5 October 1886  - 29 September 1933), was a Japanese folklorist,[2] sometimes known as the Japanese Grimm.[3]

Biography

He was the son of a wealthy farming family from Tōno, Iwate. He attended Shiritsu Tetsugakukan (now Toyo University) and then graduated with a degree in literature from Waseda University in 1905. In 1908, he became acquainted with Kunio Yanagita, and Sasaki began to collaborate with Yanagita on collecting the oral traditions and tales of Iwate Prefecture. In his later years, he became friends with the poet Kenji Miyazawa with whom he shared his discoveries. Sasaki suffered from respiratory problems and died at the age of 46.

Professionally, Sasaki published a number of books of collected folktales and customs.

Sources

Notes

  1. Sadler, A. W. (1987) "The Spirit-Captives of Japan's North Country: Nineteenth Century Narratives of the Kamikakushi " Asian Folklore Studies 46: pp. 217-226.
  2. [Richard Dorson|Dorson, Richard M.]
  3. Dorson, Richard M.(1975) "Foreword" in Kunio, Yanagita (1975) The legends of Tono (translated with an introduction by Ronald A. Morse) Japan Foundation, Tokyo,