Shinobu Orikuchi

Shinobu Orikuchi (æŠ˜å£ ä¿¡å¤« Orikuchi Shinobu, 11 February 1887–3 September 1953), also known as ChÅkÅ« Shaku (釋 迢空 Shaku ChÅkÅ«), was a Japanese ethnologist, linguist, folklorist, novelist, and poet. As a disciple of Kunio Yanagita, he established an original academic field named "Orikuchiism" (折å£å¦ Orikuchigaku), which is a mixture of Japanese folklore, Japanese classics, and ShintÅ. He produced many works in a diversity of fields covering the history of literature, folkloric performing arts, folklore itself, Japanese language, the classics study, ShintÅology, ancient study, and so on. Yukio Mishima once called him the "Japanese Walter Pater".
Biography
Orikuchi was born in the former Nishinari, ÅŒsaka (now part of Naniwa-ku, Osaka). After graduating with a degree in Japanese literature from Kokugakuin University in 1910, he started to teach Japanese and Chinese classics at junior high schools. In 1919, he was employed as a part-time instructor in Kokugakuin University. In 1922, he was promoted to professor. In 1924, he was hired as a professor at Keio University as well; afterward, he taught at two different universities until he died. As a poet, he and Kitahara Hakushu established a tanka magazine called NikkÅ ("Sunshine") in 1924. In 1925, he published Between the Sea and the Mountains (æµ·å±±ã®é–“ Umi Yama no Aida), his first tanka book, which is highly estimated.
In 1934, he received a doctorate for his study on the Man'yÅshÅ«. He also established the Japan Folklorists Society (日本民俗å”会). As a folklorist, Yanagita was known for rejecting every sexual subject; Orikuchi, in contrast, was very open-minded to these matters. He became a model for the protagonist in Mishima's short story Mikumano MÅde (三熊野詣), while his novel Shisha no Sho was basis for a film by Kihachiro Kawamoto.
Major works
- Umi Yama no Aida (æµ·ã‚„ã¾ã®ã‚ã²ã "Between The Sea And The Mountains") – Tanka book
- Haru no Kotobure (春ã®ã“ã¨ã¶ã‚Œ "The Spring Forerunner") – Tanka book
- Shisha no Sho (æ»è€…ã®æ›¸ "The Book of the Dead") – Novel
- Kodai KenkyÅ« (å¤ä»£ç ”ç©¶ "The Ancient Study") – Treatise on folklore and literature in ancient Japan
- Kabuki San (ã‹ã¶ã讃 "Viva Kabuki") – Kabuki review
Sources
- åŠ è—¤å®ˆé›„ã€Žã‚ãŒå¸«æŠ˜å£ä¿¡å¤«ã€æœæ—¥æ–°èžç¤¾(1967)
- è«è¨ªæ˜¥é›„『折å£ä¿¡å¤«ã‚’èªã¿ç›´ã™ã€è¬›è«‡ç¤¾ç¾ä»£æ–°æ›¸(1994)
- 山折哲雄ã€ç©‚ç©ç”Ÿè©ã€ŽåŸ·æ·±ãã‚れ 折å£ä¿¡å¤«ã®ã‚¨ãƒã‚¹ã€å°å¦é¤¨(1997)
- 富岡多æµå『釈迢空ノートã€å²©æ³¢æ›¸åº—(2000)
- 安藤礼二『神々ã®é—˜äº‰ 折å£ä¿¡å¤«è«–ã€è¬›è«‡ç¤¾(2004)
External links
- Orikuchi Shinobu in the Encyclopedia of Shinto.
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