ABSTRACT
This essay critically examines the current practice of anthropological fieldwork
from the viewpoint of Japanese folklore studies or folkloristics. The discussion
revolves around four major concepts central to anthropology: first, intensive,
long-term fieldwork; second, the lone ethnographer; third, rapport with local
intellectuals; and lastly, social responsibility for the people studied. The argu-
ments to be presented are based on fieldwork I conducted with Japanese
folklorists in about ten places, including Korea, from 1995 to 2003. Readers
unfamiliar with Japanese folkloristics should remember that, historically speaking, it developed as a twin discipline of ethnology, and that its scope of
research is much broader than that of British or American folkloristics.
Studying village social structure, for example, is an important part of folk-
lore research in Japan. Thus, Japanese folklorists study folkways, rather than
folklore.
