THE RESEARCH ON THE SOURCES OF CHINESE MATERIALS IN JAPANESE THE LEGENDS OF TŌNO

Abstract

Tono Monogatari, published in 1910, is the pioneering and classic work of Yanagida Kunio, the father of modern Japanese folklore. Using Tono Monogatari as the starting point, Yanagida himself created the Japanese folklore, which the Japanese are proud of. Japanese academic circles have always regarded Tono Monogatari as a record of the local folk in Tono, Northeast Japan. Even Zhou Zuoren, who first got acquainted with this book in Japan, regarded it as a work of purely Japanese local studies. This article first starts with the text of Tono Monogatari, examines the relationship between its “Chinese style” and Chinese culture, and points out the Chinese cultural influence. On this basis the author traced the source of certain stories in Tono Monogatari, analyzed the way and process of these Chinese materials spread to Japan, and the changes that occurred after they were incorporated into Japanese folklore. By finding out that Tono Story has derived from many aspects of Chinese culture, it refutes the academic view that Tono Story is a pure Japanese folk heritage.