Masao Oka

He was an ethnologist during the Taisho and Showa periods. He was born in Matsumoto-cho, Higashichikuma-gun, Nagano Prefecture (now Matsumoto City). After graduating from the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Letters, Tokyo Imperial University, he published the magazine Minzoku (ethnic group) with Kunio Yanagita in 1925 (Taisho 14). He also showed an interest in Japanese folklore, but later parted ways with Yanagita. In 1929 (Showa 4), he went to Europe and studied ethnology at the University of Vienna, where he received his doctorate in 1933 for his thesis on the formation of Japanese ethnic culture, "The Cultural Layers of Ancient Japan." From 1938 to 1941, he presided over the Institute of Japanese Studies as a visiting professor at the University of Vienna, and after returning to Japan, he was affiliated with the Ministry of Education's Institute of Ethnology from 1943 to 1945. After World War II, he served as professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University and Meiji University, and director of the Institute for Languages ​​and Cultures of Asia and Africa at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and as a leader in the field of ethnology in Japan, he trained many researchers. Many researchers under his tutelage are also found in the Japanese academic circles in Germany and Austria. His major works include Foreigners and Others: The Origins of the Japanese People and Culture and the Formation of the Japanese Nation (1979).

[Masao Higa November 19, 2018]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

大正・昭和期の民族学者。長野県東筑摩郡松本町（現、松本市）生まれ。東京帝国大学文学部社会学科卒業後、1925年（大正14）柳田国男(やなぎたくにお)と雑誌『民族』を刊行、日本民俗学にも関心を示すが、のち柳田と袂(たもと)を分かつ。1929年（昭和4）渡欧、ウィーン大学で民族学を学び、日本民族文化の形成についての論文「古日本の文化層」で、1933年学位を授与された。1938年から1941年までウィーン大学客員教授として日本学研究所を主宰し、帰国して1943年から1945年まで文部省民族学研究所に所属する。第二次世界大戦後は、東京都立大学・明治大学教授、東京外国語大学アジア・アフリカ言語文化研究所長を歴任し、日本の民族学界の指導者として多くの研究者を育てた。薫陶を受けた研究者はドイツ、オーストリアの日本学界にも多い。主著は『異人その他――日本民族・文化の源流と日本国家の形成』（1979）など。

［比嘉政夫　2018年11月19日］

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