Yanagita Kunio (1875–1962). Pionier japońskich badań folklorystycznych

Yanagita Kunio (1875–1962). Pioneer of Japanese folklore studies The Meiji era (1868–1912) pushed Japan towards a modern, industrialized and, most of all, positivist state. This era plays an important role in shaping the ethnographic (anthropological, folklore) thought in the country. However, this is only one side of the coin, a medal which, apart from a gigantic leap in civilization, had a reverse – traditional, familiar, “Japanese” side. Japan went through two important periods of modernization in the years of 1868-1962. From a feudal country ruled by samurai transformed into a country capable of competing with the previously industrially developed colonial powers, and after World War II, giving up imperial ambitions, transformed into a modern state. During the century, numerous changes have occurred in the streets of the Japanese capital. From the carriages, trough automobiles, and finally, after 1945, to the jets flying overhead. It was in such times that the pioneer of Japanese ethnography, folklore or socio-cultural anthropology, Yanagita Kunio, came to live and work. This text aims to present the profile and main theses of this Japanese researcher.

Izutsu's Study of the Qur'an from an Arab Perspective

This essay examines the Arab view of the approach taken by the Japanese researcher Toshihiko Izutsu in his application of semantic theory to the Qur'an, focusing on three of his works: God and Man in the Koran, Ethico-religious Concepts in the Qurʾān and The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theology: A Semantic Analysis of Īmān and Islām (all of which have recently been translated into Arabic by Eisa Al-Akoub and published by Al-Multaqā Publishing House in Aleppo). From the responses of a number of Arab researchers of the Qur'an to these translations over the last three years, it has become apparent that Izutsu's studies are viewed as being of great importance because, through their theoretical and applied principles, they form the basis of a new approach to studying the Qur'an. This essay will discuss the general response to Izutsu's work, and also focus on a number of individual responses to Izutsu's work from a number of Syrian and Lebanese academics who have a specific interest in modern methodologies in the study of the Qur'an. As will be seen, some Arab writers show genuine attitudes of admiration and appreciation towards Izutsu's work, while others are more conservative and cautious in their assessment of Izutsu's contribution.