A Comparative Study of Japanese and Indonesian Folklores

Abstract

who were more interested in collecting nonverbal folklore, such as the shape of traditional houses, furniture, house utensils, farm utensils, and children's toys. This group was very active in collecting and preserving cultural materials. These three groups with their different research objectives and methods, had a great influence on Japanese folklore research [ibid.: 103]. The situation in Indonesia was different. Although folklore materials had long been collected, studied and published, the researchers were from different disciplines and not themselves folklorists. This was understandable, for in that period Indonesia was still part of the Dutch Empire. In the Netherlands. folklore meant the traditional culture of the peasants in Europe, while the cultures (including folklore) outside Euro-America were primitive cultures that were studied by anthropologists. The Dutch term for anthropology is volkenkunde, while folklore is volkskunde [Danandjaja 1994b: 2].