Overview
The Graduate School of History and Folklore Studies was established in 1993 against the background of the progress achieved in the study of history and folklore in Japan with an aim to further develop new areas of study. The development of human society has generated various written and nonwritten materials that form the foundation of the study of history and folk culture. This Graduate School aims at providing training for comprehensive and in-depth academic study of such materials and fostering students capable of collecting, classifying, preserving, restoring, exhibiting, and otherwise handling such materials./p>
In addition to courses on the various periods in Japanese history and specialized areas of study of folklore and nonwritten materials, the Graduate School’s academic programs also comprise courses in information, conservation, and other physical sciences, aiming at proficiency in the full utilization of diverse materials, including written and folk materials, folk implements, graphic data, and archaeological and architectural materials.
The Graduate School has its roots in Kanagawa University’s Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture (ISJFC), which was founded in 1921 by Keizo Shibusawa and transferred to the administration of Kanagawa University in 1982. The Institute has engaged in wide ranging research on Japan’s history and folk culture, and it also established the Research Center for Nonwritten Cultural Material in 2007. This new center was designated a project of the Ministry of Education’s Program for Promotion of Joint Research Centers in Fiscal Year 2009 with the mission of promoting international research activities. Educational and research activities at the Graduate School are conducted in close cooperation with the ISJFC. Graduate students are given various opportunities to participate in the Institute’s workshops and material research activities and are able to utilize its collection of materials and literature.
The educational and research activities of the Graduate School will also be conducted and expanded in close collaboration with the new Department of History and Folklore Studies of the Faculty of Cross-Cultural and Japanese Studies opening in School Year 2020 (moving to the Minato Mirai Campus in School Year 2021). Graduate students will move between the Yokohama and Minato Mirai Campuses to take advantage of the great variety of materials and data available to them. On the other hand, facilities for the Graduate School’s exclusive use, such as seminar rooms, student study rooms, library, photocopying machines, and computers, will be located in one place for the users’ convenience.
The Graduate School’s students are expected to become researchers who will preserve and nurture local cultural activities and folk culture. For this reason, the Graduate School accepts not only students who have newly completed their undergraduate studies, but also working adults who desire to rethink Japanese culture and society, as well as incumbent staff members of museums and archives and teachers who would like to reconsider or refocus their careers. Kanagawa University also offers a museum curator course which they can take concurrently to broaden the opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills.