Suye Mura, a Japanese Village

by John F. Embree

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Genres: Japan, Anthropology, Nonfiction, History

Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Cultural Anthropologist specializing in Japanese migrant communities.

Reviews

[Robert Jeens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Embree and his wife, who was also a social anthropologist, did a year and half of field work in 1935 and 1936 to conduct this study of the village of Suye Mura on the island of Kyushu in Japan. As a work of social anthropology, this attempts to investigate forms of social structure, everyday lifeways and how people interact with each other based on the direct observations of the author.

As for the structure of the book, the author starts with a physical description of the area and the economy. He then gives a short recent history of Japan to put the village into its historical context. He writes about the climate and seasons, the official government structure, occupational specialties, technology and machines, the family, immigration, emigration, ceremonies and beliefs about births, marriages, deaths, religions, festivals, neighborhood associations and mutual aid, folk songs, dances, social sanctions and punishment, social classes, gender relations, and the minutiae of village life. He discusses how all this relates to other studies and places current to the time. A workmanlike review.

If you are looking for scintillating prose, this is not the place. The author writes simple, declarative sentences repeatedly. He describes hilarious and uproarious parties in that same deadpan gait. People were eating and drinking and singing suggestive songs and dancing provocative dances and I had the feeling that there was a 1960s narrator giving a voice-over about the mating habits of birds. Apparently, the author did not speak Japanese well. He relied on translators or his wife, who was a fluent Japanese speaker. I wonder if that had something to do with his apparent lack of connection to the culture.

I could not help but compare this book with Vincent Brandt’s A Korean Village and how he used anecdotes to really help flesh out the feeling of the place, something completely lacking in this. In Brandt's study, I could tell that he really liked some of the village characters. In Embree's study, I don't know.

Lastly, this book is a good reflection of a place in a snapshot in time, something the author makes explicit. He discusses how directed modernization from the national government is changing or breaking down local ties and how economic modernization is doing the same thing. This is a topic in which his detached style serves him well; a change from many modern anthropologists who insist that modernization is a sort of crime against tradition, while acknowledging none of the advantages of, for example, electricity.

I looked in vain for Suye Maya on Google Maps, but I did find some of the bigger centers and landmarks mentioned in the book, so I got a general idea of the area. Personally, I found the detailed treatment of Japanese peasants in the 1930s to be informative if not entertaining.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

The classic, broad study of a Japanese village. Contains useful diagrams, vocabulary, and data.

[David Haws · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and interesting. I understand that he couldn't cite her on his dissertation, but I wish he'd given his wife a little more credit with the book (she was obviously an important collaborator).

[Jessica Zu · Rating 4 out of 5]

the writing is a bit boring, but solid research.