Japanese Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Seiichi Izumi

いずみ せいいち

Izumi Seiichi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1915-06-03 （Zoshigaya, Tokyo (then Tokyo Prefecture)）
Died
1970-11-15 （Tokyo, Japan） age 55
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Tokyo (birth and upbringing) → Keijo (now Seoul) — study and employment → Fukuoka (postwar repatriation and work) → Tokyo (Tokyo University and Institute for Oriental Culture)

Career

Occupations
cultural anthropologist, professor, researcher
Active Years
1938-1970
Affiliations
Institute for Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Meiji University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics (Associate Professor)
Influenced
Junzo Kawada, Yoshiro Masuda

Education

Keijo Imperial University
Faculty of Law and Literature / Department of Philosophy (transferred from Literature)
Country: Korea (then under Japanese rule)

Awards

Mainichi Publishing Culture Award
1962
Work: Ancestors of the Incas
Organization: The Mainichi Newspapers
Result: 受賞
Japan Essayist Club Award
1976
Work: Field Notes: Travels in Cultural Anthropology and Thought
Organization: Japan Essayists' Club
Result: 受賞（没後）
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (3rd class)
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: 受章
Senior Fourth Rank
Organization: Japan (court rank)
Result: 叙位

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Inca Empire

1959 cultural anthropology / historical overview

A general-audience overview of the history and culture of the Inca civilization.

Andean civilizationscomparative culture

Ancestors of the Incas

1962 cultural anthropology

A work examining pre-Inca peoples and cultures, combining research and accessible narrative.

pre-ancient culturesethnography

Art of the Andes

1964 art / cultural anthropology

A study of Andean art and its cultural contexts.

art historycultural history

Jeju Island

1966 ethnography

An ethnographic record based on fieldwork on Jeju Island (Korea).

regional culturefieldwork

Field Notes: Travels in Cultural Anthropology and Thought

1967 essays / fieldnotes

A collection of essays compiling observations and reflections from fieldwork.

fieldworktheoretical reflection

Records of Fieldwork: The Practice of Cultural Anthropology

1969 methodology / ethnography

A book recording methods and practices of fieldwork in cultural anthropology.

research methodsethnography

People Within Culture

1970 cultural anthropology

A collection of essays and studies on the relationship between culture and people.

cultural theoryviews of humanity

Bibliography

  • Monograph of a Mountain Village
  • The Inca Empire
  • Ancestors of the Incas
  • Art of the Andes
  • Jeju Island
  • Field Notes: Travels in Cultural Anthropology and Thought
  • Records of Fieldwork: The Practice of Cultural Anthropology
  • People Within Culture
  • Collected Works of Seiichi Izumi (7 volumes)

Translations by Author

  • Amazon Exploration (translation of William Lewis Herndon)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
observational descriptive prosescholarly yet accessible style for general readers
Recurring Motifs
the immediacy of fieldworkcomparative culturedetailed accounts of local cultures

Health

  • cerebral hemorrhage
    1970年
    Died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1970. His appointment as the inaugural director of the National Museum of Ethnology did not materialize.

Legacy

One of postwar Japan's leading cultural anthropologists, known for practice-oriented fieldwork and studies spanning the Andes to Jeju Island. He worked toward establishing the National Museum of Ethnology and mentored numerous younger scholars.

Museums

  • National Museum of Ethnology (Japan) Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan Opened in 1977

Academic Societies

  • Japanese Association of Cultural Anthropology

Archives

  • Institute for Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo — archives
  • Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties — TOBUNKEN archive database

Trivia

  • He had been appointed as the inaugural director of the National Museum of Ethnology but died before taking office.
  • Studied at Keijo Imperial University and taught at Meiji University and the University of Tokyo after the war.