Shinobu Orikuchi

Shinobu Orikuchi
Born(1887-02-11)February 11, 1887
DiedSeptember 3, 1953(1953-09-03) (aged 66)
Other names折口 信夫 (a pen name:釋 迢空)
Alma materKokugakuin University (Bachelor of Letters, Doctor of Letters)
Occupation(s)ethnologist, linguist, folklorist, novelist, and poet
PartnerHarumi Orikuchi
Japanese name
Kanji折口 信夫
Hiraganaおりくち しのぶ
Transcriptions
RomanizationOrikuchi Shinobu

Shinobu Orikuchi (折口 信夫, Orikuchi Shinobu, 11 February 1887–3 September 1953), also known as Chōkū Shaku (釋 迢空, Shaku Chōkū), was a Japanese ethnologist, linguist, folklorist, novelist, and poet. As a disciple of Kunio Yanagita, he established an original academic field named "Orikuchiism" (折口学, Orikuchigaku), which is a mixture of Japanese folklore, Japanese classics, and Shintō. He produced many works in a diversity of fields covering the history of literature, folkloric performing arts, folklore itself, Japanese language, the classics study, Shintōology, ancient study, and so on. Yukio Mishima once called him the "Japanese Walter Pater".