This dissertation is intended to provide an overview of the world of Japanese traditional folk song and its role in the ever-changing larger universe that is modern Japan. Since the 1860s Japan has undergone rapid urbanization, industrialization and Westernization--processes often grouped under the concept of modernization. During this same time span, folk song in Japan has developed into a discrete, indigenously recognized genre of wide popularity called min'yo (literally, "folk song"). One aim of the present dissertation is to evaluate the relative roles of traditional cultural elements and modernizing forces, respectively, in the emergence of this genre. We consider which features of the folk song world have changed in the face of modernization and which ones have remained constant, and, in both cases, why. A second aim of this dissertation is to provide descriptive data on the modern folk song world. It is hoped that the present work will constitute a useful contribution to the growing body of literature on the ethnomusicology of modernization.;Japanese folk song has developed along a path which represents a complex, heterogeneous blending of influences from within and without.;In the concluding chapter, the principal recent developments are recapitulated and considered in the light of concepts such as Westernization, modernization and tradition. It is suggested that such concepts can be misleading if used without continual reference to specific examples.;Among the topics treated are: the growth of a professional folk song world early in this century; the classification of folk song; the often tense opposition between the approaches of urban-based professional performers and rural amateurs; the role of min'yo in the formation and maintenance of identity; the expansion of the shared national repertoire of folk songs; and the various attempts at creating "new folk songs".
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