Kizen Sasaki

Who was Kizen Sasaki?

Kizen Sasaki, also sometimes Sun-Hee Sasaki and Kyōseki Sasaki, was a Japanese folklorist, sometimes known as the Japanese Grimm.

He was the son of a wealthy farming family and attended Shiritsu Tetsugakukan and then graduated with a degree in literature from Waseda University in 1905. In 1908 he became acquainted with Kunio Yanagita, and Sasaki began to collaborate with Yanagita on collecting the oral traditions and tales of Iwate Prefecture. In his later years he became friends with the poet Kenji Miyazawa with whom he shared his discoveries. Sasaki suffered from respiratory problems and died at the age of 47.

Professionally, Sasaki published a number of books of collected folktales and customs.