A History of Kudan : The Birth, Circulation, and Disappearance of a Monster Legend(<Special Issue>The Anatomy of the Uncanny: Something Pre-modern in Modernity)

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  • 「件」の系譜学 : その誕生・伝播・消滅をめぐる考察(<特集>怪異をひらく-近代の時空へ)
  • 「件」の系譜学--その誕生・伝播・消滅をめぐる考察
  • クダン ノ ケイフガク ソノ タンジョウ デンパ ショウメツ オ メグル コウサツ

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Abstract

In the folklore of the western part of Japan there was a legend of Kudan, a monster with a human face and a bovine body. Although it was orally circulated in the area between the Meiji and the early Showa Periods, today the legend has totally disappeared. The figure of Kudan originated from farmers' faith in a god with the head of a bull who was said to protect them from bad fortune and promise a rich harvest. As the agricultural community was undermined by industrialization and the faith gradually lost its social function, the god was transformed into the monster in public imagination. Finally the advanced stage of modernization with fewer opportunities to see cows in daily life put an end to its historical role.

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