The title "Food and the Heart" was not merely an allegory, but, as the beginning of this turning New Year, I intended to preach the mundane importance of rice cakes to illustrate how "problems" can stimulate the local end. To clarify whether the temperament or taste of the Japanese people today has not changed since the previous era or has changed recently, I first focused on the new effects of educational methods from the structure of the city, and, knowing that the old customs are remarkably different from place to place, I am trying to ascertain how far they intersect with the culture in front of us. We are only allowed to use such materials as unconsciously preserved peasant and fishermen's proverbs, songs, and other fragmentary uses of language, and even with considerable conjecture we still feel a general impossibility, and the local differences which the environmentalist unreservedly argues are almost impossible to grasp, but I have experienced the same kind of grievous anxiety when trying to infer the most primitive forms of indigenous belief simply from the outward appearance of visible or recorded customs. Usually, to deduce the original form of the primitive faith which secretly and most strongly controlled the national ethos, it was difficult to find anything to compare with the difference between the candid impression of individual observers and the ostensible explanation handed down so far, with an emphasis on the origin of the shrines in the villages and the ceremonies and dance which marked the seasonal festivals and performances, but the truth was that we could not hope for a very great fruits. It was possible, on rare occasions, for someone to say the origin of a thing, and satisfy those who revel in its antiquity, but it could not be knowledge enough to explain how it survived and left an essential element in the new generation. It is natural for those who cannot necessarily reach a conclusion in a short lifetime to fear that this will render their work futile.

allegory（名）寓喩、寓意

preach（動）説く

mundane（形）平凡な

illustrate（動）説明する

temperament（名）気質

taste（名）好み

ascertain（動）突き止める、究明する

intersect（動）交差する

unconsciously（副）無意識に

considerable（形）かなりの

conjecture（名）憶測、推測

impossibility（名）不可能

environmentalist（名）環境決定論者

unreservedly（副）遠慮なく

grievous （形）悲痛な、痛ましい

indigenous（形）土着の

outward（形）外見上の

deduce（動）推測する、推定する

ethos（名）精神、エートス

candid（形）率直な

ostensible（形）表向きの

emphasis（名）注目、重要視

fruit（名）収穫、成果

antiquity（名）古さ、古めかしさ

fear（動）心配する、懸念する

futile（形）無駄な

Since historiography was originally the business of describing events that would never happen again, the end result is to clarify that 'this was the way it used to be,' and even in the recent phase of social history, there is a tendency to try to forcibly separate the view from the present interests by using the word historicization or belonging to the past. It is a theory of historical perspective that is popular among young scholars these days to deal with this biologically and explain the former period as the reason for the 'present,' but on the other hand, it seems that they were surprisingly rough in arranging and selecting materials. It is natural, above all, that their suspicions and curiosities, and the first point they determined, were the happiness and distress of the mass, and yet no one has considered how incomplete and biased the facts heretofore written or lately newly discovered in this regard have been. In other words, the microscope is already in place, but it doesn't even have a prepared slide yet. It is a pity for historical theorists who search vainly among the historical documents which don't assume the actual requirements of such a life, but it is certainly not a blessing for those of us who have learned how to collect and handle folklore, who have been born in a country with more materials than expected, and who have had to compete in vain with earthenware and stone tools archaeologists and immerse ourselves in ancient research like a balloon with a broken thread, or who have had to produce a corrected version of Yamato Kotohajime compiled by Kaibara*. At least we don't logically allow these conditions to be called cultural history or to believe that local studies will save the ills of the times. Research based on each person's hobbies or aspirations can be done freely, but apart from that, it seems to me that it is not natural to be able to benefit the world and repay the debt of the nation unless we recognize the common problems of race and time next door and proceed with the goal of interpreting them, or even if we are not able to do so, we know what part of one large study our research is, and continue to share according to our abilities under the comprehensive consciousness, and it is difficult to withdraw from there and even plan for the happiness of each region. With regard to the Ministry of Education's encouragement documents, like the instructions for medicines, I resolutely reject their undertones.

historiography（名）歴史学

forcibly （副）無理やり

interest（名）利害関係

historicization（名）歴史化

biologically（副）生物学的に

arrange（動）整える、配列する

distress（名）苦悩、不安

mass（名）大衆

heretofore（副）これまで

prepared slide......プレパラート

vainly（副）無駄に

earthenware（形）土器の

archaeologist（名）考古学者

immerse（動）没頭させる

compile（動）編纂する

aspiration（名）強い願望

repay（動）報いる

interpret（動）解釈する

comprehensive（形）包括的な、総合的な

instruction（名）取扱説明書

resolutely （副）硬く決心して、断固として

undertone（名）含意

*Yamato Kotohajime compiled by Kaibara: It is a dictionary compiled by Yoshifuru Kaibara (1664 – 1700), a scholar of the Edo period, and describes the origin of things related to Japan.