The Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture (ISJFC), which had its origins in the Attic Museum founded by Keizo Shibusawa in 1921, has collected materials from many sources on the history, culture, and everyday life of the ordinary people of Japan, achieving special note in the fields of fisheries history and folk implements.
Recently, as a center under the MEXT 21st Century COE Program “Systematization of Nonwritten Cultural Materials for the Study of Human Societies” (FY 2003–2007), the Institute carried out survey research to establish and develop methodologies for the study of pictorial materials (Ebiki), physical techniques, and landscape design. Upon the successful conclusion of the program in April 2008, the Research Center for Nonwritten Cultural Materials (RCNCM) was added to the Institute to carry on this work.
ICFCS has now been established to act as an international hub for the study of folk culture, making full use of the historical materials and databases of both the Institute and the Research Center.