Abstract
In this study, for better understanding of the roots of social bias against civil engineers in modern Japanese society, folklore research about civil engineers in Japanese history were surveyed in terms of oni, including research performed by Itsuo Wakao, who is a pioneer of Japanese non-agricultural culture research. First, folklore studies on civil engineers were reviewed. These studies suggest that civil engineers were categorized as non-farmers, which also included other groups of people such as vagabonds and social outcasts. As non-farmers, these people have not been the main subject of Japanese folklore studies. Second, existing legends about the exterminations of oni were reviewed, which suggest that mineworkers, who were categorized as non-farmers, were called oni. Certain mining technologies were diverted into tunnel mining in gorobe irrigation channels, which falls under civil engineering. Through these reviews, this research indicates the possibility of civil engineers being called oni.
