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Keigo Seki (関 敬吾, Seki Keigo, 1899–1990) was a Japanese folklorist. He was joined a group under Yanagita Kunio, but often came to different conclusions regarding the same folktales. Along with collecting and compiling Japanese folktales, Seki also arranged them into a series of categories.

This work culminated in his Nihon mukashibanashi shūsei (Collection of Japanese Folktales) (1928, revised 1961), in three volumes, which classified Japanese folktales after the model of the Aarne-Thompson system.

A selection was published as Nihon No Mukashi-Banashi (1956–7), and was translated into English as Folktales of Japan (1963) by Robert J. Adams.

University Life
Seki was a native of Nagasaki Prefecture and graduate of Toyo University. He studied philosophy and worked as a librarian for the university. He founded the Japanese Society for Folk Literature (Nihon Koshobungei Gakkai) in 1977 and was its first president. Seki understood German and translated two works of folktales from German to Japanese, Kaarle Krohn’s Die folkloristische Arbeitsmethode (Folklore Methodology, 1926) and Aarne’s Vergleichende Märchenforschung (Comparative Studies of Folklore, 1908).

Research and Hypotheses
Keigo Seki's research was into how folklore came to Japan and if some folktales had been imported from countries such as India and China. Seki's second hypothesis was that folktales should be examined to understand their impact on ordinary events and are to help people in their daily lives. Seki also thought that there was a universal element to folktales and that they are not based on particular ethnic groups.

Major works

 * Nihon Mukashibanashi Shūsei (日本昔話集成)

Categorization
In “Types of Japanese Folktales.” Asian Folklore Studies, vol. 25, 1966, Keigo Seki details his own categorization system for folktales, but it did not catch on and the Aarne-Thompson system prevailed. His system had Japanese folktales divided into in the following 18 categories :


 * 1) Origin of Animals
 * 2) Animal Tales
 * 3) Man and Animal
 * 4) * Escape from Ogre
 * 5) * Stupid Animals
 * 6) * Grateful Animals
 * 7) Supernatural Wifes and Husbands
 * 8) * Supernatural Husbands
 * 9) * Supernatural Wifes
 * 10) Supernatural Birth
 * 11) Man and Waterspirit
 * 12) Magic Objects
 * 13) Tales of Fate
 * 14) Human Marriage
 * 15) Acquisition of Riches
 * 16) Conflicts
 * 17) * Parent and Child
 * 18) * Brothers (or Sisters)
 * 19) * Neighbors
 * 20) The Clever Man
 * 21) Jokes
 * 22) Contests
 * 23) Osho and Kozo
 * 24) Lucky Accidents
 * 25) Fools and Numskulls
 * 26) * Fools
 * 27) * Blunderers
 * 28) * Village of Numskulls
 * 29) * Foolish Son-in-Law
 * 30) * Foolish Daughter-in-Law
 * 31) Formula Tales