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A comparative study on Ethnogenetic theory of the Japanese Race by Ryuzo Torii and Masao Oka - From the Viewpoints of ‘Diffusion’ and ‘Migration’ - Hideyuki Sekine Ryuzo Torii and Masao Oka were the representative researchers who advocated the ethnogenetic theory of the Japanese race before and after World War II. Although both of them thought that the Japanese race was the mixture of various races from East Asia, comparative studies of their ideas have yet to be made. This paper aimed at comparing their theories from a viewpoint of the sociology of knowledge with a focus on their interaction with historical contexts such as scientific trend of thought and current foreign relations, etc. For a touchstone or a criterion, I focused on their choice between 'migration' and 'diffusion' as the moment of explanation of the genealogy, with the former being associated with the direct genealogical relationship, and the latter with the indirect genealogical relationship. Since Japan of the 1910s, in which Torii's theory was announced, needed the logic which justifies assimilation of new territories, it was natural for Torii's theory to be influenced by a viewpoint of migration. Torii came to realize, however, the importance of cultural studies made popular by the investigation of Miao tribes, and turned the direction of research into diffusion. Meanwhile, in the postwar Japan, which abandoned colonies, asked for a new identity as a homogeneous nation, Oka's new theory was announced and Torii's theory was increasingly seen as a dangerous ideology. Although the historical situation almost compelled genealogical studies of the Japanese race towards viewpoint of diffusion, Oka also commented on migration cautiously. Because of restrictions that the current social atmosphere imposed on each researcher, Torii had to give seemingly cursory comments on diffusion while concentrating on migration and Oka had to give seemingly cursory attention to migration while concentrating on diffusion. This study, however, argues that what two researchers aimed at was almost the same in the last instance. Although Oka denied any academic tie with Torii, it is not too much to say that Oka was a real successor of Torii.