Former Directors-General
First Director-General: UMESAO Tadao［deceased］
June 1974-March 1993
Ethnology, comparative study of civilizations
Second Director-General: SASAKI Komei［deceased］
April 1993-March 1997
History of agriculture in East and South Asia
Third Director-General: ISHIGE Naomichi
April 1997-March 2003
Cultural anthropology
Fourth Director-General: MATSUZONO Makio
April 2003-March 2009
Social anthropology, East Africa
Fifth Director-General: SUDO Ken’ichi
April 2009-March 2017
Social anthropology, Oceania
Sixth Director-General: KENJI Yoshida
April 2017-
Cultural anthropology, Africa
Museum anthropology