Safeguarding of Intangible Folk Cultural Properties in Japan. KIKUCHI Kensaku Agency for Cultural Affairs

Transcription

1 Safeguarding of Intangible Folk Cultural Properties in Japan KIKUCHI Kensaku Agency for Cultural Affairs I will now speak to you about the history of safeguarding folk cultural properties and the measures used in their protection. As my colleague, Senior Specialist Sasaki, said this morning, there is a fundamental law, which serves as the basis for the protection of performing arts, craft techniques and of folk cultural properties, the last of which arise my field of specialty. This law, called the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, was enacted in 1950 and has been revised a number of times to this date. The Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties cites the following types of cultural properties: tangible cultural properties, which will not be the topic of today s talk, intangible cultural properties, and folk cultural properties. Furthermore, the Law also recognizes monuments, cultural landscapes, and groups of historic buildings. Moreover, although not cultural properties in themselves, selected conservation techniques, which are needed for the protection or the conservation of cultural properties, are also recognized, as we learned earlier from Sasaki s presentation. In Japan, intangible cultural properties, folk cultural properties and selected conservation techniques are considered to cultural properties that are intangible. Of these cultural properties, folk cultural properties are defined under the Law as, manners and customs related to food, clothing and housing, to occupations, religious faiths, festivals, and other annual observances to folk performing arts, folk techniques and clothes, implements, houses and other objects used therefor, which are indispensable for the understanding of changes in our people s modes of life. According to this definition, folk cultural properties include manners and customs, folk performing arts, and folk techniques. In our nation s scheme of cultural properties, folk cultural properties, in certain respects, differ substantially from other cultural properties. Tangible cultural properties refer to what is tangible, i.e. what has shape. Monuments, cultural landscapes, and groups of historic buildings also usually refer to what is tangible, i.e. what has shape On the other hand, intangible cultural properties refer to techniques or what are intangible, without shape. However, folk cultural properties include both tangible and intangible properties. Under the Law, 1

2 folk cultural properties are defined as manners and customs, folk performing arts or folk techniques, but at the same time they include clothes, implements, houses and other objects used therefor. In other words, folk cultural properties are distinct from other cultural properties in that they include both tangible and intangible properties. I would now like to move on to the type of protection that has been practiced with respect to intangible folk cultural properties. Intangible folk cultural properties were actually not included in the scope of protection when the Law was first enacted in That is not to say that folk cultural properties were completely unprotected then; at that time only tangible items were protected as folk materials. Moreover, folk cultural properties at that time were not considered to be an independent type of cultural properties, as they are now, but as one of the categories of cultural properties that are tangible, as one of the categories under the current designation of important cultural properties. Thus, with the revision to the Law in 1954, folk materials that are intangible as well as those that are tangible came under the scope of protection. As a result of this revision, folk materials, which had until then been considered to be one type of tangible cultural properties, or important cultural properties, began to be treated independently and became subjects for separate designation as folk materials. From this time on, a movement began for the designation of important tangible folk materials. At the same time, measures to protect folk materials that are intangible also came to be implemented, and beginning from the revision to the Law in 1954, protective measures also began to be implemented thereto as folk materials that are intangible and that require measures such as recording. Various folk materials that are intangible have been selected and documented as such. An example is the New Year events, which were selected for recording in November This was followed by the selection and documentation of rice-planting customs. To date 560 properties have been selected for recording and this number is expected to increase, as we have once again received reports this year on properties requiring selection for recording. With the revision of the Law in 1954 folk materials that are intangible, although they were not designated, came under the scope of protection. However, they remained undesignated for a considerable length of time. It was not until 1975 that intangible folk cultural properties became subject for designation. With the revision to the Law in 1975, what had been formerly called folk materials came to be referred to as folk cultural properties and, at the same time, folk properties that are intangible as well as tangible became subject to designation. It was at this time that the system for the designation of 2

3 important intangible folk cultural properties was also started. During the period from the beginning of the designation system until 2006, 246 important intangible folk cultural properties have been designated. I mentioned earlier that folk cultural properties include manners and customs, folk performing arts and folk techniques. According to this categorization, there have been 97 designations under manners and customs, 146 under folk performing arts and 3 under folk techniques. Currently there are only 3 designations under folk technique as this system only came into effect last year. Following the revision in 1975, another revision to the Law was made in 2004, which added the new category of cultural landscapes. Moreover, another new category, that of folk techniques, was added under folk cultural properties. For a long time, the scope of folk cultural properties had been limited to manners and customs and folk performing arts, but it was then extended to include folk techniques, and designation for this category began in As can be seen, thus, in Japan folk cultural properties have been protected under the framework of this Law. So far in this presentation I have spoken of manners and customs, folk performing arts and folk techniques in a matter-of-fact way. I am sure that most of you will have some idea of what folk performing arts are, but many of you may be unclear as to what constitutes the category of manners and customs. So I will now explain to you the types of items included in this category. Many things are included in manners and customs include a variety of activities. One of these is matters related to production and occupations. The customs and rituals that have been observed in our everyday work, the so-called life rituals or the rituals that people experience throughout their lives, are also included. In simpler terms, it may be said that festivals and annual events are the majority. Let me introduce some of the manners and customs currently under designation. For example, there is an event involving floats (in Japanese, yatai) known as the Chichibu Matsuri no Yatai Gyoji to Kagura (events with floats and sacred kagura music and dance) that is held every December during a festival at Chichibu (Chichibu Matsuri). Six floats are launched and a kabuki s performed on these floats. During this festival, the floats on which the performances are staged are not set up in a stationary position but travel around the area. Festivals like this that feature floats of different types have been designated as observances under the category of manners and customs. Although kabuki performed during the Chichibu Matsuri has not yet been designated as a folk performing art, bunraku that is similarly staged on floats in Chiryu Dashi-bunraku has received this designation 3

4 As examples of folk techniques, the technique of the builders of wasen (Japanese ships) and the well-digging technique called kazusa-bori have been given this designation. Since the folk technique designation system is a relatively new system, there are only three designations at the moment. However under this system it is also possible to select a technique as an intangible cultural property requiring measures such as recording. Unfortunately, no technique has been selected as of now. In terms of folk techniques, while the techniques themselves become targets for designation, at the same time the tools used, for example by the ship builder, and the workshop in which the techniques are practiced are also considered tangible folk cultural properties that may be eligible for designation as important folk cultural properties that are tangible. As seen above, the systems of designation, selection and registration are used in Japan in order to designate and protect folk cultural properties. In the case of intangible cultural properties, in particular, designation and selection are used. Next I would like to explain how designation and selection are conducted. The designation process begins with investigations. There are many ways to go about this investigation. One way is to accumulate information by calling upon prefectures and municipalities to investigate and provide information. Another method is for the Agency for Cultural Affairs to plan or request a national survey to be conducted as a government-supported project. There have been a number of national surveys led by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. One example is the Minzoku Shiryo Kinkyu Chosa (Emergency Surveys of Folk Materials), which were conducted nearly 50 years ago, from 1962 to These surveys were conducted in 46 prefectures (excluding Okinawa, since Okinawa had not been returned to Japan at this point). The same survey was conducted in Okinawa some time later, eventually bringing the total number of prefectures that made surveys to 47. For these surveys, 30 locations were selected for each prefecture as points of investigation, and the results have been published in the ten volumes of the Nihon Minzoku Chizu (folk map of Japan). Ten years later, the Minzoku Bunkazai Bumpu Chosa (Studies on the Distribution of Folk Cultural Properties), were conducted for a period of 10 years. While the previous survey conducted investigations on 30 selected locations, these studies expanded their points of investigations to nearly 200 locations. As the surveys became more detailed, greater degrees of accuracy were achieved. The results of these studies have been published by each prefecture in the form of local maps, but, unfortunately, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has not been able to gather all the information into a single corpus. The Zenkoku Matsuri-gyoji Chosa (Nationwide Survey on Festival Events) about 4

5 currently observed events has also been ongoing for the past 10 years. This survey is also being conducted as part of a government-supported project. All 47 prefectures have been asked to conduct the survey and a little over half has been finished. Currently the survey is more than halfway through. Based on the results of the nationwide surveys and the nationwide surveys conducted as part of government-supported projects that I have just introduced, we select possible candidates for designation as folk cultural properties. After making the selection we conduct further on-site investigations or take into account various factors including the findings of academic societies to narrow down the number of candidates. As a separate undertaking, we also conduct investigations into possible candidates for the so-called selection for recording process, i.e. intangible folk cultural properties that require measures such as recording. Two methods are used for this. The first method involves the Agency for Cultural Affairs or the government directly conducting investigations. Sasaki, who spoke to you this morning, mentioned that there are three senior specialists at the Craft Techniques Section. In terms of folk cultural properties, also, there are only three of us so it is difficult for us to go out and directly investigate and document all cultural properties. Thus investigation teams are formed, to which we outsource or make requests for investigations. The results of investigations are submitted in writing and published successively. Currently these records are published at a rate of one volume per year, although two volumes will be published this year, as part of a corpus of records of folk cultural properties that are intangible. So far 50 volumes have been published and the 51 st volume will be out soon. What I have just described to you is the process taken to document cultural properties that have been selected for recording. The other method involves investigations through government-supported projects, in which we request the municipality or prefecture where the selected cultural property for recording is located to become the investigator and conduct investigations. The government consigns the investigator and subsidizes half of the amount spent in the project. Investigation reports are then prepared by each investigator. The investigation accompanying the selection for recording is conducted in this way. When, in the course of preparing documents, the cultural properties are found to have value or to deserve designation, they may be changed from being subject for selection to being subject for designation. After a cultural property has been designated, it then becomes a subject for protection measures. As one of the methods for protection, we offer assistance in the form of government- supported projects. Although intangible cultural properties receive a fixed 5

6 amount in government subsidies every year, there is no such system for folk cultural properties. Consequently, there are no fixed yearly subsidies for folk cultural properties even after they have been designated as such. There are two types of government-supported projects: One type is the projects that involve the granting of national subsidies to cover the expenses in the investigation of folk cultural properties. The government offers assistance for investigations of folk cultural properties that have been selected for recording as well as other folk cultural properties in the form of assistance of the investigation expenses. National subsidies cover the investigation project and the expenses for the publication of the results. For visual documentation of cultural properties, the government offers another type of support, i.e. assistance in the programs for the transmission and utilization of folk cultural properties. This program allows for many types of assistance: One type of assistance is the government support given to those properties designated as important tangible folk properties or important intangible folk properties. For example, in the case of the Chichibu-matsuri, as the floats have been designated as important tangible folk cultural properties, repairs are made under the government assistance scheme for important tangible folk cultural properties. However, many Japanese festivals involving floats have not received designation as important tangible folk cultural properties. One such local example is the Kawagoe Hikawa Matsuri no Dashi-gyoji (event involving floats at Kawagoe Hikawa festival) which has been designated as an important intangible folk cultural property. This festival also involves floats but they are outside the scope of designation. However, by utilizing the program for transmission or utilization of folk cultural properties, the government can offer assistance to festivals that have simply been designated as important intangible folk cultural property as well as to facilities used in folk performing arts and for repairs of tools and implements used or for procurement of new ones. The purpose of this program for transmission or utilization of folk cultural properties is to offer assistance in repairing the floats that are damaged through wear from year to year. The government also offers assistance in the successor training programs of important intangible folk cultural properties. In other words, it assists the training of those who participate in the festivals: e.g. instructing methods for assembling the floats or training performers of musicians Moreover, as protection extends to those folk cultural properties that are intangible and that are outside the scope of designation, government support is also offered to education programs held for the purpose of disseminating knowledge about folk cultural properties, training workshops, seminars and recitals. 6

7 Furthermore, the government, through this system, offers assistance to those who already have the necessary materials such as manuscripts, photos or musical scores but are in need of only subsidies to cover printing expenses. I have just outlined the government-supported programs intended for folk cultural properties that are intangible. As an example of government assistance other than providing subsidies, I would like to mention the Program to Revitalize Hometown Cultures, which was started about six years ago in This system provides support regardless of whether the cultural property has been designated or not. Let me introduce another example. In Tochigi prefecture, there is an important intangible folk cultural property called Karasuyama Yama-age Gyoji in which a stage setting is assembled and a performance is played there. Yama of yama-age refers to the stage settings that are moved around from one location in the town to the next along with the performance. This mobile performance has been designated under manners and customs in the category of intangible folk cultural properties. Recently a film of this event was documented by the East Japan Railway Culture Foundation, rather than by government support. This shows the fact that not only government subsidies but private sector support also goes into the protection of cultural properties. We are almost out of time but I would like to clarify the following points. The designation of important intangible cultural properties and that of important intangible folk cultural properties are the same. But in the case of intangible cultural properties, the holder of a particular skill is recognized simultaneously with the designation. In the case of folk cultural properties, on the other hand, designation is made only of the given property and is not accompanied by the recognition of the holder or the holding group of that skill. In the case of the Yama-age of Karasuyama, the Yama-age Preservation Society of Karasuyama has been identified as an association for its preservation but the Society itself is not considered a holder or a holding group. It is the preservation organizations that decide, for example, when to hold festivals, what tools are damaged and need repair, or whether there is legitimacy for conducting training programs for successors and training programs to preserve these techniques when such needs arise. Thus, the major difference between folk cultural properties and intangible cultural properties is that the former does not recognize the holder of the technique or the holding group. 7