Mr Satoru HYOKI

• Associate Professor, Department of Cultural History, Seijo University, Japan

• Session 3: Presenter 3

Considering the Role of Researchers at Local Governments (as “Cultural Brokers”) in Japanese Cases of ICH

In Japan, we have about 70 years of experience in administrative conservation of intangible culture. Also, we have developed organizations for preserving folk cultural properties with associating local governments (both prefectural and municipalities level) all over the country. Accompanying this development, many researchers of folklore, anthropology, history, or archeology has been engaged in the administrative preservation of intangible cultural heritage. In this presentation, I would like to consider the role and importance of them, as ‘cultural broker’, with assessing their activities. I intend to focus on three points worthy of remark:

1) Under the social circumstances of these days, their acts are now essential for practicing and transmitting ICH (intangible folk cultural

properties, in particular) in Japan. In that sense, they are legitimate, even though peripheral, member of the communities of practice

of ICH in many cases.

2) As “cultural brokers”, their acts have been bridging and mediating different levels of cultural administration between national

governments (or international organizations) and local communities. Furthermore, they usually play a role of linking one community

to other various communities (or groups and individuals) holding various types of ICH. Such “trans community” activity must be one

that most expected role for researchers and specialists.

3) What is important to the researchers at the local government has not been applying the administrative scheme to the local practices,

but been utilizing programs prepared by the governments for responding the demands of practitioners. Assessing such versatile and

practical aspect of their role must be one way to the actual fulfillment of “safeguarding”.

Associate professor of the faculty of arts and literature, Seijo University. Board member of the Folklore Society of Japan. Board member of the Society of Folk Performing Arts. Operating committee member of the Society of Living Folklore. Former senior researcher of the department of intangible cultural heritage, National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. Engaged in researches on folk performing arts in Japan for more than 20 years. Conducting field researches of folk performing arts mainly in Kagoshima prefecture, Okayama prefecture, and Chiba prefecture in recent years. Also conducting field researches in coastal area of Iwate and Miyagi prefecture for examining the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on folklife since 2011. Along with them, studying the interrelation between cultural policy of the government and academic research of folklife in Japan.