走向世界：阿伊努族文化在日本 (A Path to World Culture: The Politics of Ainu Heritage in Japan). (original) (raw)

This paper will discuss the intangible heritage conservation and questions why performing arts representing a kind of national dominant culture has been prioritized Japan's nominations of intangible heritage to UNESCO in the previous years instead of other areas such as including oral tradition, ritual, social practices concerning festive events and craftsmanship. I will examine the social construction of Ainu heritage in the postwar Japanese society, and look into the emergency of both marimo festival and Ainu Yukar Theatre in Lake Akan, Hokkaido in order to shed light on contested meanings of Ainu traditions being overlooked as an important world culture. Marimo festival-being invented for the inheritance of the spiritual values of Ainu towards the nature and Ainu Yukar Theatre-being created to be staged for tourists, are examples demonstrating the reasons why both of these local traditions in Lake Akan are considered not "authentic" weakening the justification for making Ainu culture internationally recognized as intangible heritage in Japan.