2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A study on Indigenous Sacred Spaces along the Eastern Border of Asia
| Project/Area Number |
12305039
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Architectural history/design
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| Research Institution | Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music |
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Principal Investigator |
MASUDA Kanefusa Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music Architectural, Conservation, Professor, 大学院・美術研究科, 教授 (50313317)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KAMINO Yoshiharu Musashino Art University, Art and Design, Professor, 造形学部, 教授 (70298024)
FUJII Keisuke Tokyo National University, Engineering, Architecture, Associate Professor, 工学部・建築学科, 助教授 (50156816)
TANAKA Tan Kyoto University, Institute for Research in Humanities, Professor, 人文科学研究所, 教授 (90000306)
MAEHARA Nobutatu Urban Science Associate, 地域計画研究室, 室長
AKASAKA Makoto Chiba University, Environmental Science and Landscape Architecture, Associate Professor, 園芸学部・緑地・環境学科, 助教授 (30143267)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2003
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| Keywords | Eastern Border of Asia / Sacrd Spaces / Okinawa / Cultural Heritage / Memory / UTAKI / Local Society / Shinto Shrine Architecture |
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| Research Abstract |
As the main target of my study was the traditional sacred spaces related indigenous folk beliefs in Japan, we visited many places like religiods festival of AINU in Hokkaido, several groves of the village shrine in Main Island, and many UTAKI in Okinawa etc., researching their present situation of the form and constituting elements of the spaces, historical process of their changes and their possible future, and their custody or conservation. We tried to observe them comparatively from multidisciplinary points of view like history, architecture, folklore, vegetation and city planning, and also from multilaterally points of view, comparing with other eastern border countries like Korea, Taiwan and Philippine.
As the result, we found the sacred spaces in AINU is already disappearing, while village shrines in Main Island are comparatively well protected, and we focused on Utaki in Okinawa, where urbanization is rapidly changing traditional local society and decreasing traditional annual rituals. In Okinawa, increasing recent public works are now destroying UTAKI year by year for the construction of various parks or roads etc.
We selected three types: a well protected example ; Taketomi-jima island, changing urbanizing village example like Kitanakagusuku-son, well urbanized example; Tsuboya district in Naha city. We found that Utaki is very important as the indigenous sacred space in Okinawa for their common memory places to manifest their rituals, which was a way to continue their history where people did not use letters nor accepting a world religion Buddhism, while Main Island of Japan accepted it in 7^<th> century from China. This character is common with other indigenous animistic sacred spaces in Eastern Asia, and UTAKI should be evaluated and protected more importantly as an interface example of both tangible and intangible heritages in a modernized country Japan.
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