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Okinawa International Forum 2004
UTAKI in Okinawa and Sacred Spaces in Asia: Community Development and Cultural Heritage
Okinawa Declaration on Intangible and Tangible Cultural Heritage (PDF/63KB)
Objectives
The rich cultural heritage of Okinawa – an “Asian
crossroads”, both historically and culturally – enjoys a unique
identity even within Japan, and is receiving interest from all over the
world. In this Forum, we will focus on Utaki (places considered
to have a sacred atmosphere), festivals and traditional performing arts
such as music and dances in Okinawa. These are all part of an intangible
cultural heritage that is still alive today, amid everyday life all over
Okinawa. We will consider the significance of Utaki and traditional
performing arts, which the people of Okinawa have handed down through the
generations, and how they relate to other parts of Asia. Finally, together
with overseas experts and community leaders attending this Forum, we will
examine what we should do to preserve these precious cultural heritages
for future generations.
What is it that Utaki and traditional performing arts in Okinawa
are attracting so much interest now? To begin with, they have an important
characteristic that cannot be seen anywhere else in Japan. Utaki and
traditional performing arts in Okinawa are “living cultural heritage”.
Still today, they are deeply entwined with the hearts and minds of people
who live on the islands of Okinawa, and closely linked to the very roots of
their existence. Such deep links between daily life and culture used to exist
all over Japan, in a wealth of forms. However, owing to the urbanization of
lifestyles and the impact of development, they have been lost in many places,
without even being missed. In many parts of the country, people have come
to reappraise the rich and precious nature of culture that has been lost.
But it is not easy to revive lost culture in this way. Even in Okinawa, better
endowed than anywhere in Japan in the richness of its folk culture, this has
also become an issue. For it has been pointed out in recent years that, owing
to development and changes through successive generations, traditional lifestyles
that were once considered natural have been transformed. And now, people are
trying to think what we can do to pass on the living culture and traditional
performing arts, handed down by our ancestors, to the future generations.
These people are engaged in various initiatives throughout the islands of
Okinawa.
Meanwhile, turning our attention to other parts of Asia that share close historical
and geographical links with Okinawa, we see other people engaged in similar
efforts to pass on their unique cultural heritage to posterity. In the Philippines,
for example, the Ifugao people are attempting to preserve their unique living
culture of rice cultivation. This is a comprehensive effort that includes
both tangible and intangible aspects – not just rice cultivation as
traditional agriculture, but also the preservation of song, dance and other
traditional performing arts that have been nurtured amid agricultural work,
and the beautiful landscapes of terraced paddy fields. Then there are the
Hani/Ahka ethnic people that inhabit mountainous regions straddling northern
Thailand, the Yunnan province of China, Laos and Myanmar. These people are
engaged in efforts to pass on to younger generations the wealth of folklore
that have been orally handed down from their ancestors. The task of preserving
intangible cultural heritage such as language, songs, and dances, nurtured
and handed down amid daily life, presents different levels of difficulty to
that of preserving tangible cultural heritage. Nevertheless, the experiences
in Okinawa to tackle this difficult theme have several points in common with
those of people in the Philippines, Thailand, and elsewhere, in terms of their
problem awareness. It must surely be possible to learn lessons from each other’s
experiences.
Broadening the perspective further to the world as a whole, a “Convention
for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage” was adopted
at the UNESCO General Conference in Paris last autumn, and there is increasing
concern over the preservation and transmission of intangible cultural heritage.
UNESCO has achieved much in preserving the important cultural heritage of
humanity through its “world heritage” system, aimed at tangible
cultural heritage, such as historical sites and buildings, and natural heritage.
But the preservation and transmission of traditional performing arts, oral
traditions and other forms of intangible cultural heritage could still be
described as a new field. Traditional performing arts, festivals, and other
intangible cultural heritage occupy a very important position in cultural
heritage of Okinawa. In the islands of Okinawa, people have had the precious
experience of protecting a rich intangible cultural heritage through their
own efforts, and this is attracting interest in UNESCO and other bodies concerned
with intangible cultural heritage.
In this Forum, we will investigate ways of preserving this rich cultural heritage
in future, together with participants from Asia and other parts of the world,
by reappraising how the cultural heritage of Okinawa, including Utaki and
traditional performing arts, have been passed down by the people of Okinawa.
We are hoping to offer new ideas on preservation and transmission of cultural
heritage, as a message from Okinawa.