＞ IMAISHI, Migiwa "Covid-19 and intangible cultural heritage"
＞ SUZUKI, Kota "Intangible Folk Cultural Properties and the COVID-19 Pandemic"
＞ MAEHARA, Megumi "Intangible Cultural Property and the Coronavirus Pandemic"
COVID-19 and intangible cultural heritage
The third wave of COVID-19 is sweeping the world today. Looking back, it was about a year ago, at the end of the year on December 31, that the first report of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause came in. A full year has passed since then, and particularly after the state of emergency was declared in April, I imagine many people have been forced to lead a life that far differed from their normal lifestyles.
The conference we hold annually was also decided to be held fully online in fiscal 2020. Under the theme of “intangible cultural properties and the COVID-19 pandemic,” it will aim to pursue what impacts the pandemic year had on intangible cultural heritage, how these impacts were addressed, and what issues and visions lay before us now.
1. The scope of impacts and the field of intangible cultural heritage
Here, I shall talk about two points that provide a premise to the discussion.
The first point is that intangible cultural heritage includes a diversity of properties that have been affected by COVID-19 in varying scopes and qualities. Among them, properties that are an integrated part of economic activities as livelihoods and properties that are necessarily practiced in a “three C” situation (crowded places, close contact settings, and closed spaces) are two types of intangible cultural heritage that were likely affected the most by the pandemic.
In particular, an extremely tight situation continues in the field of classical performing arts that are intangible cultural properties, as neither performances nor rehearsals can be held. Additionally, among intangible folk cultural properties, an extremely large impact is seen in festivals and performing arts, and in certain folk techniques that have become tourism resources in part. Furthermore, in relation to festivals and performing arts, the people who make the tools and costumes used in the festivals and performances, and people who collect and process the materials to make those tools and costumes, have also been significantly affected.
With particular respect to festivals and performing arts in the wake of numerous disasters following the Great East Japan Earthquake, the wishes of performers and successors to hold and revive their performances and festivals have mostly been met by support, encouragement and understanding by the public at large. However, one of the most salient characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic is that no matter how strongly the performing side desires to put on a performance, an air of disapproval not only exists, but has also materialized, among the public. In short, it could be said that the situation today is characterized by a division between intangible cultural heritage successors and the general public.
2. What has come to light from the COVID-19 pandemic
The second point is one that was also noted repeatedly after the Great East Japan Earthquake. That is, the issues that have come to light from the COVID-19 pandemic by no means emerged suddenly, but are issues that have surfaced from within the ordinary course of tradition. Additionally, the recent pandemic situation is indeed an emergency situation, but historically speaking, intangible cultural heritage is said to have overcome numerous emergency situations, in the first place. It has continued to be passed down while changing shape under various critical social conditions, such as disasters, epidemics like the recent pandemic, famine and warfare in pre-modern times, and the accompanying displacement and relocation of people and villages. Therefore, from the long-term perspective, this emergency situation could be regarded as a situation that was expected and anticipated, so to speak, within the tradition of intangible cultural heritage. In other words, the tradition of intangible cultural heritage amid the COVID-19 pandemic should not be regarded as an isolated issue. Rather, it is important to have a conscious awareness that thinking about the tradition of intangible cultural heritage amid the COVID-19 pandemic equals thinking about its ordinary course of tradition. From still a different perspective, I think that when giving thought to today’s COVID-19 situation, we can both learn from past case examples, as well as pass down the lessons learned from the recent situation to the future.
IMAISHI, Migiwa (Department of ICH, TOBUNKEN)
Intangible Folk Cultural Properties and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Today, I will talk about “intangible folk cultural properties and the COVID-19 pandemic,” in terms of the impacts that the spreading of COVID-19 has had on folk cultural properties throughout Japan and what new developments have taken place. However, as we have limited time, my presentation today will specifically focus on two themes: the formulation of guidelines and folk performing art festivals.
1. New utilization of intangible folk cultural properties amid the COVID-19 pandemic
With regard to the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first patient in Japan was identified in January, and thereafter from around March, profuse announcements began to warn people to avoid the “three Cs” (crowded places, close contact settings, and closed spaces). This led to a decline in activities for handing down the tradition of folk cultural properties, and many festivals were forced to be canceled after a state of emergency was declared in April.
The situation around this time included the cancelation and postponement of large-scale city festivals such as the Aomori Nebuta Festival and Kyoto Gion Festival. In fact, all large-scale festivals that had the possibility of attracting a large, unspecified number of people were canceled or postponed. Thus, an atmosphere was created that frowned on all nationwide festivals as a source of crowds and that implicitly demanded festivals not be held.
At the same time, however, this situation brought a new movement in the transmission of intangible folk cultural properties: the video streaming of no-audience performances. As far as I know, the earliest example of this is the performance that was held at a local shrine by Iwami Kagura Preservation Association Kushiroshachu in Masuda city, Shimane prefecture on March 22, 2020. The performance of Shouki, a story themed on suppressing a plague, was broadcast live via YouTube, and remains in the YouTube archive still today.
Another example that caught my eye is the simultaneous remote performance of a dance to ward off the plague by thirteen member organizations of the Kitakami Onikenbai Association in Kitakami city, Iwate prefecture, on April 19. The performance was recorded by Tohoku Bunkazai Eizo Kenkyujo and may be viewed on its YouTube channel.
Around this time when self-quarantine was imposed, new attempts were made so that people could enjoy folk cultural properties at home. For example, Tamura city, Fukushima prefecture began an online distribution service of a series of coloring pictures titled “Oningyo-sama will ward off the pandemic!” themed on the Oningyo-sama deity that is a prefecture-designated intangible folk cultural property. Oningyo-sama occupies a spot on the village border and is believed to have the power to ward off evil spirits. In this sense, it attracted attention as a talisman against COVID-19.
Similarly, Minami-Soma city also in Fukushima prefecture distributed via its website a boardgame called “Soma Nomaoi Sugoroku” that features nationally designated important intangible folk cultural properties. Most of the Nomaoi festivals in the city were canceled this fiscal year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but information about the festival was widely disseminated via the sugoroku boardgame to be played at home.
2. Formulation of festival implementation guidelines
The state of emergency was thereafter lifted in 39 prefectures on May 14 and in all remaining prefectures on May 25. Accompanying this, the restrictions that were placed on events were gradually relaxed, and it became possible to hold festivals again. A new movement that emerged around this time was the formulation of guidelines for the implementation of local festivals.
Kagawa prefecture, for example, announced an important notice dated June 22 concerning the implementation of local festivals. Particularly noteworthy about these guidelines was that they gave detailed instructions with regard to elements that are indispensable to Kagawa festivals, such as the large drum float and Shishimai performance. A close look at these instructions reveals a strict attitude regarding the holding of festivals. They noted that the Shishimai is possible with some creativity, but the drum float “requires careful discretion regarding its use, including the decision not to use it.”
Next, let us take a look at the “Notice on information provision toward preventing the spreading of the novel coronavirus infection in the neighborhood association” that was issued by Yokohama city, Kanagawa prefecture on June 11. The section on “The holding of local festivals, etc.” sought discretionary judgment regarding the holding of festivals, as illustrated by the request to “please give careful consideration to holding a festival, including consideration of their cancelation or postponement.”
While some local governments issued such text-based guidelines, Saga prefecture released a document titled “Notes on holding festivals” on July 7, which used abundant illustrations for easy understanding. It also contained specific information such as on the handling of flutes and warnings not to bite the audience with the Shishimai, for example. It is a case example that serves as a good reference.
Furthermore, Oga city in Akita prefecture issued a “Notice on implementing the Namahage event” in November, a while after the outbreak of COVID-19. This is an example of detailed guidelines that were issued specifically with respect to the Namahage folk event.
As introduced above, guidelines were formulated not only by local governments but also by stakeholders and successors of festivals. The Shrine Agency of Toyama prefecture created a leaflet titled “Request regarding shrine festivals,” outlining policies regarding procedures for the procession of mikoshi palanquins, as well as the offering of the Shishimai performance that is indispensable to festivals in Toyama.
In Hiroshima prefecture, the Kagura dance is extremely popular, and is performed not only as a part of religious festivals that are held at shrines but also throughout the year at various performance halls and stages. The Hiroshima Executive Committee for Promotion and Support of Kagura, which supports Kagura performance activities mainly in urban areas, provided a workshop on COVID-19 prevention guidelines on July 4 and also created guidelines on how the Kagura shall be performed amid the pandemic. A salient characteristic of these guidelines is that they were disclosed online and provided information that could actually be used onsite, including a practical checklist of items that successors should pay particular attention to.
A look at this movement in the formulation of guidelines shows that there are largely two types of guidelines. One type consists of guidelines created by local governments or administrators, to convey or translate the instructions of the central government to onsite performers in a simple manner. These guidelines tended to be sketchy if anything, and presented decisions that differed according to the local government, in some cases. They also tended to carefully restrict the holding of festivals. The second type consists of guidelines created by successor organizations and stakeholders who actually implement the festivals. These guidelines set forth specific rules that pertain directly to the site of performances and rehearsals, to ensure that activities are implemented in a safe and secure manner.
Such formulation of guidelines appealed to the public at large that COVID-19 measures are being taken and had the effect of creating trust. However, as there is no correct answer to the information that guidelines should include, it could be said that they need to be formulated in reference to other case examples.
3. Transmission of intangible folk cultural properties amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Once guidelines are formulated regarding the implementation of festivals, the focus usually shifts to their actual implementation. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, festivals could not quite be held as before. In fact, hardly any were able to be held in the same manner as usual years. The patterns in which festivals were held amid the pandemic are as shown in Fig. 8, and include those where votive rituals were canceled or reduced in scope, those where the number of participants was reduced, and those that were held without an audience and were streamed online.
Another interesting case is where an alternative event is held in place of a canceled festival. At present, many successor organizations are teaching folk performing arts to children as part of the local studies curriculum in schools. To children, the cancelation of festivals means losing a place to demonstrate their daily achievements. Therefore, efforts have been made to provide such a place by holding sports days and student presentation programs in place of festivals, and holding them with a limited number of participants, such as with the attendance of children’s parents only. In these ways, successors of folk cultural properties made various efforts to develop the next generation who would continue their activities.
Aside from festivals held at temples and shrines, folk performing art festivals also play a large role particularly in handing down folk performing arts. What impacts did the COVID-19 pandemic have on these folk performing festivals as valuable places for show? A summary of the status of implementation of major folk performing art festivals shows that all nationwide and regional block festivals were canceled, except for the Kyushu regional block.
Numerous folk performing art festivals are usually also hosted by prefectures and municipalities. As an example, let us take a look at the implementation status of folk performing art festivals in Kanagawa prefecture as of December 2020. This year, nine festivals were planned to be implemented in Kanagawa, but most of them were not held after all. The festival was held in one district and canceled in seven districts, and the status of implementation remained unknown in one district. This data was provided by Ms. Mai Takahisa in the Cultural Heritage Division, Lifelong Learning Department, Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education.
The above shows that folk performing art festivals were canceled or postponed in many cases, because they bring together a large number of successor organizations and audience in a performance hall or other indoor venue and were deemed to pose the risk of creating a three C situation. Yet, even amid this situation, the Kyushu district festival was held in Nakatsu city, Oita prefecture. Why was Oita prefecture able to hold the folk performing art festival for the regional block? We shall examine this below, based on reference materials provided by Ms. Natsumi Takamiya of the Cultural Properties Group in the Culture Division of the Oita Prefectural Board of Education, in addition to information I personally obtained by visiting Oita.
Let us first run through the background to the holding of the festival. Before June, when the state of emergency was about to be lifted, Oita prefecture checked the status of implementation of the festival in other regional blocks, held repeated conferences with officers in charge in the Kyushu prefectures, and obtained the views of each prefecture. Thereafter in late June, each of the prefectures in the block submitted their nominations of performing organizations for the folk performing art festival as in usual years, so the Oita Board of Education came to a general agreement to hold the festival upon taking thorough precautions against COVID-19. On July 6, it conveyed this decision to the first executive committee meeting as the chair prefecture and received approval to hold the festival.
The reference materials that were distributed at the meeting contained specific countermeasures that would be taken by the operation side, such as restricted admission to the venue. They also provided detailed requests to performing organizations coming to Oita, to restrict the number of performers to the minimum, keep a record of everyone’s temperatures from two weeks prior to the event and report the measurements to the relevant people in charge, and observe the one-way entry and exit routes to avoid coming into close contact with other performers.
It is worthy of mention that, in addition to such guidelines for holding the event, the materials prepared by the Oita Board of Education also presented criteria for the cancelation of the festival. It endeavored to establish an action plan in case a second wave, third wave, or a recurrence of the spreading of COVID-19 occurs after September, and to establish this plan before any outbreak kicks in. There was also a section on video performances. Rather than requiring performing organizations to make a direct appearance, they were given the option of making a video appearance, and that decision was left up to each organization. In this way, it could be said that being level-headed and keeping in mind the possibility of cancelation of the festival even while staying positive about its implementation, establishing a clear criteria for determining the implementation of the festival and being open to ideas that divert from the usual formalities, such as video performances, were extremely important to implementing the festival amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
By presenting to the executive committee such materials that provided a basis for the decision to hold the festival, a consensus was reached that it is alright to hold the festival and that it shall be held. Thereafter, September, October and November came and went, but as there was no sign of the virus spreading, the implementation of the festival was announced on the website of the board of education on October 15, and a registration form was launched. Following exchanges with organizations that wished to participate in the festival and preparation of the venue, the actual day of the festival came around.
Aside from the above circumstances on the operating side, let us also take a look at the folk performing art festival in the Kyushu block from the participants’ perspective. As a participant myself, I filled in the necessary information on the registration form after it was launched on the website. Subsequently, I received a document from the executive committee requesting all visitors to take the necessary precautions against COVID-19, along with a reservation ticket printed with a seat number. With this ticket in hand, I went to Nakatsu Culture Center, the venue of the festival, and was allowed to enter after taking my temperature and sanitizing my hands at the entrance. At the reception counter, I received a packet of materials upon showing my seat reservation ticket; there was no need to fill in any sort of form with a pen. Inside the culture center, the seats were cordoned off with a rope so that only every other seat could be used. A photo taken from the last row after the beginning of the performance clearly shows that the audience was seated with sufficient space between each other as a measure to avoid the three Cs.
Next, please take a look at an interview held with a representative of a performing organization prior to the performance. Note that the emcee and successor receiving the interview are both wearing a face shield as a measure against COVID-19. After the interview, performances were given on stage without wearing a mask.
Lastly, allow me to introduce an email message I received from Ms. Takamiya of the Oita Board of Education regarding why Oita, as the host of the festival, wished to hold the festival amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
She writes: “The Oita Board of Education was of the stance to do everything that could be done to hold the festival upon devising thorough countermeasures. We also hoped that the implementation of the festival would be a source of encouragement to folk performing art organizations. We wished to support the efforts of people who assume the role of consistently protecting and transmitting the local culture.”
This strong sense of commitment to protect the local culture could be said to be one of the factors that enabled the Kyushu block of the folk performing art festival to be held. However, aside from possessing such strong feelings, I think the festival was able to be realized as a result of the Oita Board of Education’s capacity to assess the situation in a level-headed manner, prudently hold repeated discussions, and devise various countermeasures. Having a sense of passion alone could not have been enough to hold the folk performing art festival amid the COVID-19 pandemic after all. The implementation of the festival required meticulous preparation to obtain widespread understanding.
Following the above process, the festival was finally able to be implemented. However, some performing organizations had to organize a special arrangement of members, due to restrictions that primary and junior high schools and places of employment placed on performers who were initially scheduled to perform. For example, the Nakabarugaku dance of Minami Oguni town, Aso province, Kumamoto prefecture was performed by the organization’s older and middle-aged members only, because primary and junior high school children and their parents were not allowed by their schools to participate in such festivals due to COVID-19. Due to this constraint, the chairman of the preservation association responded to a pre-performance interview with words of apology for not being able to present some of the roles such as the drums that are originally performed by children. This left a strong impression on me.
In effect, the folk performing art festival was not able to be implemented as in usual years, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Summary
As I have spoken at length up to here, I shall summarize what I wish to convey.
Firstly, I wish to emphasize that festival stakeholders and successors of folk cultural properties are struggling to come up with ideas that would enable them to perform and continue their tradition in some form or other, instead of simply making the decision to cancel their events and activities. Today, I have introduced just some of their ideas, because I believe it is necessary to share information about these efforts so it can be used to preserve intangible folk cultural properties into the future.
A salient characteristic this year is that while presentation opportunities have decreased, opportunities to communicate the fascination of folk cultural properties have increased. Festivals were unable to be held and folk performing art festivals were canceled, but new trends emerged, such as the dissemination of information using digital technologies and new uses of folk cultural properties during times of self-quarantine.
At the same time, however, I think there were actually very few organizations that were able to implement new initiatives such as those I introduced today in response to the COVID-pandemic, a situation we have never experienced before. There is, after all, a large digital divide among successors of intangible folk cultural properties in terms of IT technologies and information. Therefore, we must not forget the very ordinary organizations that risk falling into a state of difficulty without being able to keep up with the times.
SUZUKI, Kota (Department of ICH, TOBUNKEN)
Intangible Cultural Property and the Coronavirus Pandemic
My name is Maehara from the Intangible Cultural Properties Section within the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Properties.
Under the title of Intangible Cultural Property and the Coronavirus Pandemic, I would like to shortly explain the project I have undertaken from a cultural properties research perspective during the coronavirus pandemic, and what I’ve discovered through that.
1. Intangible Cultural Heritage Initiatives with the Novel Coronavirus
Information Disseminated through “Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Novel Coronavirus” website
First, there is a project called Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Novel Coronavirus which is undertaken by the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage as a whole which involves disseminating relevant information through our website as well as through Facebook. There are some slight differences between the information we publish on our website and Facebook. Our website focuses on introducing information regarding support. You can get to our Facebook from that same page, which, in addition to the same support information we show on the website, we also publish information regarding new initiatives, related information, and then information on reopenings.
With this wide variety of information, it is possible that if we, say, uploaded information from the viewpoint of the research into intangible cultural properties, it could potentially be useful from an intangible folk cultural properties viewpoint as well. For example, we uploaded information on a verification report and countermeasures for exhaled droplets during a shakuhachi This is information you can view at the Japan Shakuhachi Professional-players Network’s website (https://www.jspn.org/). Shakuhachi aren’t only for the classic performing arts, they are also used as an accompaniment during folk songs, which is folk performing arts, so this could be a piece of evidence they may use when they go to reopen live performances. That’s why I am grateful if people view this wide range of information.
Additionally, by gradually expanding the information we disseminate, I hope we may find clues for information outside of the framework of intangible cultural property and intangible folk cultural property that we can share.
Series: COVID-19 and Intangible Cultural Heritage, Forum 1 Opening
Next, the second project I will introduce is Series: COVID-19 and Intangible Cultural Property, Forum 1: Traditional Performing Arts and Novel Coronavirus, which the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties will be holding on August 25th, 2020.
One of the features of this forum is that it will transect fields. Specifically, the forum will cross through the differences in the noh and traditional Japanese music fields. A second feature is that it will cross through people involved with the field. We will be sampling a transection of three groups: practitioners, planners and producers, and people with the conservation techniques that support the others. Those people will report the coronavirus pandemic from a variety of viewpoints, and, after we share issues at a roundtable discussion, we will search for clues on solutions for those issues. We distribute recorded videos of discussion on YouTube, which you can view on the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties website, so please do take a look. Intangible cultural property is characterized by its universality. The practitioners related to those arts, the planners and producers, those with conservation techniques, all live in various different regions, and have deep ties to those locations. That is why you can’t say that those involved with intangible cultural property have no connections with location. Rather, you can say that they certainly have a relation in some form or another. That is why I would like to draw attention to what kind of intangible cultural property people are involved in in each region, and what kind of activities they are doing.
Information Gathering Project: Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Traditional Performing Arts
The third project is focused research, analysis, and dissemination of information related to the cultural arts. Called Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Traditional Performing Arts, it’s a project that gathers information on the topic of the impact of intangible cultural property, particularly on the classic performing arts. Specifically, we gather information regarding three aspects: information on the postponement and cancelation of related projects, information on new initiatives, and information on reopenings.
In reality, we are gathering information on a variety of items outside of these three aspects. For example, we are gathering information on the economic impact, an area which is likely one with the highest interest. I will be presenting a portion of that at the forum I mentioned earlier. However, the current situation is that I have become somewhat cautious about disseminating information about my estimates of the economic impact once I consider the economic impacts that I am unable to express in those estimates. Economic impacts that I am unable to express in my estimated numbers would be information related to training, as well as impacts on the conservation techniques that support the performing arts. While it is difficult to readily visualize these impacts on economy immediately, they have large impacts on both the preservation and the passing down of performing arts. In order to gather this sort of information that isn’t readily visible, we must gather detailed information through interview-based research, as there are many areas where information on the internet is insufficient.
As of now, we update the information on postponements, cancelations, and reopenings approximately once a month. By visualizing the data though numbers and graphs, it allows us to better present the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic . There is a link on the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties homepage, so please do take a look.
2. Difficult to Visualize Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic
The second primary topic is impacts of the coronavirus pandemic that are difficult to visualize. The first of which is the impact against practitioners. For example, training has its difficulties. There are two types of training: training with another practitioner, and training for those who like the art, in other words, training for apprentices. The former is absolutely necessary for honing the so-called professional, high quality techniques. The latter is necessary for increasing demand, as well as to spread the technique. No matter what we do, the impacts on the training of practitioners is difficult to visually represent.
And, I touched on this earlier, there is also an impact to those with conservation techniques. A public performance of a performing art is supported with a variety of goods and tools of all sizes, such as musical instruments, costumes, wardrobe, and props in every size. Then you need materials to make those items. It is incredibly difficult to see the status of the manufacture and crafting techniques of those. I believe we must fully understand this area, and I strongly feel the urgency and necessity of us reacknowledging the relationship between performing arts and conservation techniques, as well as the tools and materials needed.
Furthermore, I’d like to add that many conservations techniques are built up within a complex system. For example, the technique for producing strings for Japanese musical instruments, which has been designated a conservation technique by the government, is used for both intangible cultural property and classic performing arts, as well as intangible folk cultural property and folk performing arts. It is commonly seen that such arts is preserved on a system built from the application of a single technique. From that point, conservation techniques become a valuable key area that connects “intangible” performing arts, whether they be folk or classic, with “tangible” tools and materials.
3. Conclusion: Issues and Possibilities Seen from Gathering Information on the Coronavirus Pandemic and Intangible Cultural Property
I will wrap up today’s talk with two major things I’ve come to see as we continue to research and disseminate information on the coronavirus pandemic with regards to intangible cultural property.
The first is that at least basic data on intangible cultural property is lacking. For example, I feel data on the profiles and performing histories of practitioners has been fairly well gathered. In contrast, data on the performances themselves, such as when those performances took place, where, in what venue, with what admission fee, or with what size audience, has been barely organized at all. For that reason, as a matter of fact, we cannot compare how it was before to how this year has been during the pandemic. I strongly feel this basic data is a primary starting point for the preservation of cultural property. I also believe that it could become basic data for preventing disaster for intangible cultural property.
The second is that, while it is data we collected with a perspective related to intangible cultural property, you can sense an interconnection with classic performing arts and folk performing arts. I believe there must be an influential connection between these at both the level of practitioners and the level of conservation techniques. For example, musicians and actors don’t only provide coaching on classic performing arts, but also folk performing arts. And like the strings for musical instruments I brought up earlier, it’s not just with practitioners, the connection is also on the level of conservation techniques that support the public performances. Therefore, surely there are more possibilities for drawing focus to and effectively utilizing potential new cooperative efforts by using the widespread sharing of any collected and disseminated information on intangible cultural property as a starting point. A key area for that would have to be the understanding of conservation techniques.
That brings my talk to a close. Thank you very much for listening.
MAEHARA, Megumi (Department of ICH, TOBUNKEN)