The Second Research Exchange with the South Korean National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage
The second research exchange between the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the South Korean National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage has begun according to the agreement signed last November. Following TAKAKUWA’s research in Korea in May, Ms. Lee Myoung-Jin, a researcher from Korea, visited Japan in July, and conducted research on Kyogen for a month.
The ideas regarding intangible cultural heritage in Korea are different from those in Japan: the Korean ICH does not distinguish important intangible cultural properties from important intangible folk cultural properties, as they do in Japan.
Most performing arts in Korea can be categorized as important intangible folk cultural properties under the Japanese classification system, and also the basic idea of “what is traditional?” differs from Japan to Korea. Thus, it is necessary to learn the differences in order to compare performing arts and their protection systems. However, during her visit, Ms. Lee seems to have deepened her cognizance of the meaning of tradition in Japan while interviewing the Kyogen performer of the Izumi School.