Title: NSF/Tokyo Report: The Transformation of Traditional Folkcrafts: The
       Woodcarvers of Inami-Chao
Date: 9/19/97


The National Science Foundation's offices in Tokyo and in Paris periodically
report on developments abroad that are related to the Foundation's mission.
These documents present facts for the use of NSF program managers and policy
makers; they are not statements of NSF policy.

 Special Scientific Report #97-29 (September 5, 1997)

          THE TRANSFORMATION OF TRADITIONAL FOLKCRAFTS:
                 THE WOODCARVERS OF  INAMI-CHO.

Mr. Jeremy Savian, a Ph.D candidate in the Department of  Anthropology,
University of New York at Buffalo, prepared the following report.  Mr. Savian
was a participant in the 1997  Monbusho Summer Program sponsored by NSF and
the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho). Dr. Koji
Asaoka, Department of Folklore, National Museum of Japanese History,
Sakura-shi, Chiba-ken, Japan hosted Mr. Savian. Mr. Savian can be reached via
email at: savian@acsu.buffalo.edu

The National Museum of Japanese History is a full research facility comprising
four departments, History, Anthropology (archaeology), Folklore and Museum
Science.  The Department of Folklore has many ongoing projects including
research into textiles, tool culture, and contemporary issues involving
folklife and 'the traditional', to name a few.  As with Universities in Japan,
the facility offers short-term research seminars for college and graduate
students during the summer and in between semesters and has a number of
part-time student researchers on staff.

My interests have been in the transformation of traditional folkcrafts and the
role of 'the traditional' in the formation of identity.  As such, I have used
the Museum as a kind of home base from which I have visited craftspeople and
researchers both in the Tokyo area and in other cities.  Questions such as:
what roles do the spokespeople of craft play in the formation of the various
craft fields?  Are they influential in the everyday lives of craftsmen?  And
how does innovation take place in lifeways that are defined as traditional?
These are the kinds of questions that will hopefully lead to an understanding
of how the individual negotiates an identity in the face of national (and
international) pressure to keep their 'traditional' ways.  The viability of a
craftsperson's livelihood can be jeopardized as changes take place both in the
definition of their field, and through changes that continue to take place in
the world surrounding them.  An example of this is the woodcarvers of
Inami-cho.

During the late 18th century Inami became a location for woodcarvers for
temples and shrines, based on the teachings of a Master temple builder Maekawa
and its proximity to wood supplies.  This kind of work transformed into the
rama, transom woodcarvings, for which Inami is now famous, during the late
Tokugawa and Meiji periods as a result of the new found wealth of the merchant
class. During the postwar boom and the subsequent housing boom the town of
Inami went through a kind of renaissance.  Housing construction continued to
increase steadily throughout this period and in 1975 the Ministry of
International Trade and Industry proclaimed rama carving a traditional
industrial art.  As the town's tourist brochure informs, the Ministry ordered
the carving 'maintained'.  Like other important intangible folk cultural
properties (juyo mukei minzoku bunkazai) their definition was written in stone
so to speak.  They are no longer able to change the style of work that they
do, or it w! ill no longer be considered 'traditional'.  An example of this
are the set patterns used in the carving, for example one style uses bamboo,
pine tree and plum tree in a defined pattern.  Although the pattern can change
based on the qualities of the wood, ('the character' is the phrase we agreed
was the most appropriate) the general layout and location of the trees remains
intact.   As the economic boom came to a halt number of changes took place,
the first change has been in labor laws.  The craftsperson's apprentices have
always been in a sense, a part of the family.  The apprentice lives with the
craftsperson's family and acts as a member of the family, baby-sitting, or as
when I was there, cleaning the yard for Obon.  This, as suggested by one
craftsperson Maki, was a way to train the spirit of the apprentice, "so the
entire life of the workshop is lived." In return for room, board, and
training, the apprentice received a small wage (at the time of his
apprenticeship the craftsman Kennichi said he received 2000yen a mon! th when
salary men were receiving 30000yen).  In the past few years there has been
pressure on the part of the government to treat the apprentices as workers,
not students.  If the government follows through with this new definition it
will mean that the apprentice will be entitled to a living wage which will
effectively eliminate the apprentice system as the apprentice will have to be
treated as labor in order to be able to pay his/her wage.  The 'life of the
workshop' will no longer be lived.  Kennichi suggested that while it was true
that the apprentices thought that they should be treated as labor as well, he
suggested that the government had influenced them in this idea.  This
insinuated that it wasn't in their best interests to take this stance (this
statement is complex to say the least and I am not prepared to make any
assertion at this time, but it is indicative of the different points of view
in this struggle).  All of the craftsmen asserted that changing patterns of!
 preference in buyers (the young buyer was usually shown to be the 'problem',
 another loaded statement) has lead to decreased demand for rama.  Western
 style houses are not
designed for the use of rama over doorways, so this kind of decision is part
preference, but it is also related to changes in the construction industry and
changing onstruction techniques.

As Japan has opened its markets to international competition, their `trade
imbalance` with North America is being reduced with products in short supply
in Japan (and 'abundance' in North America).  One of the new products that has
had an impact on housing, and in turn the woodcarvers is importation of  'two
by fours', and with them changes in house construction techniques.  Two by
four construction (the techniques being imported as well) does not create the
space over doorways and shoji screens (if they are used at all) for rama
carvings.  So these two instances have lead not only to a reduction in orders
for rama, they have meant a reduction in orders for the object that defines
who they are as woodcarvers.  The definition of their craft is not only
defined by outside forces such as international trade agreements, it is also
recreated as the woodcarvers try to redefine themselves, their identity.  The
assertion by both Kennichi and Maki was that it was the technique of carvin! g
that made their tradition, this in spite of their 'name' nationally as rama
carvers.  This assertion leaves the future open ended for the woodcarvers of
Inami.  If they are successful at asserting the techniques as their tradition,
they can then create forms not defined strictly as rama carving as they have
been known.  This is an important distinction for if they are unable to assert
technique as their legacy this profession of woodcarving will be unable to
change with changing national and international currents, it will be stuck as
a 'traditional' craft, rama carving.

This is a sketchy outline of the situation in which the woodcarvers find
themselves.  Clearly it is not a definitive statement and future research will
probably render a number of the assertions on my part less significant and
others more so.  More research into the historical and economic situations
will be necessary as well as more in depth field research.  These phenomena do
point to a kind of back and forth in the construction of, from a national
level 'tradition' and from an individual level, 'identity'.