Groups of Related Cultural Properties Consist of the Brewing Industry and Related Assets Targeted for Conservation and Utilization in Japan

Abstract

This study focuses on industries that process primary industry products as raw materials particularly, the Japanese sake brewing industry and aims to clarify how they are positioned in the Regional Plan for the Protection and Utilization of Cultural Properties in Japan. The characteristics of the “groups of related cultural property,” which include not only a few designated cultural properties but also the region's general landscape and undesignated cultural properties are also clarified. In the case of 17 groups of cultural properties related to the sake brewing industry, in addition to the importance of the brewing industry itself, the relationships between the natural environment, including water, and the production of raw materials such as grain and fruit, the farmland where the raw materials are produced and the buildings used for production, are also important and subject to conservation and utilization. The stories that emerge from the relationships between these elements, centered on local industry, strongly express the characteristics of the local environment and landscape. While it is of course important to conserve individual assets, the succession of these stories and their use for revitalization, etc., will eventually lead to the conservation of the region's unique landscapes.