This paper attempts to describe the survival strategies adopted by blacksmiths in Japan to solve their problems, particularly their decline and extinction. This paper treats the subject of nokaji, namely, blacksmiths involved in the manufacture, repair, and grinding of the many different tools and implements used in farming and forestry as well as such household utensils as kitchen knives. They are closely linked to many people's livelihoods in Japan. In the past, each hamlet had one nokaji, who was absolutely necessary to the livelihood of the community. However, the decline in the number of customers has brought about changes in the role of the nokaji. In fact, the number of nokaji has decreased to the point that most people are not even aware of their existence anymore. The investigation forming the basis for this paper was carried out on three separate occasions in 2002 and 2003, in Akita Prefecture in northern Japan. Of the 27 nokaji - former or present - confirmed to exist or have existed in 69 cities, towns or villages in the prefecture, five have already stopped operating. The remaining 22 nokaji are managing somehow to survive, despite the dire straits that have forced some of the others in the same trade to close down. The decline in the number of the nokaji has resulted from several factors, mainly (1) the arrival of mass production and mass consumption, (2) the switch from firewood and charcoal as fuel to oil and gas, (3) the decline in the number of people engaged in farming and forestry, (4) the mechanization of farming and forestry, (5) the decline in the number of clients, and (6) Japan's economic recession of recent years. Particularly, it is thought that the most important factor behind the decrease in the number of nokaji has been the decline in the number of customers, to the extent that nokaji are no longer able to eke out a living entirely from their local area. The greater the decline in the number of customers, the greater the decline in the number of nokaji. In spite of the serious conditions faced by nokaji at present, some of them are still doing well. Therefore, this paper aims to find out how the struggling nokaji adapted to survive, and also how they will operate in the future. First, this paper attempts to outline the current situation of nokaji, based on facts gathered from the aforementioned investigation. It also aims to describe their responses to the changes, such as the positive or passive acceptance of changes, and the positive or passive expansion of the market. But all of those are not sufficient to support the survival of nokaji. That is to say, some responses have been successful in terms of the survival struggle, while others have not. Three particular factors are found in the surviving nokaji enabling them to survive: (1) the practical application of changes, (2) the construction of a new basis for their trade, and (3) The original role of the nokaji has been to make new products or make improvements on old ones in line with the opinions and desires of the user, a process by which long-term relationships of trust are built. Continuing to play such a role is both necessary and indispensable to the survival of the nokaji into the future. Second, this paper focuses on five nokaji who have succeeded and thrived thanks to the three factors mentioned above. According to analysis and classification, they have acquired new clients in place of their former clients, engaged in farming or forestry, as traditional industries have shrunk and are no longer able to provide enough business. The successful nokaji have also formed intimate relationships with new groups, on the basis of a relationship of confidence between the supplier and the customer, just as was once done with their traditional clients. That is why their businesses are able to survive today. Finally, this paper attempts to examine the future situation of nokaji. As

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In this article, I will try to analyze the characteristics of Afa divination practiced by the Ewe in a migrant society in the Eastern Region of the Republic of Ghana. The majority of earlier studies on divination in sub-Saharan Africa have pointed out the sociopolitical functions of divination, such as legitimating the social order and creating consensus in society. On the other hand, the new trend - which can be called the interactive approach - focuses on divination as a practice that establishes dialectic forms within social and cultural realities. Unlike the structural-functionalist approaches, the interactive approach regards the participants of divination as active agents, and analyzes divination as a vehicle for articulation and negotiation of meanings and categorizations of social reality. Such interactive studies are important, as they contribute to the exploration of the role of individual interaction and human agency in divinatory processes. At the same time, those arguments are dangerous, in that they may reduce the significance of impersonal authoritative meaning and external agencies beyond human intention - which can be created or activated through the divinatory practice - to merely a precondition for people to act decisively in their everyday social lives. This article tries to explore the creative aspect of Afa, which generates multi-vocal stories and pluralistic realities through divination and ritual performance. In the first part, I analyze dialogues between an Afa diviner and clients at an Afa shrine located in Southeastern Ghana. Through the consultation process, the diviner and his client constitute a story based on both the personal experience of the client and the allegories and myths narrated by the diviner. In the second part, I analyze the ritual following the divination. The diviner and his client try to modify the sequence of the story that symbolizes the 'destiny (se)' of the client, by manipulating magical objects and making sacrifices. Through that whole process, they create multivocal utterances and constitute the magical reality in which external agents such as sacrifices, mythical figures and deities can affect the destiny of the client. In Chapter 1, I begin with an examination of earlier studies on divination, in order to show the theoretical point of my study. In Chapter 2, I first show the outline of Afa divination, and then introduce the life story of the Afa diviners. I conducted fieldwork in an Akan-based migrant society called Densuso, located in Akyem Abuakwa in the Eastern Region. From the end of the 19th century a large number of the cocoa farmers and farm workers emigrated to Akyem Abuakwa, where they built new towns and villages. The majority of the immigrant cocoa farmers were the matrilineal Akan and the patrilineal Guan from the Akuapim ridge, while most of the farm workers were the Ewe from the Volta Region and Togo. As a result of that immigration process, various ethnic groups, such as the Akan, Guan, Adangme and Ewe, occupy this area today. An Ewe diviner called Tebe Kpakpo from Southern Togo built an Afa shrine in Densuso around 1950. Tebe and his son Kwasi perform divination and ritual as diviner-priest (toboko) and main diviner (boko) at this shrine. Since its foundation, this shrine has attracted a large number of clients from various areas in the country. The main activities at the Afa shrine are consultation and rituals for clients. The diviner casts 16 nutshell pieces (kpele) to inquire into the problems of his client. In the ritual following the divination, the diviner and his client often make sacrifices to get the client out of his/her critical situation. In Chapter 3, I first introduce the technique of Afa divination. Secondly, I analyze the dialogues between the diviner and the client based on my own participant observation. Through consultation, the diviner tries to explore the heart of his

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Aneityum is the southernmost island of Vanuatu, and is the home of about 850 people. This paper aims to show the fluctuation of authenticity in the island's traditional culture. Ethnographic descriptions about the history have been closely related to the representation of traditional culture, known as kastom (Melanesian pidgin for custom or tradition). In the 1970s, the growing independence movement in Vanuatu used kastom as a political symbol to unite the nation and create a shared identity. Some anthropologists pointed out that it was nothing but a politically-created tradition differing in nature from the kastom of the ordinary people as a lived culture. Also, a new image of kastom, in which modernity and tradition were entangled or harmonized, was discussed in the 1990s. However, it was mainly the discourse of the national elite. On the other hand, ordinary people have had a tendency to separate modernity from tradition in their practice. Recently, many anthropologists have come to pay attention to kastom in its practice as a lived culture, and discuss its authenticity. The uncertainty or fluctuation is a feature of authenticity in their discussion. I will show the social context and process by which the dynamism of authenticity is produced. 'Netec' in the Aneityumese language refers to both a landholding group and a patrilineal kinship group, and also functions as a group to assign personal names. People believe that there is a kind of a traditional rule in which a personal name is connected to a certain piece of land; therefore, the personal name that belongs to the netec cannot be given to someone not a member. However, in practice, people do not follow such a rule perfectly; some non-agnate members can join a netec, and many people are given personal names that pertain to another netec. In sum, there are some non-agnate members in a netec, and personal names can be diffused to another netec. Though such behaviors do not follow the rule of landholding, they have been tolerated tacitly as long as no trouble is caused. However, recently, people have come to recognize such tolerated behaviors as "wrong," and have started trying to prohibit them. That is because many problems relating to land matters have been caused by the admission of non-agnate members to a netec and the diffusion of personal names. Specifically, some people have begun to claim plural land rights through the use of their own patrilineal blood as well as the personal name connected to a different piece of land. In general, people think that a man cannot demand multiple land rights - as he cannot be attributed to more than one netec regarding such a request to be "wrong," and criticizing it generally. With regard to their identities with the land, however, quite a few people have an identity with more than one piece of land. Such problems have become obvious, forcing people to rethink their own kastom consciously, meaning that not only old men, but also young people, are eagerly starting to discuss what 'true kastom' is. That leads them to recognize the tolerated behaviors as "wrong" ones, and they try to prohibit them in the future. Accordingly, the authenticity of their kastom fluctuates. When they discuss whether their kastom is "correct" or "wrong," they always compare it with the old way practiced before the Europeans came. Aneityumese people understand that their own kastom is weak, and most traditional knowledge has disappeared, as has happened in many other islands of Vanuatu. They cite two reasons for the weakening of kastom: the depopulation caused by epidemics, and Christianity. In 1848, a missionary's diary described that the population of the island stood at about 4,000. White traders who frequently visited Aneityum on business brought several epidemics, such as diphtheria, measles and whooping cough. The

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This study examines the manner in which an odhani - a head cover used by both Hindu and Muslim women in the Kachchh District, Gujarat State, India - is worn, in order to explain how clothes create boundaries between the Hindus and Muslims. One of the limitations of previous studies on Indian Muslims is that this community - a minority was discussed separately from Hindu society, which has a different social system and structure. However, in reality, both communities share a common culture to a large extent, and regularly interact with each other. Their clothes provide a new perspective for understanding the social relations between the Hindus and Muslims. It is said that clothes indicate an individual's social status. In my opinion, however, the function of clothes is not limited to a representation of the community to which the wearer belongs, but also creates differences between communities. Boundaries between communities are not rigid. Interaction with others can lead to changes in those boundaries and the significance of clothes. Hence, clothes are both an indicator and creator of the boundaries. This paper discusses the process of how visible boundaries are created by clothes, in order to complete the traditional discussion on Muslim society, in which the Muslims are considered separate from Hindu society. Earlier, clothes were not exclusively different for the Hindus and Muslims, as they are now in Kachchh. In general, communal distinction in India has been a historical process that started during the age of British colonialism through censuses, governors' policies, etc. Since independence, communalism has expanded gradually throughout India. In Gujarat, communal violence began in 1969. Kachchh was also affected by that national phenomenon. Both Hindu and Muslim women usually cover their heads with head covers known as dupatta, or orni/odhani. The odhani is commonly found in Gujarat, including Kachchh. The odhani, which refers to a cover for the head in Kachchh, is made of two sq. meters of cloth, with a remarkable variety of materials, designs, and colors based on communities, age, and localities. Many previous studies on Indian Muslims have regarded the practice of wearing an odhani as the custom of parda - the seclusion of women from men - and hence have considered it to be an Islamic custom. In this study, however, I would like to clarify that the parda is practiced only by women having specific social status, such as the Sayyad women (believed to be descendants of the Prophet) and women in rich business communities, and the burka is the garment worn to practice the custom of parda. The odhani functions as an amdhal, whereby women hide their faces behind the veil from their husband's father and elder brothers; the custom is traditionally practiced by married women both Hindu and Muslim in Kachchh. The odhani was symbolic of a married woman with a living husband (suhagan). On her wedding day, the husband presents the bride with a tie-dyed odhani of special significance - known as cumdadi - and she can wear it as long as she is a suhagan. Cumdadi is considered to be auspicious, and is great significance to the suhagan in the Hindu context. Although the Muslim community does not believe in the idea of such auspicious gifts, married Muslim women with living husbands also wear cumdadi, whereas widows do not. Every caste has a specific design and color for the odhani. Though the odhani is usually a symbol of caste, it also indicates the economic status or social class. Thus, women in Kachchh identify the wearer's status, such as caste, financial position, social class, and gender role, by interpreting the color, design, material, and embroidery of the odhani. Such interpretation is possible only when one understands what is symbolized the clothes. While both Hindus and Muslims have shared the significance of the odhani, they now assign new meanings

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This paper is an examination of the process through which the mushiyoke rite, performed by the Nenbutsu-ko folk-religious group, has been historically transmitted through changes. In particular, its primary goal is a clarification of historical continuity through transformation, as evidenced in the repeated recuperation of traditional rites in the face of modernity's onslaught, including mercury poisoning (the socalled "Minamata disease"). The field data in this paper come from the village of Sentoji, Yasuda-machi, located in the Kita-Kanbara region of Niigata Prefecture. Drawing on my fieldwork in the village, I will demonstrate the process in which a new jizo carved out of the stone from the shore of Minamata (Kumamoto Pref.) by the patients becomes incorporated into the rite of propitiation conducted by the Nenbutsu-ko religious group. The process demonstrates two points. First, in Sentoji Village, where not only the distinction between the patients and non-patients, but also that between the plaintiffs and non-plaintiffs of the Minamata suit, had separated the population into various groups, the act of constructing the jizo was considered part of the official activities of the village as a whole. Second, the mushijizo, abandoned as a result of the eradication of the Tsutsugamushi disease, has been restored through transformation by the installation of a new jizo from Minamata. The social changes triggered by the modern intervention have been discussed in terms of the "waning [or vanishing] of tradition". The idea that equates the organic whole with the past has been the most dominant mode of discourse in both anthropology and Japanese folklore studies. However, it has proved to be insufficient to understand the local reality in which the people of Sentoji connected their experience of Minamata disease with the traditional mushiyoke rite. In order to emphasize the dynamic aspect of these historical changes, I propose to understand the tradition, borrowing a term from James Clifford, as "authentically remade," which is the concept that highlights the idea of change without letting go of that continuity. The fact that the local people connected the experience of Minamata disease with the traditional rite of mushiyoke is an indication that they have tried to overcome the political division of the village with the help of local tradition-namely, the antagonism produced by the Minamata disease itself. I examine ethnographically how local people have coped with the contradictory nature of modernity: while modernity contributed to the eradication of the Tsutsugamushi disease, it also introduced a new disease-the Minamata disease-to the local community. As discussed above, the transmission of tradition through the dark side of modernity, a seemingly contradictory historical process, has not been explicitly discussed in the previous studies on Minamata disease, which were conducted mostly by sociologists. Its secondary goal is a somewhat theoretical one: namely, the reopening of the field site discursively constructed as "Sentoji, Yasuda-machi," by social-science studies on the Minamata disease, viewing it as an ongoing historical process whose future has yet to be determined.

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