Japan Journal of Sport Anthropology
Online ISSN : 2186-1935
Print ISSN : 1345-4358
ISSN-L : 1345-4358
Volume 2011, Issue 13
Displaying 1-4 of 4 articles from this issue
  • The Legend of Kungfu as a case example
    Toshiyuki Murahashi
    2011 Volume 2011 Issue 13 Pages 1-16
    Published: December 31, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: January 27, 2023
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
      The Legend of Kungfu (hereinafter "Legend") is a musical of Shaolinsi Kempo as the central theme and it describes the process of hardship of a child called Junichi in becoming a chief priest through the Zen practice and knightly efforts. Since its first performance in July 2004, it has received good reputation mainly from foreign tourists and its overseas performance since August 2005 was successful. It is one of the most attention-drawing cultural products. They established their subsidiary company in Branson, Missouri in July 2010 to go international, and performed "Legend" which was revised into an American version. There are two purposes of this thesis. First, the social background of martial arts' industrialization is discussed; through what process it came to play an important role as a symbol of Chinese culture although it was positioned as a mere type of sport. Next, transformation of cultural symbol of martial arts in the process of industrialization is clarified. Two factors may be considered as social background; one of them is related to change of the government's ideology policy around the 1990s. Due to the political convulsion and corruption of cold war structure from the Cultural Revolution to crushing of the pro­democracy movement, public faith towards Marxism and Maoism was greatly disturbed. Furthermore, the reform and door-opening policies had not conformed to the existing style of nationalism such as the existing anti-feudalism and anti-imperialism. Under such social circumstance, it is inevitable to change the nationalism in order for the Communist Party to recapture the public faith for them and continue economic modernization maintaining united stability of the nation. By focusing on the peculiarity of Chinese culture to flourish the nationalism which became superficial, they started to justify government from nationalist's view. Based on such background, the value of martial arts has been highly evaluated as a symbol of traditional culture. The second factor is the influence of cultural system reformation. Cultural policy used to be considered as a mean to advertise the Communist Party's ideology. Since Chinese economic system was logically clarified as Chinese socialist market economics in 1992, market economics logic has been brought to the cultural policy which had been conducted as the nation's public service. In the late 1990s, GDP per person reached nearly $1,000, where a large amount of surplus fund would turn into consumption in the near future, and in 2005, potential cultural consumption ability was expected to double that of 1997. In consideration of the above condition, in 2000, the concept of industrialization of culture began to be proposed and positioned as an important part of the nation's economic development plan. Cultural industrialization, from an aspect of cultural content, is to bring the logic of profit and competition to tangible and intangible cultural heritage. While cultural replication is developed, people demand more realistic culture. They, however, result in the paradox that there is no real culture anywhere. This thesis first-refers to Cao Xiao-ning, the president of Heaven Creatio!l who produces and operates "Legend". Cao used to work as the head of an art organization which belonged to the Ministry of Inner Mongolia, but he started up Heaven Creation by himself riding on the wave of reform and door-opening. Cao's background and process of company establishment well reflect the situation of culture industrialization from 1990 to 2000. Furthermore, through the analysis of the "Legend" text, we present the specific sample where martial art is de-contextualized from its original culture and symbolized in cultural hybridity.
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  • Sheng-Lung Lin
    2011 Volume 2011 Issue 13 Pages 17-38
    Published: December 31, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: January 27, 2023
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
      Taiwan became the first Japanese colony in 1895. At that time, there were three main ethnic groups in Taiwan, namely Japanese, Chinese (Han) and aborigines. Governor-General of Taiwan regarded Chinese as a more civilized group while aborigines as savages, rebellious and uncivilized group. In early periods, Governor-General of Taiwan suppressed the aborigines by armed force in one hand, and simultaneously implemented Aborigine Policy in dimensions of education, production, medication and tourism. The so-called Aborigine Policy also implies the meaning of Japanization policy. According to Fujii(l989), resource exploitation was the primary purpose of Governor-General of Taiwan thus "Aborigine Policy" was established to draw forestry resources from Taiwan reasonably.
      The main purpose of this research is to find how Governor-General of Taiwan implemented Aborigine Policy to aborigines by way of baseball. In early period of Japanese governing, the aborigines in Taiwan were regarded as a savage and uncivilized group. However, the negative stereotype on the aborigines started to change after the special civilized-group ''Nokodan" baseball team went fighting in west Taiwan and visited Japan. Conclusions are as follows:
    1. Eguchi promoted Aborigine Policy for long time and modified the image of the aborigines in Taiwan from negative to positive.
    2. While competing with Japanese team in Taiwan and Japan, "Nokodan" baseball team made audiences feel that the aborigines were gradually civilized.
    3. "Nokodan" baseball team seemed like a moving showcase for the success of Aborigine Policy. In competitions, they displayed Japanese manner like politeness and humbleness which they had learned from the School of Agriculture in Hualien Harbor.
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  • A Study on the issue concerning the trademark of Rusie Dutton
    Kohei Kogiso
    2011 Volume 2011 Issue 13 Pages 39-63
    Published: December 31, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: January 27, 2023
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
      This paper illustrates the historical background of how Rusie Dutton came to be regarded as one of Thailand's cultural resources in recent years. Rusie Dutton is one of the Thai physical exercises handed down from the ancient time. In 2006, "ルーシーダットン" or "Rusie Dutton" was registered by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) as a Japanese trademark. However, the Thai government called to revoke such a claim, arguing that Rusie Dutton is Thailand's traditional medical knowledge and their own intellectual property. As a result, the JPO acknowledged the Thai government's claim and canceled the trademark.
      Recently, Traditional Medical Knowledge (T:MK) tends to be considered a cultural resource or an intellectual property, and some countries even attempt to protect and spread T:MK on a national level. One of the reasons why these countries strive to maintain and utilize TMK lies in its economic value. The industrialization of traditional medicine around the globe has enhanced the economic value of TMK. For the Thai government, TMK is an important cultural resource that is used not only as a medical treatment but also for tourism. This change in the state of traditional medicine is a remarkable phenomenon bearing in mind that traditional medicine was previously excluded from the official medical system and placed to the periphery. The issue concerning the trademark of Rusie Dutton has to be examined through these contexts. In order to consider Rusie Dutton as a cultural resource, perhaps the Thai government and its people needed to create a positive and active evaluation of traditional medicine, including Rusie Dutton.
      Based on these analyses, this paper will discuss as follows.
      First I examine previous studies about Rusie Dutton. As far as I know, there are no other studies that examine Rusie Dutton from the viewpoint presented in this paper. For this reason, I only consider the studies that refer to the history of Rusie Dutton. In chapter II, I review the history of Thailand's traditional medicine and explain what TMK means to the Thai government. Then, I analyze the historical and social background of the revival of traditional medicine in Thailand in Chapter III. Here principal themes are (1) the influence, on a global scale, caused by the introduction of Primary Health Care (PHC) that the WHO recommends to Thailand's health care system and (2) the ideological influence of national discourse related to the ideas of "Community-culture" and "Indigenous knowledge" in Thailand. In chapter IV, I study some documents that are submitted by the Thai government to explain the reason for the revoke of the trademark for Rusie Dutton. I then examine the way in which the Thai government understands Rusie Dutton as part of their culture. In conclusion, I consider the meanings of TMK and traditional culture in today's Thai society.
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  • The Vicissitudes of Modern Ethnic Sports
    Yu-chi Cheng
    2011 Volume 2011 Issue 13 Pages 65-77
    Published: December 31, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: January 27, 2023
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
      Numerous ethnic sports, which prevailed among specific ethnic groups and geographical locations, are now practiced all over the world. It has been noticed through much scholarship that the representation of modem ethnic sports is becoming more hybridized than ever in the backdrop of globalization. Belly dance, which is adapted from Middle Eastern dances, is currently popular among Taiwanese women. Taking the globalization of belly dance and its localization as an example, this study shows how Taiwanese people diversely fuse their local culture with belly dance, and bridge connections between Taiwanese identity and the imported culture by emphasizing the nurture of homeland. This study also argues that the fluidity of culture in its laundering, imaging and attaching is an appropriate model explaining the diversity and the changing nature of modem ethnic sports.
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