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Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region" As a Unesco World Heritage Site

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Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region 九州大学学術情報リポジトリ Kyushu University Institutional Repository Report on the 2017 Inscription of “Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region" as a Unesco World Heritage Site Dewitt, Lindsey E. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science : Postdoctoral Fellow | Kyushu University : Visiting Researcher http://hdl.handle.net/2324/1924413 出版情報：Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University. 3, pp.135-140, 2018-03. Kyushu University, School of Letters, Graduate School of Humanities, Faculty of Humanities バージョン： 権利関係： Kyushu and Asia Report on the 2017 Inscription of “Sacred Island of kinoshima and Associated Sites in the Mnakata Reion as a ES orld Heritae Site LINDSEY E. DEWITT N 9 July 2017, the United Nations Educational, ogy of the early Yamato rulers’ imperial-style sphere Scientifc and Cultural Organization (UNE- (ffh–eighth century) can be confrmed. Te 712 Ko- SCO) inscribed “Sacred Island of Okinoshima jiki 古事記 (Records of Ancient Matters) and 720 and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region” on its Nihon shoki 日本書紀 (Chronicles of Japan) describe World Heritage List.1 Te decision marks the culmina- Okinoshima as the sacred abode of one of the three tion of a nearly decade-long efort, and puts a spotlight Munakata goddesses, who are today worshipped at the on the rich religious and cultural landscapes of Kyushu, three locations of Munakata Grand Shrine (Munakata Japan, and the broader maritime sphere of Japan, the Taisha 宗像大社).3 Korean peninsula, and the continent. Te tiny size and Tree intensive rounds of archaeological excava- remote location of Okinoshima 沖ノ島 belies its great tions on Okinoshima (1954–1955, 1957–1958, 1969–1971) cultural and historical signifcance. Rituals on the is- land can be traced over the course of fve hundred years in four distinct forms. At the same time, the reasons for 3 unakata Shrine assumed its current name, unakata aisha, in the wake of its 1901 designation by the eii goernment as a the sacredness of the remote island—a place difcult maor imperial shrine kanpei taisha 官幣大社). kitsumiya 胸形 to navigate to and anchor on in fne weather, let alone 之奥津宮 rendered as 遠瀛 in the Nihon shoki) on kinoshima storms, and of limits to nearly all visitors today—and enshrines akiribime no mikoto 多紀理毗売命 alternatiely, 奥津❎比売命 中 2 kitsushimahime no mikoto ). Nakatsumiya the locus of the ritual practices remain unclear. Unlike 津宮 on Ōshima, eleen kilometers off the coast, enshrines many other ancient sacred sites in Japan, however, the akitsuhime no mikoto 湍津姫命. Hetsumiya 辺津宮 in ashima role of Okinoshima and Munakata 宗像 in the mythol- on the Kyushu mainland enshrines Ichikishimahime no mikoto 市 杵島姫命 alternatiely, Sayoribime no mikoto 狭依毗売命). he Kojiki and ersions of the Nihon shoki present slightly different names e.g., agorihime 田心姫, agorihime no mikoto 田心 姫命, and agirihime no mikoto 田霧姫命) for the goddesses, 1 Note that, in apanese, the name of the site differs slightly from and only one ersion of the Nihon shoki specifies kitsumiya the nglish “Island where gods dwell’ unakata kinoshima as agorihime’s dwelling. akeda and Nakamura, ed., Kojiki, p. and the ssociated Heritage roup” “Kami yadoru shima” 35. digital ersion of the Kojiki is aailable from the apanese Munakata Okinoshima to kanren isan-gun 「神宿る島」宗像·沖 Historical ext Initiatie, niersity of alifornia, erkeley, ノ島と関連遺産群). httpshti.berkeley.eduKoiki.html, p. 22, paragraph 2 trans. 2 concrete harbor was built by the goernment in 1951 to Donald hilippi). Nihon shoki, ol. 1, pp. 106–107. or an nglish proide access to the island for military personnel. translation of the Nihon shoki, see ston, Nihongi, pp. 34–35. 135 yielded some eighty thousand artifacts dating from the rough sketches of some of the items that would be re- fourth to the ninth century. Te excavations revealed discovered decades later.5 that four styles of rituals were performed on the island Okinoshima’s modern World Heritage narrative at twenty-three sites over fve centuries: (1) rituals atop begins with Idemitsu Sazō 出光佐三 (1885–1981), a rocks (late fourth–early ffh century); (2) rituals in petroleum tycoon and Munakata native. Idemitsu, rock shadows (late ffh–seventh century); (3) rituals self-described as “richly blessed with divine favour from partly in rock shadows and partly in the open air (late childhood,” attributed his success in business to his seventh–eighth century); and (4) open air rituals (late faith in the three Munakata goddesses.6 When Idemitsu eighth–end of ninth century). Te ritual goods range visited Munakata Shrine in 1937 and witnessed the “un- from a miniature golden loom to gilt-bronze horse deserved decay” of its buildings and precincts, he made trappings, bronze mirrors, iron swords, comma-shaped a “solemn vow” to restore them, and in November 1942 beads, ceramics, and much more; they are collectively organized the Society for the Restoration of the Mu- designated a National Treasure (kokuhō 国宝).4 nakata Shrine (Munakata Jinja Fukkō Kiseikai 宗像神 Okinoshima’s immense and ritually specifc ma- 社復興期成會). In addition to spearheading eforts to terial treasures, combined with its mytho-historical restore the shrine in Tashima 田島, the society spon- record, have catapulted the island to global fame, in- sored extensive historical investigations, which resulted spiring grand narratives about Japan’s origins and pre- in several major publications, and funded the large- modern polity. Te fndings also pose many questions scale archeological investigations on Okinoshima.7 concerning cultural exchange in East Asia before the Te movement to make Okinoshima a World Her- consolidation of “state” Buddhism in Japan in the mid- itage site took shape in earnest through the eforts of eighth century. In quantity and value, the “discovery” local residents of the city of Munakata (which today in- of Okinoshima’s treasured goods in the middle of the cludes Ōshima 大島). Te locally formed Okinoshima twentieth century came as a great surprise to many. Tales Executive Committee (Okinoshima Monogatari Munakata Shrine ofcials certainly had some previous Jikkō Iinkai 沖ノ島物語実行委員会) organized the knowledge of the cache, as they already held in their ar- “Munakata Grand Shrine Great National Treasures chive several objects (e.g., bronze mirrors) said to have Exhibition” (Munakata Taisha dai kokuhō ten 宗像大 been deposited on the island between the fourth and 社大国宝展) in 2002. Te same year, a symposium sixth century. Moreover, military personnel had been was held in Munakata; it was there that archaeologist stationed on the island regularly since the seventeenth Yoshimura Sakuji 吉村作治, an authority on Egyptian century, frst at the behest of the Fukuoka domain, and studies, afrmed publicly that “Okinoshima is worthy later, the Meiji government. Tese people, too, must of World Heritage.”8 have known something of the island’s treasures, many When the Agency for Cultural Afairs (Bunkachō 文 of which were visible on the ground, but apart from 化庁) sought proposals from local governments for can- a fantastic tale of fying treasures and godly wrath in- didates to be added to the World Heritage Tentative List cluded in an eighteenth-century shrine history, nothing in 2006, Fukuoka Prefecture submitted “Okinoshima about them was ofcially reported. Te frst documen- and Associated Sites” (Okinoshima to kanren isan- tary evidence concerning the wealth of ritual goods gun 沖ノ島と関連遺産群) for consideration. Tree on the island is a scholarly report of 1891 that includes years later, in May 2009, “Munakata, Okinoshima and Associated Sites” (Munakata, Okinoshima to kanren isan-gun 宗像·沖ノ島と関連遺産群) was added to 4 he first attempt to designate obects from kinoshima as National reasures in 1959 was unsuccessful; the items instead were assessed as Important ultural roperties jūyō bunkazai 重要文化財). ore items were added and the listing was 5 tō, asaumi “kitsushimakikō.” upgraded to the status of National reasure in 1962. Subseuent 6 kinoshima akuutsu hōsatai and kaaki, Munakata excaations reealed many more items, which were designated Okinoshima, p. 614. as Important ultural roperties in 1978 and 2003. he entire 7 unakata ina ukkō Kiseikai, ed., Munakata jinja shi; unakata lot of eighty thousand obects was collectiely designated ina ukkō Kiseikai, ed., Okinoshima. as a single National reasure in 2006, as “rtifacts from the 8 aeda oshio 前田敏郎, “Seikai isan kinoshima ichibu kitsumiya ritual site of unakata rand Shrine” Fukuoka-ken ogai’” 世界遺産 沖ノ島「一部除外」, ainihi shinbun 毎 Munakata Taisha Okitsumiya saishi iseki shutsudohin 福岡県宗像 日新聞, 2017.5.7, httpsmainichi.particles20170507ddl 大社沖津宮祭祀遺跡出土品). k40040272000cck1. 136 N SIN HNIIS KYSH NISIY VOLUME 3 Japan’s Tentative List for World Heritage inscription. would still endeavor to register all eight sites. Te A World Heritage promotional committee was formed Bunkachō prepared an easy-to-understand (illustrated) that same year, a collective efort of the cities of Mu- rebuttal to present to World Heritage Committee nakata and Fukutsu, and Fukuoka Prefecture.9 Te members at the annual meeting in order to persuade nomination remained on the Tentative List for seven them to adopt the eight-property serial inscription. years, during which time the promotional committee Te Japanese delegation argued that the ICOMOS pre- sponsored more than twenty conferences, symposia, sentation of Okinoshima as an isolated site with no and exhibitions, and commissioned four volumes of connection to other ritual sites or cultural practices study reports by Japanese and international scholars.10 ignored signifcant archaeological evidence from the On 28 July 2016, the Bunkachō selected “Sacred Is- seventh through ninth century that was excavated not land of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Mu- only on Okinoshima but on Ōshima (Mitakesan 御嶽 nakata Region,” a grouping of eight sites in total, for 山) and Tashima (Shimotakamiya 下高宮), the two ofcial consideration by UNESCO and its external ad- other Munakata Shrine locations. Tey emphasized visory body, the International Council on Monuments that the earliest surviving chronicles about Japan, the and Sites (ICOMOS).
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