Kawai, K., Terada, R. and Kuwahara, S. (eds): The Islands of Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands, 15 March 2013

Chapter 2 Research Issues in the Culture and Society of the Sueo KUWAHARA

1. Introduction and seen to cause of discrimination. As a result, agoshima Prefecture comprises an area of using dialect in school was strictly forbidden, as Ksouthern Kyushu and a number of islands. educators were concerned that if school students The majority of these islands are located to the could not speak standard Japanese well they south and comprise the northerly part of the Nansei would be discriminated against and/or be social- chain, which extends from Kyushu over one thou- ly-maladjusted and lose self-confidence if they sand kilometers down to the of later moved to reside in urban centers in mainland . The Nansei Islands com- . Anecdotal evidence suggests there were prise four sub-groups, the Osumi, Tokara, Amami some Amamians who lived in urban centers who and Ryukyu Islands, the first three of which are often listened to shimauta records in private, so part of . Six of the Osumi as not to attract attention to their difference, and Islands and seven of the are in- many felt that they could not reveal their identity habited. The Amami Islands, which are located in openly in mainland Japan. However, around the the southernmost part of Kagoshima Prefecture, 1980s, the ‘otherness’ (and uniqueness) of Amami comprise eight inhabited islands located between culture came to be regarded very differently. This Amami-Oshima Is. and Is., over a dis- cultural difference became regarded as a valuable tance of two hundreds kilometers. There is a clear asset. The success of Okinawan musicians on the boundary between the Amami and Tokara Islands national music scene and the popularity of shi- in terms of both flora and fauna and folk culture mauta in Amami in the 1990s were of importance (Sameshima 1995, Shimono 1986). Together with in changing views of Amami culture. However, it the Ryukyu Islands, the Amami Islands are part of was Wadatsumi no Ki, a nationwide hit for Amami a semitropical region home to many coral reefs and singer Chitose Hajime in 2002 that was epoch- distinct plants and animals. Recently, the value of making for Amami, allowing its music culture to biodiversity in Amami has become apparent, and be acknowledged nationwide. For Amami people, a move towards gaining registration as a World too, it was a landmark event because they came to Natural Heritage region is underway. Amami is rediscover the value of their own culture and to be also a culturally diverse region, with significant able to have self-pride as Amamians. differences in aspects of local dialects and folk cul- It is important to consider Amami culture and ture not only among the islands but also amongst society today with regard to what researchers have villages on the same island. revealed about its unique attributes. These analy- Amami culture, which has been influenced by ses can inform discussions regarding the future both Ryukyu and mainland Japan, is quite unique, development of Amami as it strives towards World and the dialect, cosmology, religious beliefs and Heritage listing. traditional performing art forms such as folk song (shimauta) and August dance (hachigatsu odori) 2. Studies of Amami have been studied as forms highly distinct from espite the islands’ socio-economic under- those of mainland Japan. Until the 1970s, these Ddevelopment and distance from more devel- differences were primarily regarded as negative oped areas, Amami has produced many profes-

5 Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands sionals who have gone on to work in fields such few more villages in northwest region of Amami- as administration, medical services, academe, the Oshima Is. called , and from there, he finally legal sector and business. The islands have also came back to Naze by boat. Thus he made a trip produced several excellent local historians and around half of Amami-Oshima Is., during which folklorists. About six thousand articles, reports and he conducted field research on annual events, folk books on many regional topics are listed in a book tales, and a female priest called noro. The results of entitled Amami Kankei Shiryo Mokuroku (Amami this trip were documented in the book mentioned Data Catalogue) (Irisa 1994). The volume merits above. The reason that Yanagita became interested mention here as it documents the extensive re- in Amami and Okinawa was that he was attempting search that has been undertaken on Amami Islands, to find the affinity between mainland Japan and the a region with a population of only 110,000. southern islands. In particular, he thought that the The first written record of Amami culture and study on Amami and Okinawa would contribute in society is Nanto Zatsuwa “Miscellaneous stories revealing not only the origin of the folk culture of of South Island,” which was written in the mid- mainland Japan, but also the question of where the 19th century by Sagenta Nagoya, a young and tal- ancestors of present-day Japanese came from. ented . He was punished by banishment to Yanagita’s book Kainan Shouki acted as an ex- Amami-Oshima Is. on a charge of political con- ample for local historians and folklorists, and there spiracy and lived in exile there for five years from have been a series of studies done by them since 1851. He left more than three hundred illustrations then. Among them, Amami Oshima Minzokushi with short descriptions about the nature and folk “A monograph on the Folklore of Amami-Oshima culture of Amami. This work, describing plants Is.” by Yuko Shigeno (1927) and Eikichi Kazari’s and animals, work and entertainment, religious Amami Oshima Minyo Taikan “General Survey on beliefs, and the daily life of Amami people, pro- Folk Music of Amami-Oshima Is.” (1933) were vided a valuable record and is regarded as the most especially important accounts of Amami folk cul- important ethnographical account of pre-modern ture and gave an overview of folk songs. Shomu Amami. Nobori’s book Dai Amamishi “Grand History of The academic study of Amami is generally per- Amami” (1949) described Amami history from ceived to have commenced with Kunio Yanagita, ancient to modern times, and also all aspects of the founder of Japanese Folklore studies, who Amami culture from family, kinship, and religious published Kainan Shouki “Notes on the Southern worship to folk performing art, and is considered Islands” in 1925, based on his trips to Okinawa to be a classic of Amami studies.1 and Amami-Oshima Is. Yanagita came to Amami- By contrast, the first anthropological study Oshima Is. on his way back from Okinawa, his in Amami was not undertaken by a Japanese but initial destination (Ueno 1983a: 8). In Amami- by Douglas Haring, an American anthropologist Oshima Is., he started his trip southward from from Syracuse University in New York, who was Naze, the capital, to Koniya, a port at the south- in the region in 1951-52 during the period of US ernmost point of Amami-Oshima Is., by crossing occupation. Haring came to Japan and Okinawa a steep mountain route called Santaro Pass on as a member of the Pacific Science Board of the foot. Then, he took a boat to Kakeroma Is., where National Research Council (NRC) in Washington he visited a few villages. After that, he visited a D.C. The purpose of the NRC was to conduct

1. See also Sakaguchi (1921), Iwakura (1943), Noma (1942), Kashiwa (1954), Sakae (1960), Ebara(1973), Tabata (1976), etc. Also each town or village has a historical and folkloristic monographs on an each town or village. For example, Naze-shishi Hensan-iinkai (1968), Kasari-choshi Shippitsu-Iinkai (1973), Tatsugo-choshi rekishi-hen hensan-iinkai (1988), Setouchi-choshi hensan-iinkai (1977), Sumiyo- sonshi hensan-iinkai (2002), Yamato-sonshi hensan-iinkai (1981), Kikai-choshi hensan-iinkai (2000), -choshi hensan-iinkai (1970), Wadomari-choshi hensan-iinkai (1984), China-choshi hen- san-iinkai (1982), Yoron-cho kyouiku-iinkai (1988), etc. 6 The Islands of Kagoshima academic research in Okinawa and the Miyako, Academic Societies” were the first to come and Yaeyama and Amami Islands between 1951 to conducted fieldwork for two years in and their re- 1952. Haring was sent to Amami from September search outcome was published as Amami: Shizen 1951 to March 1952. He conducted anthropologi- to Bunka “Amami: Nature and Culture” in 1959. cal research there for a half year, and went back to Twenty years later, Kyugakkai Rengo undertook the US after a brief stay in Tokyo. The purpose of further field research in the Amami Islands. The his research in Amami-Oshima Is. was to inves- changes in nature and society in the twenty years tigate and make a report about the socio-cultural between were investigated in detail and the sec- and economic situation of the people in Amami- ond book, called Amami: Shizen, Bunka, Shakai Oshima Is. to the US military government office in “Amami: Nature, Culture, and Society,” was pub- Okinawa. He went round Naze City and its neigh- lished in 1982. In this way, extensive social re- boring villages and some other villages in north- search was carried out and intensive research docu- ern Amami-Oshima Is. almost every day by a jeep mentation of folklore practice was also published. with his interpreter and assistant, and conducted a Stimulated by Kyugakkai Rengo’s field study, participatory research on a family dinner, a party, a many Japanese anthropologists actively pursued meeting, a concert, hachigatsu odori, a festival, a fieldwork throughout the Amami Islands from im- religious ceremony and a funeral. He also attempt- mediately after the reversion until the first half of ed to understand the situation of Amami Islands by the 1970s. Mainland researchers found that a lot of using various statistical data provided by the local forms of traditional culture, such as unique family government. He conducted research about shimau- and kinship systems, religious beliefs, folklore and ta singers and dancers, and traditional religious folk legends and cosmology, which had already people such as noro and yuta. He placed great gone from the mainland, persisted on Amami. The value on photos and film recording, and filmed main themes of Amami studies developed by these manufacturing processes for Oshima silk pongee, outside researchers concerned yuta, noro and orga- brown sugar, dried bonito and traditional boats. nized religious worship, the kinship organizations Drawing on his research, Haring submitted a re- called haroji and hiki and village community struc- port titled ‘Scientific Investigation in the Ryukyu tures. Since 1975 there has been increased address Islands (SIRI): The island of Amami-Oshima in to family and ancestor worship and to festivals to the northern Ryukyus’ in which he suggested that ensure abundant years, in addition to these previ- Amami should be returned to Japan immediately ous themes. Particular attention was paid to stud- if the military situation allowed (Yamashita 1994: ies of the family with regard to ancestor worship 67-72, Haring 1952). (Ueno 1983b, Ushijima 1983). After the reversion of Amami Islands to One particular feature of Amami studies has Japanese administration in 1953, the second for- been that researchers have aimed at generaliza- eign anthropologist came to Amami-Oshima Is. tion and theorization through comparative as well and conducted a fieldwork in Kakeroma Is. Josef as idiographic study, based on field research on Kreiner, an anthropologist from the University of the themes detailed above. Two (related) tenden- Vienna, Austria, conducted intensive fieldwork on cies have been evident. One has been comparative religious worship in a village led by a noro in 1960 study with Okinawa, and the other with mainland and wrote many academic articles and books on Japan. These have presupposed that the compari- the topic (Kreiner 1962, 1963). son between Amami and Okinawa / Japan could Immediately after the reversion of the Amami enhance understanding of the latter’s folk culture. to Japan, a number of researchers from mainland But, however systematic, these analyses placed Japan quickly commenced fieldwork on the- is Amami in a dependent position rather than aiding lands, since they were left underdeveloped during the development of Amami studies per se. the US military occupation period. Researchers Since the late 1970s, many Japanese an- from Kyugakkai Rengo “the Association of Nine thropologists have begun to conduct their major

7 Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands fieldwork projects abroad, and notable studies ciple for linking relatives back over three genera- on Amami have been limited to research on folk tions but is regarded as having little use for relating music and shamanism (Ogawa 1979, 1989, 1999, more distant ancestors than that. Three generations Yamashita 1977). And now even the study of sha- are the same range as haroji (kindred) (ibid.). manism seems to be going out of fashion, along The function of haroji was important not only with studies on family and kinship. Only the in productive activities such as agricultural work study of folk music forms, such as shimauta and and sugar production, and mutual aid in mar- hachigatsu odori, has been pursued consistently riages and funerals, but also in the form of ances- by both domestic and international researchers.2 tor worship called uyanko (ibid.: 21). Those who Recent new research trends show a diversifica- played an important role in ceremonial occasions tion of Amami studies to address Amami identity, for marriages, funerals and ancestor worship were Amami , development and environment not only those who were members of same clan or in Amami and so on.3 lineage group, but also a spouse’s family and rela- tives or those who were of the same kin. Such indi- 3. Family and society viduals are even now asked to help in funerals and s mentioned above, studies on postwar marriages, which is very different from the case AAmami were started by foreign anthro- in mainland Japan, where exclusive unilineal kin- pologists and then, in the late 1950s, mainland ship groups were once very important. In Amami, Japanese researchers of anthropology, folklore and a wife’s family has an important role in ceremonial many other academic fields embarked upon both occasions, and the opposite is equally true (vice intensive and extensive field research in Amami versa). Thus, haroji bilateral kindred was impor- Islands. Under the influence of kinship and mar- tant to a lineage or clan. This bilateral trait can be riage studies in Europe and the US in 1950s and seen in such customs of Amami people as when 60s, these kind of studies were actively pursued they refer or call to elderly people, they often use in the Amami Islands and resulted in considerable the kinship terms of siblings just like their real sib- outcomes and progress. lings or same family members. In other words, the The important kinship terminologies in Amami feature of Amami kinship discussed above with re- are hiki and haroji. Hiki means an ancestor-oriented gard to hiki and haroji involves the equal existence kinship organization, while haroji means an ego- of both ancestor-oriented and ego-oriented catego- oriented kinship organization of bilateral kindred. ries as its organizational principle (Ueno 1983b). Hiki is a kinship terminology with wide distribu- In Amami, although the principle for the continued tion not only in Amami Islands but also throughout existence of family (or ie) resides in primogeniture the Ryukyu Islands. Hiki generally means a clan, or prior inheritance by the eldest son, it is quite and it is often used as “same hiki with us” when different from the kinship family (or douzoku) introducing with each other in daily life. In choos- of the mainland in that a daughter can also be an ing a spouse, it is often said that there is “a good heir before an eldest son. The marked difference hiki” or “a bad hiki” (Ueno 1983a: 20). A specific between Amami and Okinawa was in elements of hiki consists of the descendents of both men and social organization such as family and kin. Both women from a particular ancestor. Thus, particu- in Amami and Okinawa, kinship organization is lar individuals are related to a number of hiki, and based on bilateral kindred. However, there can be most of the hiki show an overlap of membership in seen to be a marked development of the unilineal a village, and thus, an exclusive group cannot be kinship group called munchu in Okinawa, while formed. Hiki is often said to be important as a prin- Amami society did not develop such a unilineal

2. For example, see Ogawa (1979, 1989, 1999), Sakai (1996, 2005), Nakahara (1997), Hayward and Kuwahara (2010). 3. For example, see Takahashi (2006), Takarabe (2011), Tsuha (2012), Kuwahara (2005).

8 The Islands of Kagoshima kinship group (Ueno 1983a: 11) or prestige. Significant results from a comparative study of social structure in Amami arose from com- 4. Religious culture parison with the social organization of mainland n the Amami Islands until the end of Edo period Japan. A notable study by two anthropologists Iin 1860s, religions such as Buddhism, , merits special consideration here. Chie Nakane as- and Christianity were not known, but the folk be- sumed from her analysis of hiki that the function liefs such as noro and yuta had long been practiced. of kin in Amami society was much stronger and Funerals were not conducted by burial and crema- thus she concluded that Amami society is a hiki tion but by the local way called fuso, in which dead society (Nakane 1964). On the other hand, Masao bodies were simply left in caves to decay. But in Gamo conducted intensive field research on the the last half of the 19th century, fuso was banned social structure of Is. and concluded by the government, and instead, Amamians were that Amami society constitutes a haroji type based forced to practice burials. Cremation was intro- on bilateral kindred, which is based on the equal- duced to most of Amami Islands after the War, but ity and distinctiveness of families. Furthermore, in the case of Yoronjima Is., for instance, it was not Gamo pointed out that Amami society lacked the until 2004 that a crematorium was built and people kinship family system (douzoku-sei) and age-class changed their practice from burial to cremation. system which were widely found in other Japanese During the time when burial was practiced, there societies. Thus, he concluded that Amami’s haroji was a customary practice called senkotsu, which society constitutes “the third type” of Japanese literary means ‘washing bones’, which is unique to village societies, which is different from the other Amami Islands (Nagata 1955). two types of kinship family society and age-class Regarding the senkotsu, a story that I heard society (Gamo 1959). from a man in his thirties in Tokunoshima Is. made As we have seen above, Amami society can a particular impression. The story concerned his be said to be a haroji or bilateral society based on experience of attending the senkotsu of his grand- an ego-centered bilateral kin group called haroji. father. The man felt uncomfortable with senkotsu Amami’s bilateral society also lacks a specific dis- before he attended but when he held the skull that criminatory ideology, and people’s behavioral pat- the female relatives washed with water, and when terns are recogni