List of Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties

This is a list of 337 [[Important Intangible .

Criteria

1. It must exemplify something original in the Japanese people's everyday life in terms of origin and content, and be typical.
2. It must exemplify the process of evolution of some technique.
3. It must exemplify some local characteristic.

Designated cultural properties

Manners and customs

Manufacture, livelihood

9 designations. All were designated under Criteria 1.

Life rituals

6 designations. All were designated under Criteria 1.

Amusements, contests

11 designations, all under criterion 1.

Social life (knowledge of folk customs)

2 designations, all under criterion 1

Annual functions or events

34 designations, all under criterion 1

Religious festivals and beliefs

74 designations. All were designated under Criteria 1. This includes all but one of the 33 festivals in the UNESCO Intangible cultural heritage Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan.

Folk performing arts

Kagura

kagura (神楽, lit. 'god entertainment') are dances associated with Shinto shrines.

There have been 40 designations, all under Criteria 1, unless otherwise indicated.

Dengaku

dengaku (田楽, lit. 'field music') are musical presentations/dances related to rice planting.

There have been 26 designations, all under Criteria 1 unless otherwise indicated.

Fūryū

Fūryū odori (風流踊, lit. 'elegant dances') are traditional folk dances often consisting of large processions of participants typically wearing colorful costumes and accompanied by props. Another form represented below is nenbutsu odori (念仏踊) and the syncretic nenbutsu fūryū (念仏風流). In these dances, dancing is accompanied by Buddhist chanting and hymns.

The most common surviving example of these dances is the bon odori.

There have been 44 designations, all designated under Criteria 1 unless otherwise indicated.

Storytelling

6 designations. All were designated under Criteria 1 except for the Hakata Matsubayashi which was designated under 2 and 3.

Ennen and Okonai

Ennen (延年, ennen) (lit. "extend the years") are Buddhist temple entertainments performed at the end of Buddhist services and believed to extend the listeners' lifespans.Okonai (おこない, okonai) (lit. "deeds") are Buddhist New Year celebrations in which the evils of the past year are driven away.

There have been 7 designations, all under Criteria 1.

Entertainment from abroad and performance arts

41 designations. All were designated under criteria 1 unless otherwise indicated.

Other

18 designations. All were designated under Criteria 1 except for the Daiko of the Kokura Gion Festival and the Inaba and Tajima Kirin Lion dance which were designated under criteria 2 and 3.

Folk techniques

Manufacturing and production

16 designations.

Necessities of life

3 designations, all under criteria 3.

See also

• List of Intangible Cultural Heritage elements in Japan

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Bocking, Brian (2005). A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Routledge. ISBN 9781135797393.
• "Archived copy". Encyclopedia of Shinto. Tokyo: Kokugakuin University. Archived from the original on 2020-12-12. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
• Terence A. Lancashire (2013). An Introduction to Japanese Folk Performing Arts (revised ed.). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4094-9493-5. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
• Samuel L. Leiter (2014). Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre (2nd, illustrated ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3911-1. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
• Herbert Plutschow (2013). Matsuri: The Festivals of Japan. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-1342-4698-4. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
• Barbara E. Thornbury (1997). Folk Performing Arts, The: Traditional Culture in Contemporary Japan. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-2208-4. Retrieved 2018-03-04.

External links

• Inventory-making for Intangible Cultural Heritage Management