Manchuria as a touchstone : a critical moment of Mingei movement in wartime

シキンセキ トシテノ マンシュウ ミンゲイ ウンドウ ノ シャカイ ニンシキ ノ リンカイテン

Takenaka, Hitoshi

オオサカ ダイガク ニンゲン カガクブ シャカイガク ニンゲンガク ジンルイガク ケンキュウシツ

英語

「満洲」

植民地主義

少数民族

健康

Mingei (Folk Art) movement

Manchuria

colonialism

ethnic minority

health

Mingei movement faced a difficult problem when it launched upon a development in Manchuria in 1943. The movement in Manchuria is now severely criticized for its colonialistic character, because it is said that the movement unintendedly backed up ideology of the Puppet State of Manchukuo. I seek to examine this claim by bringing focus into two contemporary documents, and want to show the significance of Manchuria for the movement. From pre-war, the central idea of this movement has been to salvage and revitalize moribund cultures. Generally speaking, this idea is right. However, in the case of Manchurian minority culture at that period, the idea was politically dangerous. In Manchuria, praise of minority culture implied support of the Puppet State. How should it be dealt in relation with Manchurian, Chinese and Japanese cultures? The Mingei movement had to face this kind of delicate problem. The movement used various cultural strategies to solve it. For example, certain author used a striking metaphor of medical treatment: the beauty of Manchurian handicrafts is like the beauty of arts made by the mentally handicapped. The metaphor implied that Manchuria was a mentally handicapped person and had to be patronized by someone. It is an extreme example, but it is true that medical metaphors played a part in the movement. When the Japanese surrendered, the movement in that area was unfinished. We can hardly clarify the whole picture of it now. However, it is certain that Manchuria has been and will be an important touchstone for the study of Mingei movement.

英語