One Foot in the Past,One Foot in the Future: Japanese Cultural Identity and Preservation Law 1868--1950.
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文摘
This thesis examines the historic trajectory of Japans cultural identity and its effect on preservation laws between 1868 and 1950. Instead of focusing on the post-World War II 1945 and beyond) or the Feudal periods c.1185-1868), this document charts the social and cultural changes during an underestimated part of Japanese history and how these changes informed the preservation laws. The goal of this analysis is to demonstrate how the laws reflected the ongoing formation of a national cultural identity. The years between 1868 and 1950 saw Japanese society undergo a swift transformation from an agrarian-based culture to an industrial and urbanized society in a very short time. During this period, the Japanese adapted and assimilated all manner of ideologies and institutions from the West and assimilated them into their culture. This thesis argues that the question of how cultural identity affected preservation law is open ended and should always be open to new information and new interpretations. Japans cultural identity continues to inform the way the nation and its people relate to their historic and cultural resources. The analysis is laid out in six parts: the first chapter looks at the fire at the 1949 H&omacr；ry&umacr；ji and the popular reaction to it. The second part discusses modernization and national identity, first by examining Japans evolving modernization between first contact with the West in 1543 through the of the Meiji era 1868-1912). The national identity portion studies the philosophical trends from the eighteenth century focusing on the National Learning School and the formation of an ethnic identity in the early twentieth century. The third chapter examines the preservation laws enacted between 1871 and 1933 as a response to the changes in the legal tradition and the changes brought on by sudden urbanization and industrialization. Chapter four is an extended discussion of the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. This chapter also looks at the role of the Arts and Monument Branch of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers and the role it played in the passage of the 1950 Law. Chapter five examines Japanese preservation activities from the mid-twentieth through the present. The focus of this chapter is on preservation of historic districts, Japans modern heritage, participation in global heritage conservation, and concludes with the issues facing Japanese historic preservation today. This thesis follows the changes in Japanese culture and its effect on preservation law through a study of Japanese history, culture, and preservation policy. Taken together, the Japanese preservation laws helps us understand a country that tries to negotiate a middle ground between east and west； past and future.