A Study on the Interpretation of Japanese Traditional Culture with Emphasis on Recognition Process

Globalization in recent years has led to the decline of local cultures, with an increasing numbers of people living in standardized time and space. In this globalized world, we have to re-appreciate local resources and consider the revival of human value in our daily life, from cultural, educational and economic aspects. In this paper, we reconsider factors that have been ignored in modern society from the viewpoint of efficiency and economic effect, and present a comprehensive model that emphasizes human experience (such as sensibility-based experience and tacit knowledge) that has conventionally been considered elusive and meaningless. Traditional industry is a valuable resource that entails attractive local cultures. Such industry has been passed on to succeeding generations by means of shugyo (rigorous training), through which many years of experience have been accumulated. It should be noted, however, that acquired skills are merely handed down in the course of extensive training, and that such training does not offer time or opportunity to create value, which is needed in modern creative management. This paper is designed to seek clues to the resolution of this problem through two main approaches. The first is based on the perspective of "The Form of Japanese Culture," which is one method employed in the transmission of Japanese culture. The second approach is to introduce a venue (a situational context) that offers an opportunity to acquire and effectively use the wisdom of traditional production in modern production ("Monozukuri") situations, through a scheme for sharing knowledge via information technologies. By examining specific examples of innovation and the handing down of aspects of traditional industry in Kyoto, we will undertake a systematic study of next-generation innovations and creative means of passing on traditions, and also identify issues for future studies.