1st Edition
Crafting Rural Japan Traditional Potters and Rural Creativity in Regional Revitalization
This book discusses the place of creative village policy in the revitalization of rural Japan, highlighting how rural Japan is moving from a state of regional extinction to regional rejuvenation.
Using the case study of Tamba Sasayama in Hyōgo Prefecture where collective initiatives by local government and the role of the creative class – local traditional potters – are invested in fostering an aura of creativity in the region, the book examines the complex social relations and the intertwining values of different actors to illustrate how a growing outlook on creativity, rurality, and rural creativity requires a renewed perspective on and of rural Japan.
Based on extensive field research, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, rural studies and anthropology.
Introduction Part One: Tamba Sasayama 1. From the Great Heisei Amalgamation to the Sōzō Nōson Campaign 2. From Bean to Pottery 3. The Ambiguity of Rural Creativity 4. Enacting Creativity Part Two: Tachikui 5. The Taskscape of Tachikui 6. The Secular Side of Craftsmanship 7. Whose Tamba Pottery? Conclusion: Post-Growth Japan as Rural Epilogue
Biography
Shilla Lee is a Departmental Lecturer in Japanese Social Anthropology at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies at Oxford.
