Asian Ethnology Podcast
Festivals, Rituals, and Bear Hunting in Japan
Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology
Recorded 29 April 2017, Nagoya, Japan
This episode's guest is Scott Schnell, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa and the former co-editor of Asian Ethnology. Scott discusses his research interests and perspectives, his work on dissident writer and ethnographer, Ema Shū, and his research on matagi (bear hunters).
Episode Summary
Intro :43
Initial interest in Japan 1:54
Environmental issues, studies about mountain areas 3:43
Research in Furukawa, discussion about The Rousing Drum, rituals 8:20
Research on Ema Shū, published in Asian Folklore Studies 13:40
Local hunters as guides and intermediaries
- mountains as conduits
- female mountain deity (yama no kami) 17:00
Matagi (traditional hunters) and belief in yama no kami 20:07
Daily life of matagi 28:45
Ideas of Japanese people, environment, nature, limits of consumption 34:43
Aspects of current research
- Animism
- Attitudes toward matagi
- Ministry of Environment’s support of matagi
- Tourism 39:59
Doing fieldwork with bear hunters
- Skills of matagi used for search and rescue
- Research intomatagi 47:16
Outro 47:40
Publications discussed in this episode
Book: The Rousing Drum: Ritual Practice in a Japanese Community (University of Hawaii Press, 1999). (Author: Scott Schnell)Article: Ema Shū’s “The Mountain Folk”: Fictionalized Ethnography and Veiled Dissent Asian Folkore Studies Vol. 65-2 (2006). (Author: Scott Schnell)
Music used with kind permission of the performer, shamisen master Koji Yamaguchi.