GISPRI No. 14, 1996

Learning the Essence of Global Industrial Culture from Our Forebears

Recently I had to reread Kazuko Tsurumi's work Minakata Kumagusu -- Chikyu Shiko No Hikakugaku (Kumagusu Minakata: A Global-Oriented Comparative Study), and I would like to use that book as the theme for this article.

I am sure that many readers will know about Kumagusu Minakata, since recently he has been taken up frequently on television and other media. In view of his work, it is probably most appropriate to describe Minakata as an ethnologist. But he also had a deep interest in curious living things, called slime molds which seem to be both a plant and an animal, and he was an avid collector and researcher, so he can also be described as a biologist. In addition, he devoted a lot of energy to a campaign against shrine mergers, one of his most well-known activities, so he can be called an environment preservation activist, too.

Incidentally, these shrine mergers, which were a policy of the Meiji government, consisted of integrating shrines that existed according to the old system of municipalities in accordance with the new system developed through municipal mergers. Now Japanese shrines were surrounded by woods, commonly known as the "grove of the village shrine," so pulling down a shrine also meant destroying the woodland surrounding it. Since these woods surrounding shrines consisted of large trees, some people could gain a nice profit by cutting them down and selling them, so the policy had strong support from some quarters. However, lamenting the fact that localities would lose the trees that had grown there for a long time and that, as a result, the ecosystem would be destroyed, Minakata opposed the shrine mergers. In addition, Minakata feared that the disappearance of local shrines would lead to the loss of faith that had been deep-rooted in the community. Moreover, he was concerned that if the community lost its focal point, the people's autonomy would decline, and culture would disappear. In other words, Minakata was moved to action from a feeling that he had to prevent the loss of a culture that brought together natural and human life.

When you set about listing Minakata's work -- ethnology, biology, environmental preservation, and so on -- the picture becomes very complex indeed, and you tend to lose sight of the person. Most probably his efforts as a single human striving to lead a meaningful life just led him, by chance, in those directions. I feel that this is just the kind of activity that we are aiming for now with the words "global culture.

Minakata left behind a large variety of materials -- specimens, letters, essays, and so on. It is difficult to gain any meaning from them at a glance. What Kazuko Tsurumi has done in a wonderful manner is to interpret these materials, arrange them, and present Minakata's thought in a present-day perspective. To an amazing extent, Tsurumi's work perfectly overlaps with my own expectations of GISPRI from my standpoint of life-science research. So, although I realize it is a rather crafty approach, I take the liberty here of introducing Tsurumi's own views of our great forebear, Minakata, because I am sure they will sound more convincing than my own paltry opinions.

The first point concerns dialogue. Whenever Minakata made a presentation in his work, be it ethnology, biology, or whatever, in most cases he chose discussions with various people rather than stiff essays. He ceaselessly repeated the process of posing questions himself and answering as many questions as possible. He always engaged in dialogue rather than one-way transmission. When he studied in Britain, Minakata engaged in discussions with the local people. And when he returned to Japan, he continued this practice even after settling down in Nachi, a rather remote place. Minakata often sent his opinions to readers' columns in magazines. In a way, he can be called a forerunner of the information age. What is important here is that Minakata was always a transmitter of information.

The second point concerns what can be called "new universalism." Until then the concept of universalism was limited to thought and, based on this thought, science and technology emanating from a single region, Europe. However, indigenous scientific and technological civilizations also existed in regions other than Europe, such as China and India, for example. It was Minakata who turned his attention to these regions and sought an even broader concept of universalism. The present age is one of cultural relativism, but at its base this search for a broader universalism is probably one of the next intellectual directions.

Third, to paraphrase Tsurumi's own wonderful expression, the earth is a single entity, but we must also be aware of the surroundings in the place where we actually live. In other words, Minakata's attitude of devoting his efforts to the specific problem of the loss of woodland around local shrines while maintaining a perspective of the world as a whole matches the desirable approach to tackling global environmental issues today.

And the fourth point concerns the effort to find new technologies that incorporate the rules of the cycle of nature. Modern biology has made it clear that human beings basically live by the same mechanism as other living creatures and that human beings themselves will not be able to live properly if the technologies that we create to bring comfort to our lives do not match the mechanism of the natural world. Minakata made this point at a very early stage.

I am proud of the fact that these opinions were held by a Japanese, but at the same time I think it is unfortunate that Japan has not been able to make proper use of this knowledge so far..

But it is still not too late. I hope that we can incorporate the knowledge of our forebears in the term "global industrial culture" from now on while further developing the concept.