Nepal is a multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural country with rich cultural heritage located between India and China. The 2011 census recognized 125 caste and ethnic groups and 123 different languages. The new constitution of the Nepali federal republic has further recognized all the spoken languages as national languages. The National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) recognized fifty-nine indigenous nationalities residing in Nepal in 2002 (NFDIN 2011). However, in the 2011 census only forty-seven indigenous nationalities were reported (CBS 2012). Among them, Tharu is the second-largest indigenous group with a population of 1.7 million residing in various districts of southern Nepal (CBS 2012).

Abstract: This paper discusses lion dances as an example of shared heritage. In the local communities of Japan, there are several thousand lion dance troupes. These types of performances, where the dancers don animal costumes, can be found in various locations across Asia. While the dances are similar in shape, they vary in meaning, religious background, music, style, etc. Such differences are a manifestation of diversity. As such, when considering shared heritage, it is important to recognize the aspect of diversity.\n\nJapan has never made a multinational nomination to the UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). The reason for this lies in Japan’s method of selecting candidate properties for nomination. That is, Japan abides by a unique policy of selecting candidate properties from among those designated as cultural properties by the national government. “Cultural properties” refer comprehensively to the system for safeguarding cultural heritage in Japan and can be designated not only by the national government but also by local administrative units such as prefectures and municipalities. However, only nationally designated cultural properties have so far been eligible for nomination as a UNESCO’s List of ICHs, and the national designation criteria include no requirement to consider international compatibility. The designation criteria of local governments include no such requirement, either.\n\nIn other words, as long as Japan’s criteria for selecting candidate properties for nomination to the UNESCO’s List of ICHs conform to the domestic criteria for selecting cultural properties, making a multinational nomination would continue to be extremely difficult. Under the present system, responding to proposals from other countries would also be difficult. Yet, I have hope. In 2021, the cultural properties system for ICH in Japan was slightly modified. In place of the conventional system of designation, a system of registration was adopted with respect to intangible cultural heritage to provide more flexibility in safeguarding a wider scope of properties than ever before. Such a new system might promote the awareness of the need to take a more international perspective. At the same time, views that Japan should strive to make multinational nominations are emerging within discussions about UNESCO’s List of ICHs. When considering such trends, the prospect of Japan making multinational nominations or responding to proposals from other countries may be realized in the future.\n\nThus, in this paper, I wish to discuss what types of multinational nominations would be possible, based on case examples of folk performing arts, my specialty area. It should firstly be noted, however, that there are two categories of performing arts in Japan, namely traditional performing arts and folk performing arts. Traditional performing arts are fundamentally performed in theaters by professional performers. There are also amateur performers of traditional performing arts, who generally study under a specific master. Folk performing arts, on the other hand, are fundamentally performed by amateur performers within a specific event held in a particular region. Most are linked to faith and have been inherited through festivals and annual events. In placing them under the domestic system for safeguarding cultural properties, traditional performing arts are judged by their artistic and historical value, and folk performing arts are evaluated mainly by their folkloric value (stipulated by law as performing arts that show transitions in lifestyles). A large number of folk performing arts exist in Japan. As of 2020, as many as 8443 properties, including festivals and annual events, have been nationally or locally designated for safeguarding as intangible folk cultural properties. When including properties that have not been designated, more than several tens of thousands of performing arts are thought to exist. These folk performing arts have emerged from diverse historical contexts and are further classified into a number of subcategories. Among these performing arts, I wish to focus on Lion Dances, or “Shishi-mai.” I must, however, confess that I am regrettably not well-versed in the intangible cultural heritage situation in East Asia as a whole. I, therefore, wish to apologize in advance that the case examples I present herein are not necessarily common to all countries in East Asia.

Inventories are a fundamental tool for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH). In its “Guidance Note\nfor Inventorying ICH,” UNESCO reiterates the importance of community participation in the inventorying\nprocess. In other words, ICH inventories must go beyond mere documentation of specific elements by experts and instead enable a collaborative process whereby the information gathered assists with keeping the ICH meaningful and viable for associated communities. Digital media offers exciting opportunities for engaging communities in ICH inventory processes, as well as in modeling information in ways that help heritage professionals, advocates, and practitioners gain a more nuanced view of an element’s viability. In this paper I present two digital tools, Photovoice and Arches, that can assist community-based inventories to identify and document the complex cultural “ecosystem” that ICH lives through.

Nestled in the valley along the Huaihe River in eastern China, a special folk art, centuries old, still captivates people today with its bright colors, diverse forms, fast pace, and cheerful spirit. A folk art of the Han people located in rural Anhui Province, Huagudeng is a Chinese national treasure and is listed in the national inventory of ICH in China.

Indigenously developed shamanism varies according to geographic location and anthropological characteristics. But all these variations share the belief that nature commands all life. So it can be said that shamanism of Myanmar originates from nature worship in which the spirits within nature govern life. Appeasing these spirits brings good to all living creatures; however, evil is cast upon those who disobey the laws of the spirits. Within the context of these beliefs, humans must soothe the spirits through rituals. However, since direct contact with deities and spirits is not possible for everyone, shamans emerged to act as agents who can communicate with the spiritual world through various rituals.

Co-orgarnized by ICHCAP and Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), this year’s Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference was held in Hue, Vietnam under the theme of ICH NGOs towards Sustainable Development of Communities.

The scope of intangible cultural heritage related to human well-being is large. Many cultural practices, if not the majority of them, were designed by communities, groups and individuals for well-being purposes, be it physical or mental. Such practices are also intended to ensure the con-tinuity of the society over time and to maintain social order. According to Napier, those practices related to human body and soul are embodied in cultural systems of value (Napier 2014) that overwhelm them. The representations of those two components of the human being, body and soul, are tightly linked in traditional cultures. Thus, many cultural practices were designed for the well-being of both of them. They also mix therapies intended to bring about the relief of each and/or both. \n

Since ancient times, Syrians have practised traditional medicine just as many eastern and western civilizations have, where common natu-ral ingredients—such as tea and opium in the east and tobacco, coffee and wine in the west—were used in traditional methods for healing ailments and diseases. Traditional therapies used in Syria include plant- and animal-based therapies, leech therapy, cupping, cauteriza-tion and others.\nToday, traditional medicine is practised by all Syrian communities, where traditions and beliefs vary among different governorates and areas. There are literally hundreds of traditional healing methods still practiced in Syria today.

As in other countries in Spanish-speaking Latin America (Ryan, 2011), and former Spanish colonies such as the Philippines (Gonzales, 2015), there are both longstanding indigenous fighting systems as well as more recently created warrior arts and combat sports in what is now known as Mexico. Since the early 1990s, there has been inception and steady dissemination of several invented martial arts developed in the central, Gulf, and northern regions of Mexico by Mexican martial arts veterans with decades of experience in combat sports and Asian martial arts. New martial arts are often created by experienced martial artists experiencing personal troubles within broader social crises (Jennings, 2019). In the case of the Mexican pioneers, their combative experience is aided by their research into native forms of fighting and their vision to create a unique martial

Nuad thai or Thai Massage is a body and mind therapy, a traditional method of healing integrating the knowledge of science and art and local wisdom. Transmitted from generation to generations since the ancient times, it is still remarkably widespread throughout the country because of its effectiveness. In the past, it was practiced only within family bounds, such that wives or children would massage their husbands, parents, or grandparents after farming or gardening to relieve muscle ache.\n\nBasically, nuad skills involve applying hands, elbows, knees, and feet to press, squeeze, chop, stretch, knead, and pound. Thai people believe that the human body consists of four basic elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Nuad can stimulate energies of the body, and thus it betters blood circulation. In 2011, the Department of Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Culture inscribed nuad thai on the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage under the domain of Knowledge and Practices Concerning Nature and the Universe.\n\nNuad has two important purposes. One is to secure the capacity of one’s health to carry out the demands of professional life. In fact, people can select a kind of massage according to their individual preference such as reflexology, oil massage, hot herbal ball massage, hydrotherapy massage, or foot massage. For this purpose, plenty of spas or massage houses provide this kind of comforting service. On another hand, nuad thai is a remedy to health problems. In this case, therapists are required to be specialized and certified for this treatment to diagnose, cure, heal, or relieve the symptom. Felling off the pillow, low back pain, ankle sprain, constipation, and paralysis are some example of this treatment.\n\nNowadays, nuad thai is more extensively famous, not only for farmers or workers but also for other areas of work. As modernization, social pressure of technology, and increase of office work, burnt-out people tend to have nuad to reduce their body pain and relax their minds. Nuad has gained a wider acceptance as self-care practice for social value as the body and mind treatment. In fact, it recently becomes more popular for foreign tourists, too.\n\nPhoto : Nuad Thai 1ⓒ The Department of Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Culture in Thailand