Laos, having existed for thousands of years, is among the most ancient nations of the world. Chinese historical documents indicate that the original settlement of the Lao nation was in the region of the Ai-Lao Mountains along the River Mekong in what is now called Sichuan County. The region where Ai-Lao tribe lived was called Kao Long. This name was later changed to Kio Long Kieng, which means the river of nine Nagas—the territory of the nine snakes who were known as the authentic and original family of the Lao nation. Therefore, due to their origins, Ai-Lao people widely admired or worshipped the Naga in many important rites and tattooed Naga symbols on their arms and body. In Luang Prabang, the people refer to the Naga in the local dialect as ngeuak, which means ‘water snake’.

Epics form a considerable part of the cultural heritage of the Tajik. The oral epic traditions in the Tajik culture appeared and formed in the most ancient period of its history, originating from the mythology of ancient Iranian peoples.

Teyyam is a divine dance that is prevalent in the northern districts of Kerala, such as Kannur and Kasargod. The name teyyam is derived from daivam, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘god’ or ‘deity’. Performed in shrines, sacred groves, houses, and open places, teyyam represents mythological, divine, ancestral, animal, and heroic characters, each with its own distinct shape and form of origin. There are over 350 of these teyyams.

Kalaripayat is considered one of the earlier martial art systems in Asia. Even though it had a larger geographic range at the time of its origin in South India, it is now restricted to the state of Kerala.Many terms are used in the literature to refer to Kalari including “Kalarippayattu,” “Kalaripayattu,” “Kalaripayat,” and so on. The term “Kalaripayat” will be used in this chapter. There are different theories regarding the origin of the word kalari. It is variously said to originate from the Sanskrit word khaloorika (“training ground”), the Tamil word kalam (“storage place for paddy”), or the Malayalam word kalari (“place where Kalaripayat is practiced”). Payatt or Payat may have originated from the Tamil word payil (“to become trained, accustomed, practice”) or the Malayalam words payiluka (“to learn, speak”), payttuka (“to exercise in arms, practice”), or payattu (“fencing exercise, a trick”). It may be noted that the original name of the martial style was “Payattu Kalari” and that the word “Kalaripayat” has only been used since the 20th century.

Numerous ritual ceremonies are under the theme of rite de passage among the Balinese Hindu community. One of the most complicated and exotic is the ritual death ceremony known as ngaben or pelebon (cremation ceremony).

The mask—a mystery in itself and a disguise that gets many names and forms along with the circumstances, context, beliefs, values and practices that always carry a story to be told. Nepal stands as one of the culturally rich nations with more than 365 different festivals celebrated annually, many of which have mask dance performances representing a specific religious deity. Ga: Pyakhaan or Asthamatrika Naach is one of many mask dances performed annually in the city of Patan, Nepal. The word astha means eight; matrika means mother goddess and naach means dance, thus, literally implying “dance of eight motherly goddesses.” This dance is performed during the Dashain festival from Ghathasthapana to Vijaya Dashami (first to last day of the Dashain festival) in the royal courtyard of Mul-chowk inside Patan Durbar. It is believed that these eight tutelary deities help in protecting the city from eight specific fears: threat from outsiders (historically from other states and kingdoms), wind, water, fire, natural disasters, enemies, thieves, and evil spirits. Thus, it is an annual ritual performed for wellbeing, peace and prosperity of county and citizens to protect them from unforeseen fears that might be faced in days to come.

Abstract: In this paper, the author discusses a diversity-focused approach to musical instruments, using Japanese traditional instruments as an example. In Japan, there are safeguarding systems in place to protect not only the performing arts and its performers, but also the techniques used for making musical instruments, instrument makers. . Simultaneously, there are many musical instruments of the same historical origin throughout Asia. Approaching the musical instruments in a new framework – one which includes the performers and instrument makers – adds new perspectives such as the natural environment, traditional knowledge, and methods for accommodating the conditions specified for each era. If we apply this perspective to Asian musical instruments, we may be able to discover new stories of diversity that connect musical instruments.

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.

List of ICH Festivals applied for the Silk Roads Living Heritage Network Membership

In 1942 (Myanmar Era -1305),, a musician from Hsipaw founded the Shan traditional musical troupe in Namhkaik village. He taught singing, dancing and playing musical instruments during the 3 months of Buddhist Lent. One of his descendents is Shew Cherry Theatrical Performance Troupe which is renown today. This troupe gives performance in charity events and monk funeral ceremonies.

The tradition of jewelry making in India began with the prehistoric factories of the Harappan civilization which produced metal and bead jewelry and has continued unbroken over five thousand years in the continuity of its form, technique, and symbolism. Some of the earliest excavations of bead and stone factories have uncovered evidence of sophisticated tools like burins, scrapers, cylindrical drills, and micro-drills used to drill holes in beads and etch designs on precious and semiprecious stones. These beads, along with sheet gold and gold wire twisted into intricate earrings, necklaces, bangles, waistbands, and more, represent the humble beginnings of the Indian jewelry tradition. Jewelry has since been used to demonstrate affection, status, power, and skill.

Phú Thọ - a midland province in northern Vietnam, is about 100 kilometres northwest of Hanoi where the sacred mountain Nghĩa Lĩnh also known as mountain Hùng exists. On Nghĩa Lĩnh mountain, there are Lower (Hạ), Middle (Trung) and Upper (Thượng) temples together with legends about 18 Hùng Kings of the Vietnamese people. Around Nghĩa Lĩnh mountain, there are hundreds of temples, communal houses and shrines located in villages and communes, which forms a religious space to worship Hùng Kings.