Journal article
Are mountain gods vindictive?: competing images of Japanese alpine landscape
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol.13(4), pp.863-880
2007
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00461.x
Abstract
This article underscores the importance of folk religious concepts in understanding the way in which people interact with the environment that envelops and sustains them. Images of rural Japan have drawn almost exclusively on the tradition of irrigated rice cultivation combined with ancestor worship. Alternative concepts have been overlooked or ignored, fostering the sense of a uniform heritage. The author highlights one such alternative, which derives from the tradition of hunting, gathering, and slash-and-burn cultivation within a spirit-imbued landscape. The contrast between perspectives is illustrated by a historical encounter between a British mountaineer and the residents of two communities located at different elevations within the same watershed.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Are mountain gods vindictive?: competing images of Japanese alpine landscape
- Creators
- Scott R. Schnell - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol.13(4), pp.863-880
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00461.x
- ISSN
- 1359-0987
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2007
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology
- Record Identifier
- 9983557633502771
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