There are a lot of lion dances in Japan. The lion danceis one of the most popular Japanese folk performing arts. Japanese lion dances are classified into two types. One is Futaridachi Shishimai and the other is Hitoridachi Shishimai. Futaridachi means that one lion is played by two or more than two performers, and Hitoridachi means that one lion is played by a single performer. The difference between the two types is not only form but also history.
Sanbiki shishimaii is one of the Hitoridachi Shishimai. In Sanbiki Shishimai, a group of three performers dance together, each performer playing one lion, putting a lion mask on his head and a drum on his breast. More than 1,400 Sanbiki Shishimai are distributed over a widearea. The range extends from Hokkaido to Shizuoka, the whole East Japan area. On the other hand, in West Japan they can be seen only at a few places.
The distribution has some characteristics. Sanbiki Shishimai are seen in most prefectures of East Japan, but not over the whole area of each prefecture. They are oddly distributed. They have variety in some aspects, such as form, name, performing technique and so on. Many local types can be seen in each area.
Some problems can be found in the distribution. For example, what is the cause of the odd distribution? What is the relation between Sanbiki Shishimai and other lion dances? Why can many local types be seen in each area?
Old documents and records tell that Sanbiki Shishimai appeared from the end of the Medieval Period to the beginning of the Edo Period, increased as time passed, and its range spread from Hokkaido to Shizuoka in the nineteenth century. In consideration of Sanbiki Shishimai’s history, it is necessary that the above-mentioned problems be discussed from the viewpoints of both distribution and history.

Key Words: lion dance, Sanbiki Shishimai, distribution, folk performing arts

Although modernity has been the issue of long debate in the social sciences, many ethnographers have argued about‘modernity’ without defining its meaning, which they seemed to assume was already known or unambiguous. This paper presents a theoretical model to explain ‘modernity’ as a local social reality, The central way in which factory women talk about the past, the present and the future on the shopfloor where I conducted fieldwork in Northern Thailand is the discourse and practice of than samaj, which literally means ‘abreast of the times’. In what kinds of setting does the discourse of than samaj function? What are the concepts or practices that are linked to the discourse of than samaj? What are the power relations supporting that discourse on the shopfloor? While trying to answer these questions, I would like to show in this paper that a useful approach to understanding people’s ex-periences in contemporary society is to examine the process by which a discourse linked to ‘modernity’ is created in the local setting.

Key Words: Northern Thailand, discourse, factory worker, modernity, practice

When dealing with the conservation of motion picture films, we have to consider two aspects, conservation of information ( contents ), and that of the film itself. In this article, We deal with the latter. At first, the problem of degradation is discussed for film bases ( cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, PET ) and for the emulsion layer
( gelatin, silver halide, dyes ) . Then, recent researches on the conservation environment are surveyed, focussing on cold storage and on film containers, so as to draw basic and practical conclusions for the conservation of motion picture films.

Key Words: motion picture films, degradation, conservation environmet, cold, storage, film container

The essence of the contemporary American Indian education in-voIves a hybridization that includes a European framework and an in-digenous epistemology. The study focuses on the American Indian response in general and the Blackfeet Nation’s response in particular to federal bilingual legislation of the post Civil Rights era as a vehicle for establishing local sovereignty. This research will examine past legisla-tive definition of the American Indian as it restricts linguisticulture and present legislative shift in definition as it accommodates the same. Through government-supported bilingual/bicultural education on the one hand and recent privately-sponsored immersion-school education on the other, the paper will explore issues of native language revitalize-tion and maintenance as they relate to indigenous control of reservation education.

* Faculty of Language and Culture, Osaka University

Key Words: English, Blackfoot / Blackfeet, education, Indian, language

The primary data for the paper were collected by the author during her anthropological studies in the Techa River Valley, in the Southern Ural reglon. The largest Soviet plant producing plutonium for military Use, called “Mayak”, had used the river to dump atomic waste. As a result, the third generation of the local inhabitants are already suffering from high radiation levels. Various ethnic ( Tatars, Bashkirs, and Rus-sians ) and religious ( Muslims and Orthodox Christians ) groups are victims of this disaster. The author studied ethmic aspects of the behavior of human beings suffering ecocide, in particular, changes in their sub-sistence in order to survive. Individual subsistence behavior, including gardening and stock-keeping, means of nourishment, personal hygiene, precautions taken and self-treatment, were analyzed.

* Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Research Visitor, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka

Key Words: Russia, ethnicity, religion, ecocide, radioactive pollution