The UNESCO Effect: Confidence, Defamiliarization, and a New Element in the Discourse on a Japanese Island

The 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage established a "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity." In 2009, seventy-six traditions from around the world were inscribed as the "first elements" on this list. One of these was Toshidon, a New Year's Eve ritual performed on the island of Shimo-Koshikijima off the southwest coast of Japan. How does recognition by an international body affect the way this small community perceives and performs its "heritage"? In this article, I contextualize the UNESCO selection of Toshidon, describe the ritual itself, and then focus on the discussion that occurred on the island in 2009-10, as the UNESCO designation became a new factor in a long-running and complex local discourse on tradition. Observing the on-the-ground effects of UNESCO's recognition on this one island community provides insight into the broader interaction between global cultural policy and local tradition.