International Center for Folk Culture Studies

As a tangible form of material culture, mingu (folk implements) can be excellent basic materials for understanding how ordinary people around the world live in terms of their production activities and daily lives. This research group aims, in brief, to promote international adoption of the concept expressed by the word mingu through its use as a technical term and to advance studies in this area. To that end, it is necessary to establish a common nomenclature for these objects, as archeologists and historians of science and technology have done. The limits of the existing nonstandardized terms are obvious; for example, the Japanese word kago is often translated “bamboo basket,” but one can readily think of examples made of other materials and with various shapes; thus, an illustration is required for clarity. Even within Japanese, the difference between kago and zaru (sometimes translated ‘bamboo colander’) is debatable.

The background to a systematic nomenclature for mingu is complex, as the names used by each ethnic group reflect its view of nature and the world, together with such attributes as regionality, temporality, and hierarchy; it also becomes necessary to situate the names in the context of modernization. Thus, it will be far from easy to establish a common nomenclature. In the first stage, we will discuss the definition of mingu, then take several implements as indicators and explore the possibility of developing a common nomenclature, while making comparisons among Japan, East Asia, Asia as a whole, the Middle East, and Europe. In the process, we will actively introduce methods of classification and dissemination utilizing the latest advances in informatics. As a future goal, publication of an “international mingu dictionary” would aid understanding of people’s daily lives around the world as they really are.