著者

早稲田 みな子

出版者

日本音楽学会

雑誌

音楽学 (ISSN:00302597)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, no.1, pp.62-78, 2006-09

著者

早稲田 みな子

出版者

The Society for Research in Asiatic Music (Toyo Ongaku Gakkai, TOG)

雑誌

東洋音楽研究 (ISSN:00393851)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2002, no.67, pp.61-80,L7, 2002-08-20 (Released:2010-02-25)

参考文献数

19

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The contact that immigrants maintained with their homeland is one of the important determinants of the immigrant culture. However, this factor has been rarely emphasized in the studies on immigrant cultures as well as on Japanese Americans. The studies on immigrant cultures tended to focus on the interplay of cultural elements originating from the host society and those the immigrants bring from their home, while the studies on Japanese Americans tended to emphasize a process of Japanese American's Americanization, acculturation, and their upward movement toward the America's middle class through the successive generations. This study attempts to focus on the element undervalued in these past studies —a tie between immigrants and their home culture —to gain new insights into the Japanese American musical culture in pre-World War II southern California.The Japanese immigrants in pre-World War II southern California maintained close contact with their home culture through the successive waves of touring Japanese artists from Japan who performed and/or taught their musical arts in the United States. This study views these Japanese performance artists as “cultural ambassadors, ” and examines their roles and influences in the immigrant community.There were two major forces that attracted a large number of touring Japanese artists to the United States. One was the Japanese artists' own ambitions to achieve some success outside Japan. The other was the Japanese immigrants' strong attachment and longing for their home country. Coming from nationalist Japan of the Meiji period (1868-1912) and encountering racism and cultural conflict in the foreign country, the Japanese immigrants reinforced their Japanese identity and looked toward Japan as their authentic cultural model.In this pro-Japan immigrant community, the touring Japanese artists played the following three major roles to affect the immigrant musical culture:1) The role as a provider of contemporary Japanese musical arts and entertainment.Through the overseas performances by the Japanese artists, Japanese immigrants were able to enjoy the musical arts and entertainment that were popular in Japan at that time, and thus, they could maintain an intimate cultural tie with “contemporary” Japan.2) The role as a teacher and promoter of Japanese performance arts.Some of the Japanese artists not only performed, but also taught their arts to the Japanese immigrants, and sometimes even organized the local performance groups within the immigrant community. There were artists who were invited from Japan as instructors for the immigrant-based performance groups. The Japanese artists, thus, greatly contributed to the development of Japanese performance arts among the immigrants, and enhanced Japanese culture within the immigrant community.3) The role as a catalyst for the immigrants' acceptance of western musical culture.Although the majority of the Japanese immigrants were yet unfamiliar with western art music, they paid a great deal of attention to the Japanese professionals of western art music who performed in the United States, because the immigrants highly regarded those artists as the Japanese elites successfully assimilated into western culture. Through these Japanese professionals, the immigrants gained access to western musical culture in the United States, and also raised their self-confidence and pride as Japanese.

著者

早稲田 みな子

出版者

社団法人 東洋音楽学会

雑誌

東洋音楽研究 (ISSN:00393851)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2002, no.67, pp.61-80,L7, 2002

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The contact that immigrants maintained with their homeland is one of the important determinants of the immigrant culture. However, this factor has been rarely emphasized in the studies on immigrant cultures as well as on Japanese Americans. The studies on immigrant cultures tended to focus on the interplay of cultural elements originating from the host society and those the immigrants bring from their home, while the studies on Japanese Americans tended to emphasize a process of Japanese American's Americanization, acculturation, and their upward movement toward the America's middle class through the successive generations. This study attempts to focus on the element undervalued in these past studies &mdash;a tie between immigrants and their home culture &mdash;to gain new insights into the Japanese American musical culture in pre-World War II southern California.<br>The Japanese immigrants in pre-World War II southern California maintained close contact with their home culture through the successive waves of touring Japanese artists from Japan who performed and/or taught their musical arts in the United States. This study views these Japanese performance artists as &ldquo;cultural ambassadors, &rdquo; and examines their roles and influences in the immigrant community.<br>There were two major forces that attracted a large number of touring Japanese artists to the United States. One was the Japanese artists' own ambitions to achieve some success outside Japan. The other was the Japanese immigrants' strong attachment and longing for their home country. Coming from nationalist Japan of the Meiji period (1868-1912) and encountering racism and cultural conflict in the foreign country, the Japanese immigrants reinforced their Japanese identity and looked toward Japan as their authentic cultural model.<br>In this pro-Japan immigrant community, the touring Japanese artists played the following three major roles to affect the immigrant musical culture:<br>1) The role as a provider of contemporary Japanese musical arts and entertainment.<br>Through the overseas performances by the Japanese artists, Japanese immigrants were able to enjoy the musical arts and entertainment that were popular in Japan at that time, and thus, they could maintain an intimate cultural tie with &ldquo;contemporary&rdquo; Japan.<br>2) The role as a teacher and promoter of Japanese performance arts.<br>Some of the Japanese artists not only performed, but also taught their arts to the Japanese immigrants, and sometimes even organized the local performance groups within the immigrant community. There were artists who were invited from Japan as instructors for the immigrant-based performance groups. The Japanese artists, thus, greatly contributed to the development of Japanese performance arts among the immigrants, and enhanced Japanese culture within the immigrant community.<br>3) The role as a catalyst for the immigrants' acceptance of western musical culture.<br>Although the majority of the Japanese immigrants were yet unfamiliar with western art music, they paid a great deal of attention to the Japanese professionals of western art music who performed in the United States, because the immigrants highly regarded those artists as the Japanese elites successfully assimilated into western culture. Through these Japanese professionals, the immigrants gained access to western musical culture in the United States, and also raised their self-confidence and pride as Japanese.

著者

早稲田 みな子

出版者

The Society for Research in Asiatic Music (Toyo Ongaku Gakkai, TOG)

雑誌

東洋音楽研究 (ISSN:00393851)

巻号頁・発行日

no.66, pp.37-54,L5, 2001

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Japanese immigrants began to develop their ethnic community in southern California during the 1910s. Since then, those immigrants and their descendents have transmitted various genres of Japanese performing arts within their community. As in Japan, the transmission of Japanese arts in southern California has been greatly dependant on the <i>iemoto</i> system—a hierarchical structure of teachers and students organized under the <i>iemoto</i> (the headmaster of a school of an art), as well as the system of transmitting and maintaining the arts within that structure. However, detached from Japanese sociocultural contexts and transplanted into southern California, the <i>iemoto</i> system could not remain as it is in Japan, and this transformation of the <i>iemoto</i> system has led to the changes in Japanese musical practices in southern California.<br>The three main factors that transformed the <i>iemoto</i> system in southern California are: 1) the shift of the students of Japanese musical arts from Issei (the first generation; immigrants from Japan) and Nisei (the second generation; American-born children of the Issei) to Sansei (the third generation; American-born children of the Nisei) and younger generations, who are more Americanized in their language, moral values, and mentality, 2) the American socio-cultural environment, which is different from that in Japan, and 3) the teachers' own recognition of the negative aspects of the <i>iemoto</i> system. These factors have led to the undermining of the following four ideological principles of the <i>iemoto</i> system: 1) disciples' loyal obligations, 2) the absolute value of the authoritative ranks, 3) a teacher-student relationship that emphasizes hierarchical distinction, and 4) a teaching method that emphasizes imitation. The undermining of these principles has, in turn, produced various distinctive features of Japanese musical arts in southern California, which include the weakening of a sense of belonging to one's teacher and school; development of non-traditional repertoire and techniques; concert style student performances that reduce students' financial burden and appeal to public; emphasis on musical ability rather than ranks; a democratic, "contract-based" teacher-student relationship; and use of alternative teaching methods.<br>In spite of these changes, the <i>iemoto</i> system continues to function in southern California, as the teachers keep their ties with their <i>iemoto</i> system in Japan. In a sense, teachers in southern California have dual approaches to the <i>iemoto</i> system: while they accommodate their specific environment and pursue their own policies in America, they continue to respect and maintain the <i>iemoto</i> system in their relation to Japan. There are three main reasons that teachers in southern California maintain their involvement in the <i>iemoto</i> system: 1) they need to belong to a particular <i>iemoto</i> system so that their disciples can acquire the <i>natori</i>-licenses (teaching degrees), which are granted only by the <i>iemoto</i>; 2) since teachers in southern California are mostly those originally trained within the traditional <i>iemoto</i> system in Japan, they understand the system, and thus, tend to maintain an active sense of belonging and obligation to the <i>iemoto</i>, and 3) their membership in a particular <i>iemoto</i> system ensures their access to Japanese musical resources—music scores and musicians—derived from that school. Thus, the <i>iemoto</i> system functions as an important tie that connects the teachers in southern California with Japan, and this connection plays an important role in their activities in America.<br>This study of the <i>iemoto</i> system in southern California suggests the following three points: 1) the <i>iemoto</i> system is subject to transformation once it is detached form the Japanese socio-cultural environment and mentality that