02157nas a2200121   4500000000100000008004100001100001700042245015600059300001200215490000700227520178700234022001402021                                       d1 aSatoru Hyoki00aThe Thing that could not be Replaced withIntangible Cultural Heritage －consider through the case of choosing to suspend ratherthan become heritage－  a137-1630 v393 aIn this paper, the author pointed out the problems of Japanese government’s response to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and described, in an ethnographic way, the situation of the crisis of tradition had been faced by a group of folk performing art and how the bearers chose the path of ‘not becoming an ICH’ in response to being a candidate for ICH.The Japanese government has directly connected the ICH Convention and its operation to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Such a policy does not reflect the will of the bearers who are responsible for the cultural heritage, and has a problem that it does not take into account the problems that arise in the existing social situation, nor can it show the alternative way of safeguarding and support that replaces the conventional way for the protection of cultural properties.As an example of malfunction of the cultural property/cultural heritage system due to such correspondence, Osato Tanabata-odori handed down in Ichikikushikino City, Kagoshima Prefecture is taken up. In this case, against the situation of a lack of the absolute number of young people who have long been the main players in such a performing art, various reforms have been implemented in recent years to replace traditional forms. However, the purpose of these reforms was not to conserve the dance as a cultural heritage, but to convey the significance of that dance, which has been cultivated internally as a dance to raise young men to maturity, and as a node of the community that connects settlements in the district. The author examined the intention of the decision of the bearers who chose to pause the tradition by themselves, refusing to be listed as a candidate of UNESCO ICH.  a1975-5740