New Intangible Cultural Heritage Law and Research Direction for Traditional Skills

This article was written to suggest the direction for a comprehensive nationwide survey of skills and martial arts according to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Law which came into effect in 2016. The new law significantly expanded the definition of the intangible cultural heritage previously confined to artistic talents and skills into the traditional knowledge and daily customs . As a result, the skills and martial arts field which have been broken or vulnerable to transmission came under attention. Some suggestions to prepare before the next nationwide comprehensive research into the traditional skills and martial arts aspects of intangible cultural heritage are as follows.First, set concepts and categories for the traditional skills and martial arts as an intangible cultural heritage.Second, after defining the concepts and categories, the present-condition research must take precedence over the events that were cataloged, up to the present among the skills and martial arts, as intangible cultural heritages, such as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, State-Designated Intangible Cultural Heritage, City/Province-Designated Intangible Cultural Heritage, and National Reserve List.Third, there is a need for comprehensive research studies to extract new items in the field of skills and martial arts.Fourth, if there are some items which have been already included in other intangible cultural heritage sector in the skills and martial arts, there is a need for discussion on how to handle the issue.Lastly, in the case of skills and martial arts, there seems to be a need to examine the way in which we designate Modern Intangible Cultural Heritage besides designating the existing intangible cultural heritage in order to protect and transmit them because there are lots of events which were restored and reproduced in modern times.