Sustainable use of ecosystem and egalitarianism in the south-western islands of Japan

本研究旨在从生态人类学和环境民俗学的角度，了解日本西南部岛屿的自然环境和资源是如何被当地社区以可持续的方式利用的，以及平等主义是如何在那里发挥作用的。实地调查在冲绳的久田岛和八山岛以及台湾平通县进行。同样是为了比较，在文献中还分析了中国海南岛等地的数据。对库达卡岛民的生存活动、自然环境和资源、民族科学、传统信仰体系和社会结构进行了调查。研究了部分基于明确的平等主义思想的习惯土地利用模式和同样涉及平等主义结构的海蛇采集活动。收集并分析了包括周围珊瑚礁在内的数百个岛屿地名。观察了当地社区的传统仪式，并分析了这些仪式的作用。最后，对最近振兴该岛的项目进行了调查，以便应付人口减少和社会崩溃。这些调查揭示了岛屿社会性质中根深蒂固的平等主义在可持续利用自然资源和社会稳定方面的作用。在一个亚热带气候的小岛上，自然资源有限，不那么集中。因此，它们的使用不能是集约化的，而必须是多样化的使用模式。这种资源利用方式建立在各种社会规范和原则的基础上。我们可以理解，平等主义是亚热带岛屿社会生活所依据的最重要原则之一。

This study aimed at understanding how natural environment and resources in the South-western islands of Japan have been used in a sustainable way by local communities and how egalitarianism has worked there form the viewpoints of ecological anthropology and environmental folklore. Fieldwork was conducted in Kudaka island and Yaeyama islands of Okinawa, and Pingtong Prefecture of Taiwan. Also for the purpose of comparison, data of various places such as Hainan island of China was analyzed along with the literature.In Kudaka, subsistence activities, natural environment and resources, ethno-science of Kudaka islanders, the traditional belief system and the social structure were investigated. Customary land use pattern which was partly based on the explicit egalitarian idea and sea snakes collecting activity which also involved egalitarianistic structure were studied. A few hundreds of place names of the island including the surrounding reefs were collected and analyzed. Traditional ceremonies of the local community were observed and the role of such ceremonies were analyzed. Finally, recent projects for revitalizing the island in order to cope with the population decline and social breakdown were surveyed.Those investigations have revealed the function of egalitarianism deeply located in the nature of island society for the sustainable use of natural resources and stability of the society. In a small island of subtropical climate, natural resources are limited and not so much concentrated. So their use must not be intensive but diverse use patters are necessary. Such a style of resource use is based on various kinds of social norms and principles. We can understand that egalitarianism is one of most important principles on which social life in subtropical island settings is based.