| Record of activities in 2023 at KURCPI |
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Research Seminar No.228, 24 April 2023
16:30-, The Interdivisional Education and Research Building, 5th Floorbr
「The Religious Cultures and its Relation to Shrines in the Amami Islands」
MACHI Taiki
(Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kagoshima College)
The Amami archipelago is known as a region with local religious cultures such as village rituals by Noro (female priests licensed by the Ryukyu Kingdom) and Yuta shamanism. These local religious cultures have declined since the Meiji period (1868 - 1912) due to Haibutsu-kishaku (the anti-Buddhist movement) and the spread of foreign religions. However, the relationship between local religious cultures and foreign religions is not only conflicting but also harmonious. In particular, shrines are rich in such diversity. Some shrines played an important role in suppressing the local religious cultures during Haibutsu-kishaku. Also some shrines have functioned as a receptacle for local religious cultures. For example, some shrines had been used as a ceremony place by Noro, and some were established based on the local tales of heroism. I have been interested in the transformation of the religious cultures of the Amami Islands in modern times, and have conducted research on the transformation of the funeral system in Yoron Island and the relationship between folk beliefs and shrines. In this presentation, I will throw light on the significance of the focus on shrines to understand the religious cultures of the Amami Islands. Moreover, I will consider the relationship between local religious cultures and shrines, based on examples of shrines in the Amami Islands and the stories of the people who manage them.
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Research Seminar No.227, 6 February 2023
16:30-, The Interdivisional Education and Research Building, 5th Floorbr
「Trends in Banana Cultivation and Utilization in the Japanese Islands」
SATO Yasuaki
(School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences, Nagasaki University)
Banana production in Japan was mainly limited to the sub-tropical islands of Ryuku and Ogasawara. Over the past few years, however, attempts have been made to cultivate the fruit in the temperate zones of Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, and Hokkaido, which were considered unsuitable for banana production. This study aimed to review the trends in banana cultivation and utilization in the Japanese archipelago.
The relationship between humans and bananas consists of two major components. One is the indigenous cultures that developed in different tropical and subtropical zones whereas the other is mass production on tropical plantations and mass consumption in the temperate and cold zones. Today, such issues as the global spread of diseases and pests, long food miles, and inequality between producers and consumers are particularly complicated. Against this background, the new developments in Japan can be viewed as a sign of a changed outlook of people in Japan, including the Nansei Islands, and modifications in the flow of banana production and consumption.
Based on newspaper and magazine articles on domestically produced bananas until 2018, banana plantations north of Kyushu can be roughly classified into the following three types. The first is farms that focus on sales to consumers (sales-specific); the second is farms that concentrate more on hands-on activities, such as harvesting events and plant ownership (experience-oriented); and the third is gardens that grow bananas on a small scale as an extension of a personal hobby and at times give them away as gifts or, on rare occasions, for sale. Since 2018, different methods of cultivation and use have been observed, and the exchange of information among banana growers has increased. However, the characteristics of this fruit and its history of spreading through personal networks have made it challenging for growers to identify cultivars.
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Research Seminar No.226, 16 January 2023
16:30-, The Interdivisional Education and Research Building, 5th Floorbr
「Medicine and food - from Satsuma Kurozen to ninjin’yoeito research」
INUI Akio
(Pharmacological Department of Herbal Medicine, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical & Dental Sciences)
The Kagoshima University Food and Health Project aims to contribute to healthy longevity, with special reference to the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases and frailty, a condition requiring a cane, through Kagoshima functional food, the same source as Kampo medicine.
One of the projects is Kurozen (Satsuma Kurozen bento), which incorporates black rice and black vegetables containing rich anthocyanins, won the Excellence Award (2nd place) in the bento category of the 2019 National Supermarket Association. Another is the shochu project, in which we have identified functional ingredients with anti-metabolic effects as well as ghrelin-like substances that work similarly to ghrelin, a hunger hormone secreted from the stomach, that can suppress aging and promotes healthy longevity. Based on these findings, we are now developing functional shochu.
Ninjin’yoeito is called the strongest Hozai in Kampo medicine, and it has been reported to show the preventive and therapeutic effects on frailty such as strengthening immune function, promoting appetite, and reducing sarcopenia in the elderly. This Kampo medicine acts to stimulate ghrelin and hypothalamic neuropeptide Y downstream thereof. This hunger system forms the basis of caloric restriction and is deeply involved in healthy longevity, tumor suppression, and stress tolerance.
Kampo medicines contain many kinds of herbal drugs. Chinpi, dried citrus peels, are components of a substantial number of Kampo medicine including ninjin’yoeito. One of the origins of chinpi is Sakurajima small tangerine that also contains a lot of active ingredients such as hesperidin which stimulate ghrelin secretion. In this lecture, I will discuss the progress of modern medicine in healthy longevity from the standpoint of the same source of medicine and food.
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