Recently, agricultural, fishing, and mountainous areas have reevaluated the cultures and skills specific to these regions, in an attempt to promote regional growth through the transfer of these cultures and skills throughout Japan. This study clarified the present situation and problems regarding the inheritance of horse skidding skills, while illuminating the role of administrative agencies in regional resource management based on an organization which promoted horse skidding in Tono region, Iwate prefecture. The promotion aimed to assist in the transfer of horse skidding skills, and enlisted horse skidding technicians, administrative agencies (including prefectural and city governments), a forest owners' association, and a nonprofit organization, in order to achieve its goal. The prefectural government was responsible for managing the organization, and coordinating its activities through financial and physical support. The city government endeavored to secure the number of horse skidding works by ordering projects related to city-owned forests to horse skidding workers. Afterward, as the prefectural government has gradually withdrawn from participation in the management of the promotion organization aimed at the construction of a region-based promotion system, the organization has sought alternative ways to achieve its goals independently. Given these points, the role of the city government that evaluates an equine cultural tradition as a tool for regional revitalization has become more important than ever. The establishment of a sustainable region-based management system is a future task essential for the continuation of horse skidding skills.
View full abstract
