Resilience and traditional ecological knowledge
TEK encompasses the knowledge, practices and beliefs developed across generations by particular traditional cultures (Berkes, 1993, 1999; Johannes, 1989), associated with particular individuals or groups and their land. It is the range of expert knowledge, wisdom and skills gained from living with a particular land and seas over a long period of time, which may be expressed in folk beliefs, rituals, festivities, monuments, oral histories and folktales, various cultural expressions, artefacts, literature and art (Kato, 2007a, b). The concept is useful, giving value to the humannature connection of those whose livelihood is intricately connected to the natural world regardless of their ethnic or cultural background. In Japan, TEK may be referred to as ‘minzoku-chi (folklore knowledge)’, ‘densho-chi (inherited knowledge)’ or ‘Jinbun-chi (humanities knowledge)’ and there have been studies in folklore and religious studies (Machida, 2003; Miyata, 1996; Nishigai, 2011; Nomoto, 2010; 2013a, b; Nomoto & Akasaka, 2013; Sasaki, 2006; Shinohara, 1995). They relate to concepts studied extensively in conservation management, satoyama and satoumi (Duraipappah et al., 2012; Koike, 2014).
A critical point is that there is an underlying ethical foundation to TEK and its various expressions, which may be in the form of gratefulness, awe or fear towards the natural world (Akimichi, 2012, 2013: Hirakawa, 2012), and since 3.11, an increasing number of studies have noted the importance of human knowledge, senses and other intangible qualities (Akimichi, 2013; Comfort & Okada, 2014). In other disaster contexts, Fukao (2015) found the reconstruction of a Hindu temple being an essential part of the reconstruction of the Uyyalikuppam community in India after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and Ishii (2016) identifies the vital role of a ‘rain ritual’ in reconstructing community resilience in a Northern Chinese village following a series of major social disturbances. TEK forms a ‘collective social memory’, which allows reflection on the past and redirection of the future, evaluating the essential values of life, which is a fundamental quality of resilience. It also plays an important role expressing local distinctiveness through a community’s initiatives, creativity and leadership, which in return creates interactive and participatory opportunities in tourism.
Tourism for sustainable community development: a framework for development
Resilience is applied to tourism by Farrell and Twining-Ward (2004, 2005), who state that sustainable development must ‘be viewed as an evolving complex system that co-adapts to the specifics of the particular place, and especially to the aspirations and values of local people’ (Farrell and Twining-Ward, 2004: 110). For a sustainable community development through tourism valuing local initiative and benefit, community-based tourism (CBT) provides a broad-embracing framework (Ruiz-Ballesteros, 2011; Sharpley, 2000, 2009; Telfer & Sharpley, 2008). CBT is defined as tourism ‘developed in local communities in innovative ways by various individuals and groups, small business owners, entrepreneurs, local association and governments’ (Sharpley, 2009: 124). It aims for a community’s ‘empowerment and ownership, conservation of natural and cultural resources, social and economic development, and quality visitor experiences’ (Hiwasaki, 2006: 677), ensuring improvement of socioeconomic conditions of those socially vulnerable (Hatton, 1999). CBT has a strong imperative of social justice, respect for local culture, heritage and traditions, and community empowerment, which clearly relates to the resilience and sustainability discussed above. This situates tourism as a development that is holistic, sustainable, locally beneficial and creative based on social-ecological systems.
Such tourism development with community resilience as a foundation can be part of resilience planning as suggested by Lew (2014: 14), who argued it to be ‘a potentially more effective approach to community planning and development than the sustainability paradigm’. Lew points out that resilience has the capacity to adapt to change by attempting to build capacity to return to a desired state following both anticipated and unanticipated disruptions,
Sustainability in tourism development 229 whereas sustainability mitigates or prevents change by maintaining resources above a normative safe level. Further, resilience is an ongoing process of development, rather than a fixed quality or a state held by an individual or a group (Luther, 2003). Community-based sustainable tourism thus can be conceptualized as part of resilience planning.
Traditional knowledge for sustainable tourism development: cases from Iwate, Japan
With the above concept in mind, cases of community tourism development in the early recovery phase that utilizes traditional knowledge, and thus considered as opportunities for resilience development, are now discussed. They are found in the communities of Iwate in the north Tohoku region (Sanriku coast area) of Japan.
History of earthquakes and tsunami in the region
Sanriku is a stretch of coast covering Miyagi prefecture in the south and Aomori prefecture in the north. The word Sanriku originated from the former three provinces which existed in the region until the Meiji land reform in late 19th century. The region has been overwhelmed by a number of earthquakes and tsunami. Existing records date back to the Teikan Earthquake and Tsunami3 (13 July 869), Keicho-Sanriku* (2 December 1611), An'ei (3 May 1774), Meiji-Sanriku (15 and 21 June 1896), Showa-Sanriku (3 March 1933) and the tsunami caused by the Chile earthquake (23 May 1960). More recently, the Miyagi-oki (12 June 1978) and Iwate-Miyagi (14 June 2008) earthquakes shook the region, although they did not cause tsunami. Road signs along the coast mark the ‘Estimated Tsunami Inundation Area’ based on accumulated data. This time, however, tsunami levels exceeded many of these marks.
