A Directory of Important Japanese Folk Performing Arts

On 26 January 1949, a fire broke out at the ancient Buddhist temple of Hōryūji: it destroyed wall paintings, shocked the nation and triggered debates on the need to devise a protective law for ‘cultural properties’. These debates culminated in the passing of the bunkazai hogo hō, the law on the protection of cultural properties, on 30 May 1950. The stated aim of the law was to preserve and activate cultural materials, and raise the culture [that is, cultural level] of the people.