Cultural Resilience and the Protection Mechanism of Intangible Cultural Heritage

The 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake and the subsequent heavy rainfall in Okunoto caused severe damage to Wajima lacquerware production, disrupting workshops, material supplies, apprenticeship systems, and the everyday social networks that sustain traditional craft practice. Based on field interviews and documentary sources, this study examines how the disaster affected the cultural production chain of lacquerware and analyzes the multi-layered response involving governmental agencies, cultural institutions, and civil society groups. The findings indicate that post-disaster recovery of intangible cultural heritage extends beyond physical reconstruction and requires the restoration of the relational ecology among artisans, place, and craft techniques. The case of Wajima demonstrates that cultural resilience is not an inherent attribute, but a dynamic process continually shaped through institutional support, community participation, and craft practitioners' self-organization. This study offers an analytical perspective for understanding how intangible cultural heritage adapts to disaster contexts and how cultural ecosystems can rebuild continuity through social collaboration

Craft · Cultural analysis · Cultural heritage · Cultural heritage management · Cultural identity · Ethnography · Intangible cultural heritage · Psychological resilience · Conservation Techniques and Studies · Crafts, Textile, and Design · Cultural Industries and Urban Development