At the Closing of the Second International Conference of the Northern Studies Association　　　Takashi Irimoto

　The Northern Studies Association aims to contribute to understanding human beings through conducting studies on various northern cultures and promoting international exchanges. Its major activities include regularly-held international conferences. In accordance with its aims, the International Conference on Animism and Shamanism in the North, the Second International Conference of the Northern Studies Association, was held under the auspices of Hokkaido University at the Sapporo Guest House and the Hokkaido University Conference Hall, from October 13 to 15 1995.
　The Conference examined and compared world-views of various northern cultures, including Northern Eurasia, Japan and North America, from the viewpoints of shamanism and animism‐cognition of the world, and the related activities of man‐in order to clarify common features and differences. From an anthropological viewpoint, the Conference also sought to analyze world-views of northern peoples who have been recently affected by rapid ecological, social or cultural changes. At the same time, the Conference aimed to promote the knowledge of academic trends and the availability of information on these subjects to citizens.
　The Conference consisted of six sessions by region and three special lecture meetings. Studies were presented by researchers from various countries, including Japan, Canada, the U.S., Russia, Hungary, Finland and China. During the three-day conference, the following 25 presentations were conducted:
October 13 (Friday)
Registration: Sapporo Guest House
Opening
Welcome Address
　TAMBO, Norihito (President, Hokkaido University) KATSURA, Nobuo (Mayor, City of Sapporo)
Session 1: Worldview, Science and Nature
　ATUY, TOYOOKA Masanori (Akan Ainu Kotan, Japan)
　　Nature, Man and Music: Creation of “Third Philosophy” and “Living Together With Nature” Felt from the Soul of the Ainu
　MIKAMI, AKICHIKA (Kyoto University, Japan)
　　Possible Neurophysiological Basis of Visual, Auditory and Somatossensory Images Seen in the Shamanism
Session 2: Animism and Shamanism in the Japanese and the Ainu
　Chair：NAMITA, Katsunosuke (Hokkaido University, Japan)
　OBAYASHI, Taryo (Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples and Tokyo Women’s Christian University, Japan)
　　The Conception of the Soul Among the Ainu
　IRIMOTO, Takashi (Hokkaido University, Japan)
　　Ainu Shamanism: Oral Tradition, Spiritual Healers and Drama
　SASAMORI, Takehusa (Hirosaki University, Japan)
　　Healing Arts of Itako
　IKEYA, Kazunobu (National Museum of Ethnology, Japan) Comment
Session 3: Animism and Shamanism in North American Indians
　Chair: DERIHA, Koji (Historical Museum of Hokkaido, Japan)
　RIDINGTON, Robin(University of British Colombia, Canada)
　　Native American Animism and Shamanism: The Poetics of an Original “Catholic” Religion
　FEIT, Harvey (McMaster University, Canada)
　　Power in James Bay Cree Society: Shamans, Hunting Bosses and Contemporary Political Leaders
　SMITH, David (University of Minnesota, USA)
　　Aspects of Chipewyan Ontology
　SHARP, Henry S. (Virginia University, USA)
　　Non-Directional Time and the Dene Life-Cycle
　OSTSUKA, Ryutaro (Tokyo University, Japan) Comment
Opening Party
October 14 (Saturday)
Registration: Sapporo Guest House
Session 4: Animism and Shamanism in the Inuit/ Eskimos
　Chair：O-YE, Toshimi (Hokkai Gakuen University, Japan)
　TANIMOTO, Kazuaki (Hokkaido University of Education, Japan)
　　Voices of Human and Nature: Sound World of Animism and Shamanism
　KISHIGAMI, Nobuhiro (Hokkaido University of Education Hakodate, Japan)
　　Personal Names, Name Souls and Social Change Among Canadian Inuit: A Case Study of the Akulivik Inuit, Nunavik, Canada
　ARUTIUNOV, Sergei (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
　　25 Centuries of Stability and Continuity in Shamanistic and Animistic Beliefs of Bering Strait Eskimos
　FIENUP=RIORDAN, Ann (Anchorage Museum of History and Art, USA)
　　The Human Senses in Yup’ik Eskimo shaman Masks and Masked Dancing
　SAWADA, Masato (Yamaguchi University, Japan) Comment
Session 5: Animism and Shamanism in Northern Eurasian/ Siberian Peoples
　Chair: OHSHIMA, Minoru, Otaru University of Commerce, Japan
Part 1
　HOPPAL, Mihaly (Ethnographic Institute, Hungary)
　　Animistic Mythology and Helping Spirits in Siberian Shamanism
　YAMADA, Takako (Hokkaido University, Japan)
　　The Concept of Universe and Spiritual Beings Among the Contemporary Yakut Shamans: The Revitalization of Animistic Belief and Shamanic Tradition
　PENTIKAINEN, Yuha (University of Helsinki, Finland and University of Trosmo, Norway)
　　Shamanism and Animism: The Values of Nature in the Mind of a Northern Man
Part 2
　NACUNBUHE (University of Inner Mongolia, China)
　　Mongolian Shamanism and Stone Worship
　KONAGAYA, Yuki (National Museum of Ethnology, Japan)
　　Mongolian Perspective of Animal Resources: The Analysis of Slaughtering Rites
　ZHUKOVSKAYA, Natalia (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
　　Bugha-Noyon-Babay as an Image of a Mixed Shamanistic- Buddhist- Orthodox Christian Tradition Among the Buraytes of the Tunka District
Session 6: General Discussion “Worldview, Animism and Shamanism of the Northern Peoples”
　Chair: YAMADA, Takako (Hokkaido University, Japan)
　NAMITA, Katsunosuke (Hokkaido University, Japan)
　IRIMOTO, Takashi (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Party
October 15 (Sunday)
Special Lecture (University Conference Hall, Hokkaido University)
　“Animism and Shamanism in the North”
　　ARUTIUNOV, Sergei (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
　　PENTIKAINEN, Yuha (University of Helsinki, Finland)
　　IRIMOTO, Takashi (Hokkaido University, Japan)
12:30　Closing
　World-views of northern peoples were compared and examined, focusing on shamanism and animism, features of their respective world-views, relationships between shamanism and animism, and relationships between these two systems of belief and life, society and culture. These comparisons and examinations made it possible to present examples of various specific phenomena in northern study and to construct new theories in cultural anthropology and ethnology. For example, the Conference addressed the relationship between human cerebral neurophysiology and cultural recognition, the relationship between Ainu culture and North Asian or Inner Asian cultures and the link between prehistoric materials and modern shamanism. Furthermore, the Conference discussed and examined the conventional definition of shamanism itself. By comprehensively defining shamanism as a dynamic institution in which shamans act as mediators between the natural and supernatural worlds, it is possible to assess the status of shamanism in northern cultures and construct extensive theories on shamanism in anthropology.
　Papers presented at the Conference are now being compiled for publication. As did the previously-published results of the First International Conference of the Northern Studies Association, Circumpolar Religion and Ecology: An Anthropology of the North (University of Tokyo Press, 1994), I am sure that the results of the Second International Conference will contribute to a more extensive understanding of man and culture.
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