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Paper short abstract:

The Ise Jingū's shikinen sengū practice involves various national and local communities in the cyclic reconstruction of its wooden buildings. This constitutes a challenge to international Authorised Authenticity Discourses, but also a way to reconcile alternative practices with this discourse.

Paper long abstract:

The concept of the authenticity of heritage is much debated and criticised. In the context of the UNESCO and World Heritage organisations, it has mainly been defined through historic material paradigms relating to a linear view of past history and heritage. With the release of the 1994 Nara Document on Authenticity, more culturally diverse understandings of the concept of authenticity were acknowledged. However, underlying Eurocentric attitudes remain central in its definition and practice. In particular, as it pertains to UNESCO's Operational Guidelines on authenticity, which state that reconstruction is justifiable only under exceptional circumstances. If all heritage is, fundamentally, intangible, such unilateral views on authenticity can end up hindering instead of helping its preservation and protection.

This is particularly true in the case of cyclic practices that entail rituals of upkeep, rebuilding or renovation. This paper seeks to challenge this definition of authenticity within the current Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD) and views about what might as well be called "Authorised Authenticity Discourse" (ADD), by looking at a case study in Japan. The Ise Jingū, a Grand Shrine of Japan's Shintō religion, is known for its shikinen sengū rebuilding practice, which is repeated in twenty-year cycles since the 7th century and involves national, local and craftsmen communities in the process. This involves the reconstruction of the shrine's wooden buildings in their entirety, through the employment of traditional tools, materials and methods and, moreover, serves the function of transmitting the knowledge and techniques necessary for shikinen sengū to the next generation of craftsmen. The example of Ise

shall provide a basis to discuss challenges to authenticity definitions and criteria and, specifically, provide a discussion on how practices of alternative authenticities that fall outside of this "ADD" may be reconciled with the notion of authenticity.