Collection consists of 37 episodes of the Japanese documentary series
The collection also includes publicity materials, articles, and logs.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
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Received from Nippon A-V Productions in 2004.
A film crew spent seven months over one year filming during each season in the mountainous borderland between Thailand and Burma. Filmed are the moving of the Akhas from one village where they had lived for ten years to a new village; accidental deaths of two youths on the new site causing the villagers to relocate; at the new village site tje Akhas burn hillside for new rice farming land; sorcery practices to communicate with the spirits for protecting and giving prosperity to the village and to drive away evil spirits; and the "Yeh Ku," or swing festival, which is held in autumn to celebrate the rice harvest and includes the one day when the Akhas stand on high poles with a swinging bar.
Legacy Keywords: Agriculture ; Rice as a crop Asia ; Harvests rice Thailand ; Celebrations post-harvest Thailand ; Witchcraft ; Language and culture ; Asia ; Thailand
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.1
Film documents a mask festival held in early spring in Austria.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Europe ; Switzerland ; Festivals
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.2
Film documents a yearly cycle of the life on Faroe Island.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Fishing ; Boats ; Agriculture ; Language and culture ; Europe
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.3
Film documents harvesting season which is interwoven wtih the ritualistic life and trances.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Irrigation ; Harvest festivals g ; Agriculture ; cultivation ; Dance ; Music ; Instruments musical instruments ; Language and culture ; Asia ; Bali Island (Indonesia)
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.4
A band of Bushman in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana, were filmed over a ten month period. Filmed are making poison arrows; killing a giraffe; trapping antelopes, hawks, hares, kites and pythons; water collection from wild melons and hollow trees; introduction of a horse for hunting which causes discord among the band; games played by boys and girls which prepare them for their gender roles; a coming of age ceremony for girls; and boys and girls singing a song to pray for rain.
Legacy Keywords: Hunting ; Games ; Rites and ceremonies ; Rites of passage manhood ; Puberty rites ; Giraffe ; Antelopes ; Language and culture ; Africa ; Botswana
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.5
Film documents the Nubas and the Nuers of Sudan.
Legacy Keywords: Herders ; Cattle Africa ; Language and culture ; Africa ; Sudan
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.6
Film follows the Amharas and Galas of Ethiopia.
Legacy Keywords: Architecture, Domestic ; Language and culture ; Africa ; Ethiopia
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.7
Film documents the Tessos and Karamojons in Uganda.
Legacy Keywords: Architecture, Domestic ; Language and culture ; Africa ; Uganda
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.8
Film documents the life of an average Bangladeshi.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Asia ; Bangladesh
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.9
Film documents tribal people in Columbia who paint while hallucinating.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Language and culture ; South America
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.10
Film documents a Huichol pilgrimage in search of peyote.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Pilgrims and pilgrimages ; Language and culture ; Central America ; Mexico
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.11
Film documents an expedition trying to have first contact with an unknown tribe.
Legacy Keywords: Ethnological expeditions ; Jungles ; Language and culture ; South America ; Brazil
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.12
Film documents rituals using masks in Gabon.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Masks ; Dance ; Language and culture ; Africa ; Gabon
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.13
This film was shot during four expeditions over a 16 month period the Kamayura, Waura, Txkahamais of the Matto Grosso, Brazil. Filmed are a mock battle between the Kamayura and Wauras to appease the spirits of the war dead which includes masked men collecting foods to entertain guests, wrestling matches between males, and exchange of goods; hunting tortoises, monkeys and tapirs; rainy season festival; and gathering and cooking of "mandioca" (manioc) and catching and eating ants.
Legacy Keywords: Hunting ; Festival ; Wrestling ; Language and culture ; South America ; Brazil ; Matto Grosso Brazil
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.14
Film follows an expedition of Trobriand islanders to be engaged in a ceremonial exchange of shell ornaments.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Betrothal ; Language and culture
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.15
The film documents the life history of a prominent tribal chief in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Language and culture ; Asia ; Indonesia ; Irian Jaya (Dutch New Guinea) ; Baliem Valley (Netherlands New Gineau)
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.16
Film documents ritualistic life of the indigenous Dayaks in Indonesia.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Language and culture ; Asia ; Indonesia
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.17
Program was filmed over a seven month period on the Dentral Plateau, Madagascar Island, Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Filmed is a
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Mortuary customs ; Death and mortuary customs ; Dance ; Music ; Musical instruments ; Language and culture ; Asia ; Indonesia
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.18
Film documents Tuaregs living in the desert during a severe drought.
Legacy Keywords: Deserts g Africa, North ; Subsistence economy ; Language and culture ; Africa
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.19
Film documents whaling.
Legacy Keywords: Whaling ; Language and culture ; Europe ; Portugal ; Azore Islands
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.20
Film follows a reindeer herder in Lapland.
Legacy Keywords: Reindeer Norway ; Herders ; Language and culture ; Europe ; Norway
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.21
Film crew spent five months during the four seasons in Axi Village located on the limestone mountains in Hong He Hani and Yi autonomous district. The program documents in three parts three different non-Chinese minority groups out of thirty living in Yunnan Province, China, to trace their Japanese cultural roots through traditional customs and agricultural practices. Documented are growing maize in the stony land, new year rituals, a Toreh festival practiced in summer and a Axi Tiao Yun dance where young single men and women meet.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Corn ; Agriculture ; cultivation ; Dance ; Music ; Musical instruments China ; Language and culture ; Asia ; China ; Festivals
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.22
Film follows traditional rituals and festivals associated with Bai peoples rice cultivation. Many of these rituals had been banned since the end of the 1950s with the rise of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Of note is filming of the Torch Festival, practiced to drive away insects, for the first time since it was banned. Film was shot in a village along Lake Erhai in Dali Bai autonomous prefecture.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Rice ; Agriculture ; cultivation ; Dance ; Music ; Musical instruments China ; Language and culture ; Asia ; China ; Festivals
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.23
Film compares the Water Spraying Fetival for the Buddhist New Year in Thailand with the one held by the ethnic Thais in Yunnan Province. Of note is the huge paper baloon called kong ming deng which is heated and released into the air by an experienced village elder. Bamboo rockets and dragon boat races are also documented. Film was shot in Xi Suan Ban na Tai autonomous district.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Hot air balloons ; Projectiles ; Boats China ; Races ; Language and culture ; Asia ; China ; Festivals
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.24
The film follows the Bandibutu tribe as they moved south into the Ituri River basin and lived with them for 80 days. Filmed are the hunt, killing, slaughter and preparation of a young male elephant for food; a quarrel between a husband and wife which engages the entire village; migration due to scarcity of food; building shelters; hunting antelopes and other animals; catching honeybees; preparing bark for making loincloth; and a Pygmy woman giving birth to a baby.
Legacy Keywords: Nomads ; Hunting ; Hunting antelope ; Elephants ; Cookery ; Honeybee ; Childbirth ; Language and culture ; Africa ; Congo (Democratic Republic) ; Zaire ; Ituri Rainforest, Belgian Congo (Zaire)
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.25
Film documents mortuary practices in Mustan, Nepal.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Mortuary customs ; Death and mortuary customs ; Language and culture ; Asia ; Nepal
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.26
Film documents ordinary citizen's life in Shanghai at the beginning of China's opening door to the world.
Legacy Keywords: Urban Life ; Urban transportation ; Language and culture ; Asia ; China
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.27
The film documents traditional shark fishing using snares in Samoa and New Ireland.
Legacy Keywords: Fishing ; Sharks ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; Papua New Guinea ; Samoa
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.28
In this program, the film crew travels up from the mouth of the source of the Sepik river documenting traditional cultures of various tribes living along the river and includes a boys' initiation ceremony with scarification practices and making of stone adzes from rocks in the river.
Legacy Keywords: Initiation rituals ; Tools ; Fishing ; Language and culture ; Sepik River (Papua, New Guinea) ; Solomon Islands ; Oceania
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.29
Film crew spent 20 months in four filming expeditions from 1972-1975 in the British Solomon Islands. On the Island of Malaita film documents a festival of ancestor worship which is held once every few years (skulls are removed from the village's taboo house and displayed in the public grounds inviting the ancestors' spirits to visit during festival time); use of custom money in wedding ceremonies; divination used for treating disease; and a secondary funeral called festival of the death's-skull. On San Cristobal and Ulawa they film a two-part initiation into adulthood; one taking place on Cristobal where a wave-like pattern is created on the face by scarification and on Ulawa the youth attend a ceremony associated with bonito fishing. On Savo, Malaita and New Georgia film shows shark fishing and reconstruction of canoes formerly built and used by Solomon Islanders. On unidentified islands, filmmakers document specially prepared shelters in which women give birth and harvesting and cooking of yams and taro for the inauguration of a new chieftain.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Rites of passage manhood ; Initiation rituals ; Language and culture ; Wedding ; Oceania ; Solomon Islands
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.30
Film follows three Ynomamo Indians who are on the edge of survival.
Legacy Keywords: Jungles ; Subsistence activities gardens Yanomamo ; Language and culture ; South America ; Brazil
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.31
Program was filmed over three months on the Trobriand Islands, New Guinea, documenting
Legacy D15Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Mortuary customs ; Death and mortuary customs ; Agriculture ; Harvesting ; Language and culture ; Oceania ; Trobriand Islands (Papua New Guinea) ; Festivals
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.32
Film documents a yearly cycle of farmers in the Valley of Roses, Bulgaria.
Legacy Keywords: Subsistence farming ; Agriculture ; Architecture, Domestic ; Language and culture ; Europe ; Bulgaria
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.33
Film follows Vincent Nageak who practices traditional Alaskan whaling practices.
Legacy Keywords: Whaling ; Boats Alaska ; Language and culture ; North America ; Alaska
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.34
Film was shot in the Wuxi City, Giang su Province, which is located 60 km west of Shanghai, and documents different women's age groups from birth to death. Film is divided into chapters based on different age groupings: Childhood, Youth, Marriage, Working Couple, Reunion, Divorce, Retirement, Old Age and Funeral.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Women China ; Aging ; Marriage ; Death ; Retirees ; Child rearing ; Divorce ; Language and culture ; Asia ; China ; Shanghai (China)
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.35
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; South America ; Brazil
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.36
Film doucments the daily life and rites of the Yanomamo living in Venezuela.
Legacy Keywords: Rites and ceremonies ; Subsistence activities Yanomamo ; Language and culture ; South America ; Venezuela
Local Number: HSFA 2004.10.37