ForewordForeword▧ OKUMURA Hiroshi (Graduate School of Humanities, Kobe University)

This book represents a vital part of the research project “From Local Historical Material Studies to Regional Historical Culture: Creation of a New Research
Field for Resilient Local Communities in a Country of Natural Disasters” (Principal Investigator: OKUMURA Hiroshi, Project Number: 19H05457), supported by
the Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research.
Since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, we have developed collaborative
research in Local Historical Materials Studies (LHMS) nationwide. Seeing therecent challenges facing Japan, it became all the clearer that it gets increasingly
and rapidly difficult to pass on local histories and cultures because of such factors
as frequent large-scale natural disasters, population decrease due to the drasticchanges in the social structure caused by globalization, greater mobility of population, and transformation in values since the economic miracle.
Empirical research using local historical materials (LHM) lays the academic
foundation in humanities and social sciences, but it presupposes preserving thehistorical materials. Unless society recognizes that the preservation and inheritance of the materials have social value, they disappear. It is a vicious circle thatdiminishes the importance of related research, which weakens public awarenessand causes further loss of the materials. Preserving historical materials unknown
to academics requires the research community to collaborate with the locals to
discover and evaluate them; those involved agree establishing new methodologies
and research fields is also necessary for such a purpose (OKUMURA Hiroshi (ed).
Rekishibunka wo daisaigai kara mamoru: chiikirekishishiryogaku no kochiku5

[Protecting Historic and Cultural Resources from Natural Disaster: Constructionof Studies about Local Historical Materials]. University of Tokyo Press, 2014).
The approach of LHMS, serving as the foundational study for civic society
formation, inherits the challenges of post-war Japanese history, which aims to linkspecialized knowledge of university researchers with societal knowledge basedon local communities to form civic values that support Japanese society afterWWII; in practical research through responses to large-scale natural disasters,
LHMS has become enriched over time (OKUMURA Hiroshi. Daishinsai to rekishishiryohozon: Hanshin-Awaji daishinsai kara Higashinihon daishinsai e [GreatEarthquakes and Historical Material Preservation: From the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake to the Great East Japan Earthquake]. Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2012).
Our research team have prioritized this aspect. AMANO Masashi and MATSUSHITA Masakazu have led practical research, consolidating and analyzing
practical methods for historical material rescue activities during large-scale
natural disasters and disaster prevention/reduction of LHM. This book, as oneof the research achievements, presents a systematic approach to serve as a guidefor practical activities in the actual large-scale disasters. We want it used acrossJapan and hope to receive feedback and suggestions from readers to improve andrefine our work for the benefit of all.
It is worth noting that such trends in Japan align with global social changes
and new developments in historical studies and historical material preservationworldwide. For further insights on this matter, see our publication, Yoroppa bunkaisankenkyuu no saizensen [Front Line of Cultural Heritage Research in Europe](Kobe University Press, 2023), authored/translated by Sonkoly Gábor, OKUMURA Hiroshi, NEMOTO Takeru, ICHIHARA Shimpei, and KATO Akie.

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