Read the original press release here. Friday January 19, 2018 - We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Japan Hemp International Research Association (JHIRA). We invite you to join us in exploring the role of hemp (麻, asa) in traditional Japanese culture.
Research associates share an interest in understanding the cultural heritage of the hemp plant, and how each localized tradition is related to the larger worldwide hemp narrative. Our goal is to highlight economically relevant, yet presently marginalized Japanese strategies that may contribute to a future where valuable human-plant relationships are returned to their central roles.
Japanese culture reflects a significant history with hemp, the source of many products and industries. Durable and lustrous hemp bast strips are twisted into strong rope, or joined together to make yarn for utilitarian and fine textiles, and hemp plays an important role in spiritual life through sacramental objects including suzuō (鈴緒) and shimenawa (しめ縄). Aratae (麁服) is a woven hemp prayer shawl worn by the emperor after his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, and plays a central role in the mysterious daijōsai (大嘗祭).
Japanese hemp textiles are created with unique skills, and rank among the world’s finest. Nutritious hemp seeds sustained Japan for over a millennium, and hemp cultivation played a central role in the traditional agricultural system called satoyama.
Please allow us to introduce our core team members:
Adam Lobel is a representative director at Kumano Shindo GIA, a regenerative innovation and education center located in Kumano city, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Concurrently, he is engaged in digital solution sales as International Sales Manager at ITO Corporation, a trading company specializing in industrial machinery, and research fellow at the Institute for Future Engineering, where he advises clients, including the Japanese Cabinet Office, on science and social policy. Previously, Adam was Ecosystem Director at Sizung, the global collaboration platform. Prior, Adam conducted botanical surveys for U.S. Forces Japan, and in 2007, completed a Master’s degree at Musashi Institute of Technology researching satoyama. At the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, Adam researched the role of hemp in Japanese life prior to the Cannabis Control Act of 1948 (link). He subsequently served as an interpreter for the renowned hemp expert Robert C. Clarke, helping build a network of scholars and farmers who are restoring hemp’s role in Japanese society. Adam has also worked in the field of Japanese traditional crafts, for example, when he created a marketing campaign for craftsmen in Fukushima to attract interest from overseas buyers.
Git Skoglund is a textile historian from Sweden who has studied hemp since the early 1990s. She has published cultural articles, scientific reports and a book about hemp textiles and plant textile fiber identification. She has also worked with commercial hemp textile and food production, and presently coordinates projects between scholars from Nordic countries in the field of hemp history. Git’s research is focused on comparing different cultural approaches to the cultivation and production of fine hemp textiles. Her studies include interpreting the symbolic meanings of hemp, and exploring hemp cultivation in garden history, all in the wider context of how nature is transformed into culture.
Robert C. Clarke has studied the relationships between traditional cultures and the Cannabis plant since the 1970s, carrying out extensive field work across Eurasia, and publishing several books and peer-reviewed articles. He is co-founder of BioAgronomics Group Consultants, specializing in the international transition to legal cannabis markets. Rob serves as projects manager for the International Hemp Association based in Amsterdam, and is a life member of the Society for Economic Botany. In addition to traveling to Japan several times to work with textile collections at the National Museum of Ethnology (MINPAKU), Rob has surveyed many other museum collections, and met with local hemp experts, private textile collectors and researchers. Rob hopes to return to Japan to continue his studies of traditional hemp use, textile weaving, and the role of hemp in Shinto rituals.
We aim to use our shared appreciation for hemp culture to foster cross-cultural exchange and strengthen international interest in Japanese tradition and regional economies. Your participation, including writing scholarly and general interest articles for JHIRA’s website, will add to the diversity of skills needed to understand the myriad facets of Japanese hemp culture, and will open doors for academic research and medicinal and commercial opportunities. We welcome participation from people of like mind from all walks of life, and are excited to work together to forge a narrative in which Japan returns to its leadership role in hemp innovation. Please feel free to contact us at any time! Updated: March 28, 2023
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