川上 昌直

The current paper uses an interdisciplinary approach (business and anthropology) to situatea business model case study in the context of Japanese culture, in an attempt to elucidatewhat Japonisme 3.0, the third wave of Japanese influence in the world, might represent. Thesolution proposed by the authors lies in a new concept, kinôbi, an idea with roots intraditional Japanese attitudes towards artisanship, creation, and production. Kinôbi,translated by the authors as “beauty in function,” suggests a potential business model thatuses understanding, knowledge, and technique as indispensable skills for value creation.

This paper is a multidisciplinary approach (business and anthropology) to the analysis of a Japanese enterprise closely associated with the sacred: Ise Dai Kagura, an itinerant group of artists who at the same time perform sacred rituals, and who are currently a designated intangible cultural property in Japan. The current study looks at the Ise Dai Kagura group from the business model perspective, attempting to analyze the mechanism that ensured the economic survival of these groups across centuries. How did they develop a business model starting from prayer and performance? What type of profit generation does their business follow? How is it sustainable in the 21st century—is it self-supporting or is it based on government support? These are some of the questions that are addressed (and hopefully answered) in this paper, using both ethnographic and business model tools.