The Tribe was the best known name of a loose-knit countercultural group in Japan in the 1960s and 70s. It is reported to have begun in the vicinity of

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

, and leadership included

Nanao Sakaki Nanao may refer to: Places *, Japan **Nanao Line a rail line through Nanao, Ishikawa **Nanao Station a station on the Nanao Line *Nan'ao County (), Shantou, Guangdong **Nan'ao Island (), forming most of Nan'ao County *Nan'ao Subdistrict (), a su ...

, Tetsuo Nagasawa,

Sansei Yamao was a Japanese poet.事実> としての宗教性の恢復へ : 山尾三省と交響するものがたり ("A return to nature : The life history of Mr. Sansei YAMAO") ''International cultural studies'', Vol. 10 (2004-12-25), pp. 195-220, Yokoham ...

, Mamoru Kato, and Kenji Akiba. Members espoused an interest in an alternative community, and rejected materialism.

Membership

The organization which would later become known as "The Tribe" initially called itself "the Bum Academy", or sometimes ''Harijan''. During their early years, this group published three issues of a magazine, called ''Psyche'', which attracted some attention. It was some time after the group obtained land in

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

and on

Suwanosejima is one of the Tokara Islands, belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture. The island covers 27.66 km² in area and has a population of 48 people. Although the island has an airport, there are no regularly scheduled services, and access is normally b ...

, that "the Tribe" (''Buzoku'') became their common alias. Starting in December 1967, they published a newspaper, also called ''Buzoku''. By 1970, according to Yamao, a few thousand people felt some varying degrees of belonging to the Tribe, although the majority of the group's membership at this time was likely younger. American poet and scholar

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

was also an influential member of the Tribe, and Bhagavan Das spent some time with the Tribe on Suwanosejima in 1971–2.Das 1997, pg. 186

Ashram

A group member known as Sakaki found available land on

and brought several friends there, from the highland farm they had already started in Nagano Snyder 1999, pg. 62 in May 1967. This was the beginning of the "Banyan Ashram".Halper 1991, pp. 98-100 In 2004, according to Sakaki, some ten families were still living at this commune.

References

Bibliography

* Das, Bhagavan (1997). ''It's Here Now (Are You?)'' Broadway. *Halper, Jon, ed. ''Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life'' (1991) Sierra Club Books. *Snyder, Gary. ''The Gary Snyder Reader'' (1999) Counterpoint. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tribe 1960s in Japan Counterculture History of subcultures Japanese subcultures