本文以Harrison（2013）對「資產」（heritage）的反思取徑出發，以竹富島的種取祭儀式及其展演為例，對「資產」進行一項人類學的初探。我試圖爬梳這一個多世紀以來「資產」的概念如何在西方的現代化擴張與全球體系形成過程中，反映出國際、國家、乃至國內文化認同政治，而被提出、討論、議定、並且法制化。以日本的文化財制度為例，簡述「資產」概念在其現代國家的治理過程中的作用，進而回顧日本如何借助特定的知識典範，如日本民俗學，在現代化的歷史過程中，精細並修正性地制定出強調保存和活化文化資產的法規與舉措。我接着以竹富島的儀式展演為例，藉由長期的民族誌研究所得資料，討論地區性的文化實踐如何回應全球化的文化資產論述與制度、以及現代國家政府的政策與治理，其結果不但來源自共同的現代性驅力，也反映了區域的獨特歷史、以及與資產相關的文化哲學。從聯合國教科文組織1972年制定的《世界遺產公約》到2003年的《保護無形文化遺產公約》的精神與內涵變革，透過本文以竹富島為焦點的分析，驗證了地方作為文化資產的主要維繫者，在與國家、甚至國際體系互動過程中，必須靈活地協商甚至轉化核心的概念與論述，以維護自身文化詮釋或創造的活潑空間，並在其中界定自身文化的獨特存在。

Reflecting upon Harrison's critical approach to heritage (2013), in this paper I take the ritual and performances of Tanadui in Taketomi as an example to conduct a primary research on the anthropology of heritage. I firstly review the notion of heritage and its correspondent development with the expansion of Western modernity and the global system, to reveal how heritage has been defined, debated, legitimized, institutionalized and provided with the politics of cultural identity internationally and domestically. I then review Japanese regulations of Cultural Assets to discuss how, by adopting paradigm of knowledge such as the Japanese folklore study, the nation has developed, refined and revised the system as an inscription of, and reaction to, modernization. The discussion is then followed by the example of my long-term ethnographic study of ritual and performances in Taketomi, to illustrate how regional cultural practices interact with the global discourse and national craft centering on intangible cultural heritage, while expressing themselves with unique cultural philosophy about the past. At the end, I suggest that the transformation of the premise and core value of intangible cultural heritage, as shown in the difference between the 1972 and 2003 Conventions, prove that the community, which is the ideal maintainers of cultural heritage, must negotiate and even transform the concepts and discourse, to sustain a more autonomous space for interpretation and creation, while ensuring the recognition of uniqueness of its own culture.