Paper short abstract:

Sanja Matsuri represents an embodied enactment of urbanism: the people of Asakusa make a statement of their right to the city. The event presents a number of challenges to conventional urban and architectural representation. This paper presents a Graphic or Architectural Anthropology of the event.

Paper long abstract:

The idea of placemaking has recently gained traction in policy contexts within planning debates, but the terms of this are rather loosely defined and reinforce or validate existing practices more than they allow for understanding historic events such as the annual Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa district of Tokyo.

Sanja Matsuri represents an embodied enactment of urbanism: that the people of Asakusa make a clear statement of belonging and of their right to the city. By enacting their urbanism, the people of Asakusa ensure the continuity of their district in a tangible manner: a solidarity is underlined and a common purpose gives a sense of unity.

The event presents a number of challenges to conventional urban and architectural representation. This calls for a multiple methods approach in order to understand the context as it unfolds and develops, combining lens-based media with drawings and other forms of notation in order to establish the fullest picture of how the festival unfolds. Drawing is a form of understanding which is directly relevant to architecture, and which gives a fine grain of spatial information.

The procession produces place by continually redefining thresholds. As the events develop, conditions of inside and outside are continually defined by the actions of participants. Memories of this reconfiguration of space linger long after the matsuri is over each May. This place making is achieved by agreement with the people of Asakusa: the embodied urbanism which not only defines the space of the district, but also neighbourhood bonds and identity.