Paper short abstract:

The result of four years of fieldwork, this paper looks into the contemporary transformations, both ritual and social, performed by active members of the Ôtori Mikoshi Group within one of the three great festivals of Japan, Tenjin Matsuri.

Paper long abstract:

Tenjin Matsuri, one of the three great festivals of Japan, a two-day extravaganza of artistic performances, masculinity displays, and fireworks, combined with sacred Shinto rituals, has taken place since the end of the 10th century. Whether the official date of the festival is real or not remains to be debated; however, the festival has been part of Osaka life for almost a millennium. The present research is focused on the Ôtori Mikoshi Kô, one of the 24 still active kô (groups) in charge of organizing the festival, and their interaction with both the sacred and the lay community. Its members take pride in the fact that the Ôtori Mikoshi (the "Phoenix portable shrine"), currently one of the three mikoshi that are paraded through the streets of Osaka during Tenjin Matsuri, is the oldest one present in the sacred procession, the object in use today having been crafted in the latter part of the Edo period by a master shipbuilder. Ôtori Mikoshi is also one of the most active (and thus most powerful) kô, being involved in all the events held by Osaka Tenmangu throughout the year, and most of the communal events of the Kannan area.

The present paper will look into some of the most recent changes induced by the members of this group—some of them personally witnessed by the author— and their effect on ritual practices and relationships within the community. Some examples are the kami-oroshi and kami-okuri ceremonies performed around Ôtori Mikoshi and Tama Mikoshi since 2019, the temporary permission given to women to join the group on July 25th as kimono specialists and nurses, and, last but not least, permission given to the author, an outsider (for the first time in the history of the group) to attend all the meetings throughout the year, including a research trip to Dazaifu Tenmangu. The purpose of the research is to clarify the role of the Ôtori Mikoshi group within the community, and the importance of the changes they create within the history and development of Tenjin Matsuri.