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- Convenors:
-
Raditya Nuradi
(Kyushu University)
Ellen Van Goethem (Kyushu University)
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- Discussant:
-
Elisabetta Porcu
(University of Cape Town)
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Religion and Religious Thought
- Location:
- Lokaal 0.1
- Sessions:
- Sunday 20 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel explores occasions of ruptures and disruptions in ceremonies and festivals in Japan. Through three different case studies, this panel examines how institutional bodies, organizations, and participants adapt to various challenges and obstructions in ritual practices.
Long Abstract:
Contemporary narratives on festivals and ceremonies in Japan often promote ideas of continuity and coherence. However, recent scholarship has demonstrated how these communal activities are subject to challenges of the time, often requiring innovation and adaptation in order to survive. For the past two years, numerous festivals in Japan have been cancelled or postponed due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic. Now, as many of the festivals are resumed, organizers and participants are faced with the challenge of adapting to new restrictions and policies as an aftermath of the pandemic. The papers in this panel feature different case studies to explore how different organizing bodies, institutions, and individuals cope with similar challenges to the continuation of their practice. By examining examples from the present and the past and through different methodological approaches, this panel suggests that ruptures and disruptions are also important facets of ritual practices.
The first paper traces the trajectories of two festivals, Kyoto's Jidai Matsuri and Hakata's Gion Matsuri, through the communities involved in the organization of the festivals. By focusing on ruptures caused by changes in social, political, and religious circumstances, the paper will examine how communities are compelled to reexamine notions of "tradition." The second paper discusses the case of the Yuwaku Bonbori Matsuri, an event held every year in Yuwaku Onsen, Kanazawa city, that is inspired by a festival in the anime, Hanasaku Iroha and explore how the local community, the organizing committee, and visiting fans negotiate meanings and continuity. The third paper analyzes the historical evolution of the Ōharae ceremony by considering the ritual's relationship with nature and its contemporary applications. Through these papers, the panel aims to provide a deeper understanding of how ruptures and disruptions impact festivals and ceremonies and how communities adapt to these challenges.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Sunday 20 August, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
This paper explores narratives of continuity and survival through the case of the Yuwaku Bonbori Matsuri. Through ethnographic methods, this paper will discuss how locals, visiting fans, and the organizing committee negotiate what the festival means for them.
Paper long abstract:
The Yuwaku Bonbori Matsuri is held every year in October at Yuwaku Onsen, Kanazawa city, Ishikawa prefecture. This matsuri, however, is entirely inspired by a fictional festival in the anime, Hanasaku Iroha, and has only recently reached its 10th anniversary this year. Originally a part of anime pilgrimage, a phenomenon where fans of anime visit places related to the anime, the local tourism association decided to bring the festival to life and has surprisingly continued to hold it for almost every year since the first one was held in 2011. During the first few years after Yuwaku started holding the festival, visitor numbers slowly increased, reaching its peak in 2013 when a sequel movie of Hanasaku Iroha was released. The commemorative 10th anniversary that was scheduled in 2020 had to be canceled due to the pandemic and was only finally held this year. Faced with considerations caused by the pandemic and the waning popularity of the anime, the tourism association realized that they have to adapt to these changing conditions if they wish to ensure the future of the festival. What was before an event attended by thousands of people with many guests related to the anime production company, The Association now champions ideas of continuity and survival as a local festival, an attempt to slowly distance itself from the anime. As an annual practice mainly inspired by narratives of the anime, however, how does this shift influence visiting fans, many of which, are not even from the area? Through ethnographic fieldwork, I explore how fans and the local community react to this shifting narrative. What does the festival mean for local shop owners? Why do fans keep coming years after the anime finished airing? These different groups bring their own expectations and hope to the festival, participating in an ongoing process of meaning-making. In this paper, I will examine how meanings are negotiated in this festival, as organizers and participants are forced to reexamine what this practice means to them.
Paper short abstract:
The Ōharae is a Shinto purification ritual that is performed twice a year in various shrines all over Japan and whose ritual "tools" are the natural elements. In the last years, the ritual has been performed to purify the world from Covid-19, thus showing its relevance in the contemporary context.
Paper long abstract:
Purification (harae 祓) is an essential concept in Japanese tradition. This is particularly evident in Shinto rituals, which generally include a preliminary section where purification is performed. Purification both prepares the ideal ground for the main practice and is crucial for its success. My project is about the Ōharae (大祓), a Shinto ritual performed to promote the well-being of living creatures. In the ritual, various tangible and intangible tools are used. A formula (norito 祝詞) is chanted to send the pollution off to the ocean, usually inside small containers floated away on a river. A wand made from the wood of a sacred tree (sakaki 榊) is used to physically remove the pollution from the air, the earth, and the participants. In the ocean, a series of kami are responsible for swallowing up the pollution into the abyss and processing it to make it harmless to the environment and living beings. The natural elements involved, such as the air, rivers, mountains, trees, and the ocean, are ritual “tools” because through them the purifying intervention of the kami is possible. One of the central ideas of the Ōharae ceremony is that natural elements are fundamental to supporting life because it is through the cooperative work among the kami, nature, and human beings that purification becomes possible.
In recent times, the Ōharae has been celebrated for the specific purpose of purifying the world from Covid-19 and, more generally, from the evils of the world, such as wars and natural disasters. This suggests that the ritual is still considered relevant and its purpose is adapted depending on the current needs.
My project aims at clarifying the little-studied relation between nature and Ōharae and the role it plays in the ritual. Moreover, I intend to investigate the evolution of the ritual and its adaptation to the contemporary world. The questions that will guide my presentation are: What is the historical evolution of Ōharae? What is the relationship between this ritual and nature in the wider context of Japanese culture? What is the role of Ōharae in contemporary society?
Paper short abstract:
This paper traces the 20th-century trajectories of two major festivals through the lens of the communities that organize them. It focuses on how ruptures caused by changing social, political, and religious circumstances compel communities to reconsider in/exclusion and modify “tradition.”
Paper long abstract:
This paper traces the 20th-century trajectories of two major Japanese festivals through the lens of the communities that organize them. Both Fukuoka’s Hakata Gion Yamakasa, first mentioned in the historical record in 1432, and Kyoto’s Jidai Matsuri, first organized in 1895, are widely recognized as defining cultural symbols of the cities in which they are held. Like many other festivals, in both cases it is the local community that has carried on the practice of planning and organizing the festivals' annual parades throughout their respective existences.
However, neither the organizing communities nor the social, political, ideological, and religious circumstances in which they and the festivals exist have remained unchanged over time. Irrespective of the length of their respective histories, Hakata Gion Yamakasa and Jidai Matsuri are the product of continuous, complex, and sophisticated processes of (re)invention and alteration as a result of city mergers, epidemics, war, and other external influences that transform both the festivals themselves and the local community that organizes them.
By focusing on the lived experiences of the organizing communities rather than on the content of the parades themselves, this paper attempts to clarify the mechanisms behind the “reinvention of tradition” as it relates to festivals. Moreover, it also discusses the related issue of inclusion vs. exclusion as the festivals serve as a means to build and reinforce a communal identity, whereas the external influences often force the communities to rethink their stance as to who can (or cannot) partake in organizing and executing the festivals.