Paper short abstract:

After the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET), I have undertaken fieldwork in the Oshika Peninsula in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Here I have examined subsistence and religion in the Oshika Peninsula and have analyzed the association between 33 different villages in two districts.

Paper long abstract:

The Pacific coastal area of the Tohoku region suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) and the subsequent contamination by radioactive material. The people of Oshika Peninsula in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, which lies in this area, have a long tradition of subsistence based on rich marine resources. Even after suffering great losses in the GEJET disaster, many residents felt that they could not live elsewhere and have tried to reconstruct their lives in the same area. I had a connection with whalers in Ayukawa-hama, a village of the Oshika Peninsula, where I conducted a research survey for my master's thesis (2002-2003). I returned to this area after GEJET to undertake fieldwork focusing on subsistence and religion. Subsistence represents the physical relationship between people and the land, and religion represents the spiritual ties between the people of Oshika and also those between the people and the land. Therefore, it was expected that research focusing on subsistence and religion would help to identify the characteristics of both the people and the land. Through this fieldwork, I have discovered that each of the 33 villages of the Oshika Peninsula has its own shrine and folkway, and that these villages have formed two different districts (Omote-hama, Ura-hama), based on their geological, ecological, and cultural conditions.