Paper short abstract:

What does the community ritual they used to hold mean for the people who lost their community by unimaginable power of disaster? In this paper, I try to examine ritual function and unfunction in post disaster society by exploring the process to revive a unique large-scale festival in a community located in pacific coastal area of Miyagi prefecture.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses the conditions of Japanese society after The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) with special reference to the ritual activity. It is well known that ritual activity could function to reinforce social tie and revive community life after disaster. However, we should not look over the fact that not all of the communities would be restored after the great disaster like GEJT. Actually some communities were utterly devastated and are planned to be relocated by the government. What does the community ritual they used to hold mean for the people who lost their community?

In this paper, I try to examine ritual function and unfunction in post disaster society by exploring the process to revive a festival in a community in pacific coast of Miyagi prefecture that was badly damaged by GEJT. All over the area were flooded, buildings collapsed and more than 10% of residents killed. Now, following the local government's relocation policy, most of the residents are considering to move outside of the area because of the terrible memory of Tsunami. On the other hand, some people are starting to think to revive their unique large-scale ritual (Oshiogori) held once every 20 years in order to bath an object of worship brought from Shinto Shrine 50km afar into pacific ocean. I will explore the whole process of this ritual revival and analyze its meaning for the local people and community.