Hierarchies of a Japanese Community Festival

Abstract

This thesis looks at how hierarchies are formed and maintained within a mikoshi festival, which is a form of common Japanese community festival involving a portable shrine carried around the neighbourhood in order for the god to bless the local homes and businesses within. The festival in question is located in Kichijoji, a district that lies to the West of central Tokyo. Of particular note in this festival is that in addition to the usual mikoshi teams representing the shopping districts (shotenkai), there is a team (Musashi), representing the local shrine, and by extension the entire town. This has led to a complex hierarchical dynamic between the two kinds of team. In this thesis I examine the hierarchical relationships that exist within the festival teams, and how they were formed, including the relationships between the Musashi team and the shotenkai teams, and the ways individual members advance between them. Methodolgically film has been integral to my research and I used a camera from the beginning of my fieldwork.. The use of a camera not only allowed me access to the participants and the performance, but in addition the analysis of the film and the editing process itself revealed aspects of hierarchy that would otherwise have been difficult to discern. Using a camera, as well as more traditional ethnographic methodologies, enabled me to record the event in greater detail than I would otherwise have been able to. In my thesis film and text work together, complementing each other in enabling me to analyse and represent the working of hierarchy within the Kichijoji Autumn festival. The filmmaking process allowed for the complex and often subtle relationships between individual team members to come to light. On the other hand, the thesis allowed for a wider analysis of the teams themselves within a historical and structural context.