Материал: JP-NOVA-XXI_era_vek_2020

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карамоно и заимствованные технологии средневековья. Ёсикава ко:бункан, 2015. 255 с.

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The Drums of Osaka. Notes on Noda Ebisu Matsuri

Introduction. Fieldwork and methodology

For the past three years (starting in 2017) I have been doing research on what is generally known as one of the three great festivals of Japan, Tenjin Matsuri1, with a focus on one of the main groups (kô) involved in its organization, Ôtori Mikoshi Kô. Some preliminary results of my research have been published in “The Summer Phoenix: Community and Masculinity within the Ôtori Mikoshi Group” (Tamas 2019), but in order to acquire a better understanding of the subject of my analysis, an element (or more) of comparison became necessary. That is why on July 19, the eve of Noda Ebisu Matsuri, I received permission to follow the Taiko Naka group as they were taking the drum around the neighborhood in preparation for the main day of the festival, July 20, when the god Ebisu is supposed to descend and revel in the celebrations together with the parishioners.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role matsuri play in contemporary Japanese society, my hypothesis being that they provide support in establishing social relationships and community ties.

Most research on matsuri published in Japanese tends to focus on the historical and ethnographical aspects of the phenomenon (and the examples would be too many to list here), while the research published in English displays a tendency towards ritual studies, as well as a structural approach, as can be observed in Herbert Plutschow’s comprehensive Matsuri: The Festivals of Japan: With a Selection from P.G. O'Neill's Photographic Archive of Matsuri

1 Often translated as “festival”, matsuri represents the time when the divine spirits are welcome among mortals, “receiving offerings and being properly entertained with artistic performances and feasts, so that they would be pacified” (Fukuta & al. 2000: 577) For consistency purposes, the word matsuri will be used throughout the text.

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(2007). My perspective is closer to that of Michael Ashkenazi (Matsuri. Festivals of a Japanese Town. 1993), who focuses not only on religious and symbolic meaning, but also on the relationship between matsuri and people’s daily lives, economic and social background, as well as the network connecting the various smaller communities. Satsuki Kawano’s 2005 book follows a similar pattern of analysis, where the performance of a ritual or a matsuri is closely associated with the daily existence of the individual and the community2. The innovative part of my research is that I am focusing on matsuri conducted in a big urban center (Osaka being the second largest city in Japan), a situation that most definitely influences the inner mechanisms of the events, as well as the relationships among the participants and organizers. Another addition is the attempt to define the masculinity displayed and constructed on the matsuri stage. In a day and time when gender and “traditional” roles have become fluid and ever changing, an investigation not only into the role of the “matsuri men”, but also into how they perceive themselves and are perceived by others can only lead to a better understanding of Japanese society.

According to Harris and Johnson (2007: 4), fieldwork implies “firsthand experience with the people being studied. It involves integration into a community through long-term residence and knowledge of the local language and customs while maintaining the role of observer.” The fact that I attended Noda Ebisu Matsuri on a single day should not be interpreted as a superficial approach to the topic: I actually live in the area, and after the festival ended I met multiple times with several long-term participants in order to conduct interviews. The main methods I used were participant observation — which “places the ethnographer at the scene where a combination of direct observation and interviewing provides the evidence from which the ethnographic accounts

2 “Ritual life is not so much about individual faith as it is about securing the well-being of their families and communities.” (Kawano 2005: 23)

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are constructed” (Harris and Johnson 2007: 4) — and indepth interviews with the participants after the matsuri ended. Although my initial purpose in attending the event was the opportunity to compare the inner mechanisms of two exclusively male groups, being there made me realize that Noda Ebisu Matsuri is a fairly unknown sacred event on the larger Osaka stage. The volume dedicated to Osaka Prefecture from the extensive Sairei Gyôji series (Ôfû 1993) mentions two events taking place at the nearby Ebie Yasaka Shrine, but Noda Ebisu does not even appear in the index at the end of the book. In 2009 the Osaka Museum of History hosted a special exhibition focused on the matsuri of Osaka3, and again Noda Ebisu Matsuri was conspicuously absent. It does not appear in the photographic album dedicated to the Showa Era Osaka (Jurinsha 2018) either, although a photo of the Moyôshi Daiko from Yasaka Shrine (not to mention the very famous Tenjin Matsuri Moyôshi Daiko) is included on page 204. Taking into account all these elements, I consider that Noda Ebisu Matsuri is worth further analysis, both as an example of preserving ritual values within a local community, as well as one more element defining Osaka culture.

Noda Ebisu Matsuri and community ties

According to the shrine records and a stela preserved within the shrine precincts4, Noda Ebisu Shrine dates back to 1115, the main deities worshipped there being Kotoshironushi- no-Ôkami, Amaterasusume-Ôkami, and Yahata-no-Ôkami. It may come as a surprise that a shrine that bears the name of the god Ebisu, and where the main annual events are conducted (in January and July) in its honor, should have three other deities as the main object of worship, but this appears to be due to the fact that during the Meiji Restoration, when Shinto was reorganized and strictly

3http://www.mus-his.city.osaka.jp/news/2009/osakanomatsuri/osakano matsuri_item.html (Accessed on October 30, 2019)

4https://www.noda-ebisu.com

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implemented as a state religion (Hardacre 2017, Lewis 2018), the shrine was compelled to register its name, architecture, and deities worshipped with the central government. At that time, the main kami indicated in the details submitted to the state was Kotoshironushi-no-Ôkami.

According to the shrine website, this apparent contradiction can be explained through the fact that Kotoshironushi-no-Ôkami, the son of Ôkuninushi-no-Kami, was found fishing at Miho-no-Saki (in Izumo county) at the moment when the Land of Japan was transferred (kuni yuzuri) from the divine beings to their human descendants, who established the Imperial House. Kotoshironushi-no-Ôkami becomes thus associated with a deity of the sea and protector of the fishermen — the god Ebisu, who had been worshipped in the area for centuries. The story of Ebisu dates back to the first records of Japan, Kojiki (712) and Nihonshoki (720). Hiruko (his name has often been translated as “leech child”) was the first offspring of the primordial couple Izanagi and Izanami. However, during their marriage ritual, after descending from heaven and going around the Heavenly Pillar, the goddess Izanami spoke first in invitation, and the child born from her union with Izanagi could not use his feet. The gods saw this as a mistaken ritual, as it was not for the female to speak first, and they decided to cast away their failed creation, the result of Izanami’s hubris. Hiruko, like Moses, was put in a reed basket and cast into the water. Nevertheless, it was precisely his unlucky birth that seemed to ensure Hiruko’s destiny as a god of good luck. In later stories, Hiruko turned into Ebisu, a maritime deity and one of the seven Gods of Good Luck (Tamas 2019; Nihon Fûzoku Shi Jiten 1979). As a patron of commerce (not just fishing or fish trading), Ebisu is celebrated at shrines all over the Kansai area in January, during a matsuri known as Tôka Ebisu — the Tenth-Day Ebisu, which is also the main annual event at Noda Ebisu Shrine.

However, Noda area was neighboring the large urban center Osaka (nowadays it is actually a part of Osaka City),

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