Материал: JP-NOVA-XXI_era_vek_2020
ЯПОНИЯ XXI NOVA: эраи век
where summer matsuri were conducted as a form of goryôe5 — rituals meant to pacify wrathful gods and prevent epidemics, and as such the local summer traditions were combined with the beliefs in god Ebisu to create Noda Ebisu Matsuri. The festival takes place on July 19th (yoimiya—the eve) and July 20th (honmiya — the main celebration day), and the god is offered entertainment in the form of a big drum constantly beaten by six men, a danjiri (an elaborately carved parade float), and a hoko (another type of parade float decorated with a sea bream — the symbol of the god Ebisu, who is often represented holding such a fish). In contrast with Tenjin Matsuri, where besides the permanent participants / organizers there are people who join only on the day of the festival to help carry the mikoshi6, Noda Ebisu Matsuri is entirely supported and organized by the local community. This is apparent not only in the fact that all the participants have known each other for years (with minor exceptions, they all still live in the same neighborhood), but also in the type the hospitality offered by the local bars and restaurants, who prepare food and drinks for the participants to enjoy when taking breaks during the festival. These special
5Goryô-e — a religious practice popular in the ninth and tenth century Japan, which is also the origin of the famous Gion and Tenjin Matsuri. “Offering the spirits proper burial and enshrinement was, apparently, one of the means of appeasement. Indeed, several Japanese shrines are dedicated to evil spirits in an attempt to put them to rest. Enshrinement also entailed proper and regular worship, including periodic matsuri organized on the spirits’ behalf, called goryô-e, or Meeting with the August Spirit. These were usually as gay and lavish as possible in order to counteract the spirits’ dark, evil natures.” (Plutschow 2007: 83; Tamas 2018)
6The accepted English version of the word mikoshi is “sacred portable shrine,” but the Japanese version will be used in the text as it is more appropriate from a conceptual point of view.
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arrangements indicate a clear difference between Tenjin Matsuri — an event of a much larger scale, where only water and tea are prepared for the mikoshi carriers at places designated in advance — and Noda Ebisu Matsuri, a local celebration that becomes an opportunity for the community members to reconnect and enjoy the festivities together. The social and psychological significance of commensality has been often discussed by anthropologists, and I am not going to insist on the topic as it is not the focus of this paper. However, I must mention that it was one of the most outstanding things that happened on July 19th, when the drum was taken around the neighborhood. Once in a while, a group of participants would enter a small restaurant, closed to the general public, where food and drinks were awaiting
— a small sign of gratitude for the sacred work they were performing on behalf of the community.
One of my informants, Mr. Kôji Komori7, stated that there are people whom he can meet only on the matsuri days, and this becomes a particularly happy occasion for him. Mr. Komori was not born in the area and joined the matsuri as an adult (which means that he has never been a drummer), having been invited by a customer of the restaurant where he worked at the time (27 years ago). After almost three decades of experiencing Noda Ebisu Matsuri, Mr. Komori emphasized its ludic aspect—two days when men can forget about their daily, ordinary lives, while drinking and partying with neighbors and friends.
The particular ties that connect the Osaka society as a whole became even more apparent for me during the process of being introduced to Noda Ebisu Matsuri, which set in motion a whole set of connections between matsuri organizers: the leader of Ôtori Mikoshi Kô talked to the leader of Tama Mikoshi, the other grand mikoshi paraded on the streets of Osaka during Tenjin Matsuri, which is supported by people working for the Osaka Central Market.
7 Interview conducted on October 15, 2019.
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The market is the locus where fishermen, fish wholesalers, distributors, and restaurant owners meet, and many of them are affiliated with Noda Ebisu Shrine, so through this network I received an introduction to the Taiko Naka Group, thanks to Mr. Naoki Inoue, a local resident who “transferred” to Tenjin Matsuri after having taken part in Noda Ebisu Matsuri for many years. Although strong feelings of attachment towards the local (and smaller matsuri) are a given among the participants, it is not unusual for them to be involved in the performance of Tenjin Matsuri as well, since the latter is an event of such scale that it would be impossible for the Tenma community (the original area where Tenjin Matsuri developed) to conduct all the ritual practices without external support.
Masculinity re-asserted
The first thing I was told after having been introduced to one of the leaders of the Taiko Naka group was “I’m afraid it may sound discriminatory, but please do not touch the drum.” The discriminatory aspect was that only men are allowed to touch the drum, which is ritually purified before the matsuri. The fact that women are seen as polluted and therefore not allowed to come into contact with certain objects is something that I will discuss in more detail at a further time. For the purposes of this paper, I must mention that a similar taboo exists in relation to the Ôtori mikoshi as well, but it applies only on the matsuri day (July 25th), when the kami (deities) are assumed present among the mortals, patiently awaiting to be taken around the city in the sacred carriage in order to see how their worshippers are faring. According to Mr. Yoshiki Miyamoto (the group leader), before and after July 25th women may touch the mikoshi, as it returns to the state of profane object, no sacred presence involved. Nevertheless, not all members of the group agree, some considering that the mikoshi should never bear a female’s touch. This seems to be the general opinion among the Taiko Naka members, although few can actually articulate the reason for this interdiction, a tendency which supports
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Fabio Rambelli suggestion that “from the perspective of religious objects and their role in everyday Japanese life, the presence of religion is far more pervasive than people usually acknowledge.” (2007: 2) Mr. Miyamoto, for example, is aware of the reasoning behind the taboo because he does research on Shinto and shrines due to personal interests, but other members of the group, just like the Taiko Naka members, would find it difficult to explain why certain things are done (or not done) the way they are. More than an acknowledged religious meaning (which is nevertheless there, on a subconscious level), objects such as the mikoshi or the drum elicit feelings of personal attachment.
Mr. Mitsuyasu Toyoda8 compared the drum with a woman — being a drummer gives you the same feeling of exhilaration as when you are together with the woman you love. We may ignore the romanticized approach, yet it is undeniable that unless a mechanism deeper than the mere desire for entertainment is at work, it would be difficult to explain why the men involved in matsuri would make such physical and often financial efforts every year during the two days they dedicate to the gods. Mr. Toyoda has belonged to the Taiko Naka group for 26 years — since he was in junior high school. During the first year of junior high school he decided he wanted to become a drummer because he liked the red hats they got to wear during the festival, but was told that newcomers must come as a group of six. At any time, the drum is beaten by six drummers, three on each side, wearing the characteristic tall red hats; at Noda Ebisu Matsuri they are called uchiko (literally, “those who beat,”), while their Tenjin Matsuri counterparts are known as ganji. It took Mr. Toyoda two years to find five friends willing to join him, and in his third year of junior high school, he finally started training as an uchiko. The uchiko are organized according to a strict hierarchy: Sakura (“Cherry blossom” — the youngest), Ume (“plum blossom”), Take (“bamboo”), and Matsu
8 Interviews conducted on October 18 and October 21, 2019.
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(“Pine”). Take and Matsu are the most experienced levels, with only six drummers belonging to each, while Sakura and Ume may (and usually do, although recently the declining birthrate has affected the matsuri as well) have more than one group. Mr. Toyoda’s friends quit after one year, but he stayed on — the rule of joining together applies for the first year only — and gained the appreciation of his elders for the effort he was willing to make. He was named responsible for the Sakura level, a position he kept as he advanced to Ume (where he was in charge of the Sakura uchiko as well), and Take, where he was the hittôbô (leader). While the Sakura and Ume drummers are children or teenagers, Take and Matsu are made-up of experienced young men who perform only at designated places, and at special times. The Take group must beat the drum in front of Noda station — a special performance for those in attendance, as well as passersby, in the shopping arcade, and at the entrance to the shrine, in preparation for the Matsu uchiko taking the stage.
The Matsu drummers only perform inside the shrine, and their task is the most difficult. If the other groups beat the drum while it is carried around the neighborhood, announcing the imminent arrival or presence of the god, and greeting the people from the area, Matsu must put on a sacred show. Once it passes through the shrine gate, the drum is rapidly pulled towards the main hall, and crashed against the stone steps; the uchiko must keep drumming, paying attention (like any good performers) to rhythm and their elegant, circular arm movements. According to Mr. Naoki Inoue, who experienced both Tenjin Matsuri and Noda Ebisu Matsuri for many years, having been an uchiko himself, the drum beating style from Tenjin Matsuri is very simple and can easily be remembered, while the one from Noda Ebisu Matsuri is more complicated and requires extensive training. My personal observation supports this statement: uchiko use far more intricate arm movements than the ganji, the visual effect being that of swirling spirals contrasted with straight lines and sharp angles. What the uchiko and ganji have in
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