日本人。祭り。元気。

Ever since I have been to Japan, I always find chances to go to various festivals or community events in neighborhoods, shrines and temples. I was impressed the most by the Danjiri matsuri in Kishiwada, Osaka, which was the first community festival in Japan I had been to. It took about one and a half hour to get to Kishiwada from Hirakata-shi by transferring from one train to another for at least twice. By the time I arrived at Kishiwada station, I could barely walk pass the exit since there was already a big crowd right in front of the station. The Danjiri matsuri is famous for the portable shrine carrying competition among local groups and the way in which those group members carry their portable shrines, especially when they need to move the portable shrine heading to a different direction.  When I saw how passionate the mikoshi carrying groups were, I was surprised since I could not imagine how the usually quiet and rigid Japanese can be such loud and excited. Especially for those who may work as salary men in their regular daily lives who turn into those passionate mikoshi carriers for only once or twice a year. They take off their suits and wear those traditional clothing for festival. No matter what they did to earn a living in daily life, they shout out loudly with their faces turned red by excitement without any restrains.

 I was very impressed by how energetic and different these Japanese people were in comparison with those I encountered in the train. And they gave me the chance to realize how loud Japanese people can get when they are willing to do so. In such a country like Japan in which people are constantly living in a rigid frame with all kinds of traditional values in mind, various festivals maybe an outlet through which these Japanese people can temporarily be loud, be different from how they are usually like without breaking any social norms since these festivals themselves are a significant part of Japanese culture. Even though Danjiri matsuri is also famous for the beautiful and detailed decorations of the portable shrine, visitors of the festivals in general all seemed to be attracted by the passionate carriers rather than the pretty portable shrines.

 When I happened to see that one of the portable shrine was broken down for the moment, and all carriers in that community group were trying their best to fix it so that they could get back to the competition as soon as possible. When the carriers seemed to be frustrated by the problem with the wheels, the kids and other members in the same local group surrounded the whole portable shrine trying to see what indeed happened, while some of them sat down for tea and snack. This festival was apparently a community event in which most of the local residents participate except the seniors who may not have the energy to keep up with group. The portable shrine carrying group was basically a team with male teenagers in the very beginning followed by kids and girls, and then in the middle of the team were the portable shrine and its carriers who were -mostly young or middle-aged men with women or other group member at the back waving the huge round fan at the back of the team. The loudest person in the team maybe the male member who stood on the top of the portable shrine who was shouting out words to inspire the team from time to time to make the competition more intense and exciting.

The Futontaiko matsuri in Hirakata was also an impressive one which was held in a manner similar to that of the Danjiri matsuri. But the emphasize of the Futontaiko matsuri is the portable shrine decorated by futon with kids performing taiko who sit inside the mikoshi. Even though the Futontaiki matsuri was also one in which community members of all ages participated, unlike the Danjiri matsuri, the kids here in the mikoshi carrying teams were at the back of the team carrying a smaller mikoshi themselves and followed the big mikoshi. With the music of taiko, the Futontaiko matsuri seemed to be more or less louder than the Danjiri matsuri, while they were both very loud.

I was very impressed to see how Japanese people work hard together as community members and how loud and passionate these people let themselves be. Personally, these festivals allowed me to see an significant part of the Japan culture and a colorful aspect of the Japanese way of life. All that I witnessed in various festivals and local events gradually changed my initial impressions of Japan and Japanese based on what I learn from academic articles or textbooks with more different dimensions and vivid scenes are added to my experiences with Japan the land and Japanese the people.

Official website of the Danjiri matsuri

http://www.city.kishiwada.osaka.jp/site/danjiri/

other websites

http://eonet.jp/danjiri/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v0ZdIW71A4&noredirect=1

Video of the Hirakata Futontaiko Matsuri

枚方市。六十代。美なづき会。

                A few words in my previous blog about the life of my host mother was far from enough to cover how special Minazukikai, the traditional dancing community my host mother is in, is and how ordinary it is at the same time. Minazukikai was started in a June twenty years ago. The meaning of “minazuki” is “a beautiful June;” and “kai” means community. So Minazukikai together means “A community started in a beautiful June.” In these twenty years, Minazukikai has grown from less than 10 people to 30 members today. The average age of the members is 66, and the oldest member in Minazukikai is now 80 years old. All members in Minazukikai are female at an age ranging from 55 to 80. There is never any man who intended to join it. But even there might be one; he would be refused friendly since it would be very awkward and inconvenient to have one single male in the community with all other women who usually put make up and change kimono in the same room.

                Basically, all members practice once a week. During time periods before important performances, members usually practice themselves at home along with the group practice once a week.  These weekly practices are conducted in four different local community centers in Hirakata City. The 30 members are divided into four groups with 7 or 8 people in each one since the rooms for practice are not big enough for all 30 members to practice together within the 4 hours time flame of each practice. Thus, there are four practices in total each week which take place on different days of the week so that the only teacher of Minazukikai can attend each other to give instructions. The fee of renting the practice room is divided each time and paid by the members who share the same room. And for each practice, each member pays 700 yen to the manager of the Minazukikai which will be eventually all given to the teacher as a thanking gift for instructions. Therefore, each member is paying 2800 yen for practices each month. Besides the 2800 yen for practices, members also need to pay 700 yen in addition each month including 300 yen for management fee and 400 yen for room rentals. The 300 yen from each member each month will be deposited into the bank account of Minazukikai for the expenses of the annual party and the purchases of kimono and other accessories for dancing.  The bank book has to be checked by all members once a year in the annual party so that everyone can be informed clearly about the financial condition of the community. The bank account has existed for the last twenty years and now it has a balance of 267,461 yen, which will continue to keep the community running.

                All the regular practices ensure that members are familiar with their dances, and thus can perform confidently in various performances that Minazukikai takes part in. There are performances throughout the year in which all or some of the dances of Minazukikai are performed. The biggest and most important annual performance of Minazuki kai is the review performance which takes place every October. This performance is made up of about 40 dances in total including one individual dance by each member and some group dances. Each year, one performance by international students at Kansai Gaidai is included in this annual review performance. Since I was one of the international students who were performing this year, I got the chance to move freely in the back stage, observe what people were doing, take pictures and talk to them.  Except the members of Minazukikai, there were also a makeup team and a team for the dressing up of hair and kimono. It cost about 3500 yen for one hair set, 2000 yen for a kimono set and about 10000 yen for one makeup. And it cost at least 15000 yen for a stage setting for each dance. This admission for this review performance is totally free, while each visitor was given a small gift for attending. All the costs needed for the performance were all paid by members themselves. It was a big number for each member to pay. All members are just ordinary housewives who already retired or are still working part time. Everybody is saving 1000 to 2000 yen each month in order to pay all the expenses needed for this annual performance.

                In additional to this annual review performance, there are various performances in events and volunteer performances at about 10 different local nursing houses which make up the busy schedule of Minazukikai throughout the year. These performances are also the reason why Minazukikai can keep growing in the last twenty years. Ordinary housewives became members of Minazukikai primarily because they want to stay healthy and have fun through dancing. With the support from their family, some of the members are able to fulfill their childhood dreams of becoming a dancer or wearing gorgeous kimono through Minazukikai. The goal of Minazukikai is to contribute to the local area as an energetic, friendly, interesting and well united community. As a rule, no topics about politics and religion are allowed in the group to avoid any possible negative effects on the relationship among members.

                I decided to learn about Minazukikai in depth because I had the chance to interact with the members and obtain important information from my host mother, who is the manager of it. Minazukikai is a local dancing community in which everything from regular practices schedule, finances to the organization of performances are all managed by members themselves. It is not a business, but a community made up by ordinary housewives who share the same hobby. There are many similar local communities in Hirakata City like Minazukikai from which foreigners may be able to learn about how Japanese spend their sparing time in the way they like and how the community is bound together. It is their life style.