Matsuri and Religion: Complexity, Continuity, and Creativity in Japanese Festivals

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-90-04-46652-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 561 g

Bringing together the innovative work of scholars from a variety of disciplines, Matsuri and Religion explores festivals in Japan through their interconnectedness to religious life in both urban and rural communities. Each chapter, informed by extensive ethnographic engagement, focuses on a specific festival to unpack the role of religion in collective ritualized activities. With attention to contemporary performance and historical transformation, the study sheds light on understandings of change, identity and community, as well as questions regarding intangible cultural heritage, tourism, and the intersection of religion with politics. Read as a whole, the volume provides a uniquely multi-sited ethnographic, historical, and theoretical study, contributing to discourses on religion and festival/ritual/performance in Japan and elsewhere around the globe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Porcu, Elisabetta

Foster, Michael Dylan

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Agrarsoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Östliche Religionen Shintoismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus Buddhismus: Kult, Riten, Zeremonien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Notes on Contributors

List of Figures

1 Introduction

Matsuri and Religion in Japan

Michael Dylan Foster (, ) and Elisabetta Porcu (, )

2 Displaying Mythological Characters

Changes in the Meanings of Decorations in the Sawara Grand Festival in Chiba, Japan

Tsukahara Shinji ???? (, )Jude Pultz

3 Gion Matsuri in Kyoto

A Multilayered Religious Phenomenon

Elisabetta Porcu (, )

4 Sanno Matsuri

Fabricating Festivals in Modern Japan

John Breen (, )

5 Eloquent Plasticity

Vernacular Religion, Change, and Namahage

Michael Dylan Foster (, )

6 Kuma Matsuri

Bear Hunters as Intermediaries between Humans and Nature

Scott Schnell (, )

7 Fire, Prayer, and Purification

Early Winter Events and Folk Beliefs in Kyoto

Yagi Toru ??? (, )

8 Encounters with the Past

Fractals and Atmospheres at Kasuga Wakamiya Onmatsuri

Andrea Giolai (, )

9 Demographic Change in Contemporary Rural Japan and Its Impact on Ritual Practices

Susanne Klien (, )

10 Photographic Essay: Secret Eroticism and Lived Religion

The Art of Matsuri Photography

Michael Dylan Foster (, ) and Ogano Minoru ???? (Photographer, Saitama City, Japan)

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Elisabetta Porcu, Ph.D. (2006), is Associate Professor of Asian Religions at the University of Cape Town. She is the author of Pure Land Buddhism in Modern Japanese Culture (Brill, 2008) and the founding editor of the Journal of Religion in Japan (Brill).

Michael Dylan Foster, Ph.D. (2003; Stanford University), is Professor of Japanese and Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Davis. His most recent monograph is The Book of Yokai (UC Press, 2015).

Contributors are: John Breen, Michael Dylan Foster, Andrea Giolai, Susanne Klien, Ogano Minoru, Elisabetta Porcu, Scott Schnell, Tsukahara Shinji, Yagi Toru.