Japanese Rural Communities and Their festivals in Postmodern Conditions
Abstract
The article analyzes the author's sociological research results in two villages in the municipality of Kumano, Mie Prefecture, Japan: the fishing village of Hobo and the mountain village of Maruyama. The text aims to clarify the place and role of traditions in the postmodern lifestyle, the mechanisms of their "modernization," and use to revitalize local communities and preserve the Japanese cultural identity by studying their festivals. Local festivals are an essential cultural resource for protecting the traditions of Hobo and Maruyama. The activities for their organization and implementation largely determine the lifestyle of the local community. Their preservation requires both will and perseverance, as well as an innovative approach and ingenuity shown by their inhabitants. Collective action is an important factor in preserving local culture and traditions in Japanese villages. In Hobo, the local community's active life is due to the initiative, efforts and perseverance of its informal leader, and the enterprising local people who help him. In Maruyama, in addition to the enterprising local people and their organizations, the organizational assistance and support of the municipal administration and volunteers from other parts of the country are extremely important. With their initiatives and activities, local communities use the resources of tradition to achieve socially meaningful goals in postmodern conditions.
References
Alexander, J. (Ed.). (1988). Durkheimian sociology: Cultural studies. Cambridge University
Ashkenazi, M. (1993). Matsuri: Festivals of a Japanese town. University of Hawaii Press.
Ajisaka, M. (2012). Local organizations and groups in Japan - chiefly in neighborhood
associations (chonaikai, jichikai). Doshisha University Press.
Bellah, R., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton S. M. (1985). Habits of the heart.
Individualism and commitment in American life. University of California Press.
https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Heart-Individualism-Commitment-American/dp/0520254198
Bestor, T. C. (1989). The neighborhood of Tokyo. Stanford University Press.
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=2454
City population (2018, October 1). Mie prefecture in Japan. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from
https://www.citypopulation.de/php/japan-admin.php?adm1id=24
Durkheim, E. (2001). The elementary forms of religious life. Oxford University Press.
(Originally work published 1912)
https://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Forms-Religious-Life/dp/0199540128
Hall, J. R., & Neitz M. J. (1993). Culture: Sociological perspectives. Pearson College, Div.
https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Sociological-Perspectives-John-Hall/dp/0138164711
Hobsbawm, E. (1983). The invention of tradition. In Hobsbawm E. & Ranger T. (Eds.), The
invention of tradition. (p.1–14). Cambridge University Press.
http://psi424.cankaya.edu.tr/uploads/files/Hobsbawm_and_Ranger_eds_The_Invention_of_Tradition.pdf
Keliyan, M. (2010). Stil na jhivot na lokalnata obshtnost: Savremenna Yaponiya [Local
Community Lifestyle: Contemporary Japan]. Alex Print.
Kumano city webpage (n.d.). Profile of Kumano city. Kumano city official website.
Retrieved July 23, 2020, from http://www.city.kumano.mie.jp/profile/profile00.html
Kumano city webpage (2015, October 16). Kumano city population development vision. Kumano city. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from
http://www.city.kumano.mie.jp/sisei/sityoukousitu/tihousousei/kumanosijinkouvision27.pdf
Kumano city webpage (2019). Kumano city statistics. Kumano city official website.
Retrieved July 23, 2020, from
http://www.city.kumano.mie.jp/sisei/toukeidata/01toukeisyo.pdf
Kumano city webpage (2019). Maruyama senmaida pamphlet. Kumano city official website.
Retrieved July 23, 2020, from
http://www.city.kumano.mie.jp/kankou/senmaida/panf%20senmaida.pdf
Matsuda, M. (1998). Urbanization from below: Creativity and self-resistance in the everyday life
of Maragoli migrants in Nairobi. Kyoto University Press. https://www.worldcat.org/title/urbanisation-from-below-creativity-and-soft-resistance-in-the-everyday-life-of-maragoli-migrants-in-nairobi/oclc/42687095
Mannheim, K. (1952) The Sociological problem of generations. In P. Kecskemeti, (Ed.). Essays
on the sociology of Knowledge. Vol. 5. (pp. 276–322). Routledge. (Original work
published 1928)
http://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/classes/201/articles/27MannheimGenerations.pdf
Nelson, J. K. (2000). Enduring identities: The guise of Shinto in contemporary Japan. Honolulu:
University of Hawai’i Press.
https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/enduring-identities-the-guise-of-shinto-in-contemporary-japan/
Obikwelu, F. E., Ikegami, K., & T. Tsuruta (2017). Factors of urban-rural migration and
socioeconomic condition of I-turn migrants in rural Japan. Journal of Asian Rural Studies.
(1), 70–82. https://doi.org/10.7310/arfe.54.125
Olick, J. K., Vinitzky-Seroussi, V. & Levy D. (2011). Introduction. In J. K. Olick, V. Vinitzky-
Seroussi & D. Levy (Eds.), The collective memory reader. (pp. 3–63). Oxford
University Press.
https://www.amazon.com/Collective-Memory-Reader-Jeffrey-Olick/dp/0195337425
Ooms, H. (1985). Tokugawa ideology: Early constructs (1570-1680). Princeton University Press.
https://www.amazon.com/Tokugawa-Ideology-Early-Constructs-1570-1680/dp/0691054444
Sekiguchi, T., Hayashi, N., Sugino H., & Terada, Y. (2019). The effects of differences in
individual characteristics and regional living environments on the motivation to
immigrate to hometowns: A decision tree analysis. Applied Sciences. 9 (2748), 1–29.
https://doi.org/10.3390/app9132748
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication Japan (2019). Statistical
Handbook of Japan. Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication.
Retrieved July 23, 2020, from
https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/handbook/pdf/2019all.pdf
Yanagita, K. (1988). About our ancestors: The Japanese family system. Greenwood Press.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/about-our-ancestors-the-japanese-family-system/oclc/18324976
Copyright (c) 2020 Academic seminar "Media and Education", Department of Sociology, South-West University

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.