MaryAnn Young

Interview at Gogoku Jinja (Shrine which honors war veterans for Hokkaido)

The meeting with Tsuneya Shionoyo, the head priest of the Gogoku Jinja, began with an apology on my part for bringing three bags of equipment into such a sacred space.  My explanation included a comment about documenting the Natsu Matsuri (City Summer Festival) later that day.  This quickly became a valuable comment as the priest asked if I planned to see the Kanda Daiko, a taiko group scheduled to perform at the opening ceremony.  It just so happens that Tsuneya-san went to the Ishikawa Prefecture, home of this taiko group, and asked the group to perform in Asahikawa for this festival.  He himself performed with this group and toured with them in London for "Japan Week" six years ago.  After forty-five minutes of taiko discussion, Tsuneya-san offered to introduce me to the group members before the ceremony that evening.

The remainder of the two hour interview was just as informative.  Tsuneya-san was kind enough to answer any question I could imagine, and I was completely thrown off when I learned that this Shinto shrine also celebrates Obon, a Buddhist festival to remember the deceased, over the course of 5 days.  It does make sense since this shrine's main task is to honor fallen soldiers for all of Hokkaido.  Needless to say, if I had another month in Japan, the Obon festivals throughout the city would provide wonderfully rich material.

Sanroku Matsuri

After the Gogoku Jinja interview, I made my way to the Sanroku Matsuri, the series of food and drink shops in downtown.  Although this outdoor festival was not scheduled to begin until 4:00pm, I arrived early enough to observe pre-festival events, such as sound checks on the performance stage, food and drink booth setup, and residents slowly noticing the commotion in this part of downtown.  Although earlier interviews with several women indicated dissatisfaction with the lack of enka performances in Asahikawa, I was pleased to hear several men and women participating in the karaoke contest singing classic enka songs.  Unfortunately, the karaoke contest experienced some delay with a sudden downpour of rain which nearly caught me off guard as I quickly packed up my equipment and ran for shelter.  The rain also put a damper on the ramen (noodles for which Asahikawa is well-known) booths whose food tables were, at least on this day, uncovered.  The rain ended almost as quickly as it began.  Most of the audience looked prepared for the rain, as I am told that every festival experiences rain in the summer, and slowly came out of hiding with umbrellas and raincoats.  Some even pulled out towels to wipe down the seats.  In no time the karoke contest began again and the ramen booths were once again filled with people.

Opening Ceremony at Riverine Asahikawa Park

Riverine Asahikawa Park and the adjacent Tokiwa Park are two of the most beautiful places in Asahikawa.  If you recall, Tokiwa Park houses the Tongu Jinja where the Kamikawa Jinja Matsuri afternoon ceremony took place on the second day (July 21).  North of Tokiwa Park is a series of steps down to a walkway along the Ishikari River.  This beautiful outdoor view was the setting for the Opening Ceremony of the Natsu Matsuri.  By 5pm, one hour before the ceremony start time, the steps were filled with people: families, couples, friends, women and men of all ages.  The Self Defense Force was set up on the large walkway between the steps and the river and covering the hill just before the river stood the festival staff, a handful of whom I had met in the early interviews.  By 5:30pm, Tsuneya-san, from the Gogoku Jinja, introduced me to the members of Kanda Daiko who provided me with more information and showed me both the drum and masks they would use.

The ceremony began with the Self Defense Force performance of John Philip Sousa, a Disney medley, and Disco medley.  I enjoyed watching the young children at the base of the steps dancing as soon as the Disney medley began.  They also seemed to enjoy the disco music but sat down in exhaustion by the series of speeches followed by awards given by city officials, including Mayor Nishikawa.  As requested by the leader of the Kanda Daiko, I moved up closer with my video camera and digital camera for their performance.  The red lights and sounds of crackling torches on each side of the stage created a dramatic environment for the three masked members playing on one taiko.

“Awws” came from the audience as the first dance group, a group of young children dancing to hip hop, took the stage.  The hip hop groups that followed included older children or adults, and the evening performances ended with very professional yosakoi performances with all ages of members.  After the dancer performances, an hour fireworks show safely across the river ended the opening ceremony with the audience spread out across the steps and now-cleared walkway.  I know, as Americans, we take pride in our 4^th of July fireworks shows, but in my many years in the United States, I have never seen a fireworks show quite like that of this Opening Ceremony.  There were many times that I thought the finale had begun as swarms of fireworks went off, but each set (in between sponsoring announcements) ended in this manner.

With nearly 200,000 people in attendance for the first day of the Natsu Matsuri, I am reminded of the need to study such community-based events which influence the lives of so many.

I know this entry is running far longer than I anticipated, so I promise to cut the next two entries down significantly by tomorrow.  If this blog still receives attention after these entries, I will continue to post updates on the analysis and the article.  In the meantime, however, I must stress that this blog is merely a summary of my observations for the reading of those interested and does not directly reflect my fieldnotes.  If this were the case, the article would be nearly complete after the last entry.  J  It will take most of the fall semester to edit video and audio recordings and complete my analysis of these events before I can begin writing the article next spring.  Thank you to everyone interested in the process as well as the final product.