Folk Performing Arts, Community Life, and Well-being: Why shishimai Matters in Toyama, Japan
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Yoko Nagao
Abstract
There is a growing awareness in Japan that well-being is closely linked to social relationships. It is often expressed as a call for tsunagari, relationships with a willing mutual involvement. This paper examines what kind of tsunagari can be fostered through folk performing arts which are rooted in a longstanding belief in a sacred beast represented as shishi (lion). The theory of ritualization is employed to approach shishimai (lion dance) as practice which is inextricably connected to the local perception of well-being. The close observation of hamlets carrying out shishimai in Toyama reveals that it reflects the state of a community and of its members, and often generates intimate and integrative social relations. They not only provide useful resources to attain well-being but are also extended to the symbolic and spiritual dimensions.
© 2013 Akademie Verlag GmbH, Markgrafenstr. 12-14, 10969 Berlin.
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Introduction: Well-being in Ritual Practices
- The Price of Ritual
- Can Happiness be Created in Rituals?
- Fast Food and Fun.
- Die Organisation von Wohlbefinden in japanischen Kindergärten
- Rite of Redemption.
- Ritual and Well-being in the Contemporary Shikoku- Pilgrimage: The “Spectrum of the Sacred”
- The Auspiciousness of the Performative Body – Ritual Dancing in Folk-Religious Festivals in Japan
- Folk Performing Arts, Community Life, and Well-being: Why shishimai Matters in Toyama, Japan
- Bullfighting, Self-Enhancement, and Well-Being in Rural Japan
- Whose Festival is it?
- Shinjo Matsuri: Community Revitalization through the Construction and Circulation of Decorated Floats
- Rituelle Modulation, Liminalität und die nembutsu-Praxis im ländlichen Japan
- The Happiness of the Family.
- Wisdom on the Pursuit of Happiness in Daily Life.
- Transnational Ecstasy and Japanese Ganbarism: Cultural Patterns in the Pedagogy of Outward Bound Japan
- From Fighting to Joy in Kendo
- The “Performance” of Kyōgen.
- Well-being and Risk-taking Behavior.
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Introduction: Well-being in Ritual Practices
- The Price of Ritual
- Can Happiness be Created in Rituals?
- Fast Food and Fun.
- Die Organisation von Wohlbefinden in japanischen Kindergärten
- Rite of Redemption.
- Ritual and Well-being in the Contemporary Shikoku- Pilgrimage: The “Spectrum of the Sacred”
- The Auspiciousness of the Performative Body – Ritual Dancing in Folk-Religious Festivals in Japan
- Folk Performing Arts, Community Life, and Well-being: Why shishimai Matters in Toyama, Japan
- Bullfighting, Self-Enhancement, and Well-Being in Rural Japan
- Whose Festival is it?
- Shinjo Matsuri: Community Revitalization through the Construction and Circulation of Decorated Floats
- Rituelle Modulation, Liminalität und die nembutsu-Praxis im ländlichen Japan
- The Happiness of the Family.
- Wisdom on the Pursuit of Happiness in Daily Life.
- Transnational Ecstasy and Japanese Ganbarism: Cultural Patterns in the Pedagogy of Outward Bound Japan
- From Fighting to Joy in Kendo
- The “Performance” of Kyōgen.
- Well-being and Risk-taking Behavior.
