Spatial Structures of Urban Festivals in the Late Early-Modern Period: A Case Study of Kyoto’s Imamiya-matsuri Festival

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  • 近世後期の都市祭礼における空間構造―京都の今宮祭を事例に―
  • キンセイ コウキ ノ トシ サイレイ ニ オケル クウカン コウゾウ : キョウト ノ イマミヤサイ オ ジレイ ニ

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Abstract

<p>This paper considers the relationship between festivals and their surrounding regional societies by investigating the realities of urban festivals in the late early-modern period in Kyoto. The paper focuses specifically on the Imamiya-matsuri festival, celebrated in the Shinto shrine of Imamiya. The early modern urban festivals were held collectively by local communities (mainly neighborhoods) that became core organizations. While these communities cooperated with each other, there were also cases of unequal hierarchies that resulted in rivalry between the communities. Following this fact, this paper focuses on “manners in which people and organizations participating in the festivals as well as their activities are related through spatial expansions in related regions,” defined here as the “spatial structure of the festivals.” In addition, considering the realities of the local communities in early modern Kyoto, I set up a three-tiered regional scale using the macro-meso-micro model, and sought to understand the spatial structure of the festivals at each level.</p><p>As a result of the examination, the following characteristics of the spatial structure of the early modern festivals became clear: First, it is not sufficient to study the spatial structures of these festivals solely as planar multi-layered structures as was done in the past. This is because each region possesses complex stratifications in which realities of such relationships as hierarchy, cooperation, and rivalry differ. Next, as the regional scale progresses from the macro to the micro, we see a strengthening of the “magnetism” in which the local communities (neighborhoods) that organized the festivals cooperated with or were in rivalry with one another. It also became clear that within these relationships of rivalry, there existed predetermined harmonious relationships that appeared regularly every year and served to enliven the festivals when seen from a broader perspective. At the same time, there also existed antagonistic relationships that appeared spontaneously and caused intense confrontation. The latter type of rivalry was included implicitly within hierarchical relations.</p><p>In the future, it will be necessary to conduct other case studies and discover more universal principles regarding the relationship between festivals and their surrounding region/regional society.</p>

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