Comparative study on Festivals: City Festivals and Village Festivals

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This is a comparative study on festivals. We have chosen and observed two kinds of festivals, city festivals and village festivals. For the city festivals, we have observed and even participated in two festivals held in Fukuoka city(Hakata Gion Yamakasa which began, they say, 750 years ago, and Hakata Dontaku Minato Matsuri which has also a long history). For the village festivals, we have assisted at Tugao Kagura performed in Siiba village in Miyazaki prefecture.Two kinds of festivals have common features: they contribute to realize a social and cohesive function, which can overpass the inner cleavages such as senior/junior, made/female, participant/observer, etc. On the other hand, they have some different functions. The village festivals have maintained a close connection with the occupations of villagers; this connection being loosen through the process of modernization of Japanese society, the villagers makes them a base of their identity in performing these festivals inherited from their ancestors. The city festivals have been activated in order to attract the human and natural resources from the surrounding communities ; so the city festivals have a tendency to become more activated and showier. These functions of festivals aren't yet analyzed, so our study has a chance to be much estimated.