A “man's festival”?: an interview study of gender dynamics in Kanto Matsuri, Japan

Matsuri are festivals in Japan which typically welcome and appease spirits known as kami. Matsuri are organised by hierarchically-structured associations, but also have a heightened atmosphere which differentiates them from everyday life. This thesis investigates the idea of Akita's Kantō Matsuri as a “man's festival”, despite the participation of women since the mid-twentieth century as ritual musicians (ohayashi). The research methodology involved a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with participants from Akita International University's Kantō team. This draws on anthropological studies of matsuri, as well as Bourdieu's (1977) practice theory. By critically examining the religious rationale for women's exclusion and the renegotiation of gender boundaries in the twentieth century, this thesis finds that the sacred space around the central pole has been redrawn. It argues that Kantō Matsuri continues to be reproduced as a “man's festival”, analysing the continued impact of religious taboo on this university team, and the proliferation of visual and sonic aesthetics considered masculine or androgynous. However, by analysing Kantō Matsuri as a site of socialisation, it also argues that women are also able to claim “mature social being” through their participation. Thus, it finds women are able to belong to, pass on and, in some ways, transform a tradition geared towards male bonding, finding personal fulfilment in doing so. As the first in-depth study of gender dynamics in Kantō Matsuri, this thesis contributes to an emergent body of research on women’s increasingly active participation in matsuri. In particular, it provides the field with qualitative research which interviews women themselves. More generally, this thesis shows how women are beginning to access male-centred traditions, networks and modes of belonging. This is important for the succession of traditions in depopulated areas of Japan, many of which have had to rely on women’s involvement to survive.