From Symbols of Stigma to Icons of Identity:A Study of Ritual Puppetry in the Revival of Awa(Tokushima) Ningyo Tradition.

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03066
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Kyoto Seika University
• Principal Investigator: Kang Jun 京都精華大学, マンガ学部, 教授 (60316867)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山田 嚴子 弘前大学, 人文社会科学部, 教授 (20344583) ; 菊地 暁 京都大学, 人文科学研究所, 助教 (80314277) ; 森田 良成 大阪大学, 人間科学研究科, 特任研究員 (30647318)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-10-21 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 門付 / 差別 / 芸能 / ノスタルジア / 伝承 / 儀礼 / 人形まわし / 歓待

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Awa puppetry, called Awa Deko-mawashi, had once disappeared due to social discrimination against itinerant puppeteers in western Tokushima. Today, however, Awa ritual puppetry appears to have made a comeback by the Awa Deko Hako-mawashi Hozonkai(Awa Puppetry Preservation Society) as a part of their struggle for equal rights. This study traces the history of comeback in this retrieval process in the last two decades. It reveals transformations of one specific type of ritual puppetry―kadozuke,“rites at the gate” under the influence of social discrimination. It draws the itinerancy geographically, through the loci in which puppeteers have brought to their footsteps light themselves by leaving puppets, costumes, and ritual implements on bases of their activities on the road. This study also discloses that a certain number of hosts have assumed an ambiguous attitude to puppeteers as outsiders associated with their otherness derived from playing ritual services and begging even today.

Free Research Field

文化人類学・民俗学