2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research on the Structure of Yokagura Successor-Training in Miyazaki Prefecture
| Project/Area Number |
16500389
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Physical education
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| Research Institution | Miyazaki Women's Junior College |
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Principal Investigator |
SASAKI Masayo Miyazaki Women's Junior College, Associate Professor, 准教授 (20270150)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NEGAMI Masaru Miyazaki University, Faculty of Educational and Culture, Professor, 教育文化学部, 教授 (80108430)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2006
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| Keywords | Yokagura / Successor-Training / Ranking / Tewari / Depopulated Aging |
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this research is to clarify the Successor-Training of Yokagura: All-night Court Music and Dance Kagura in Miyazaki Prefecture. It is based upon field work conducted in Old Higashimera-Son, Morotsuka-Son and Shiiba-Son. The results were as follows : (1)There is a basic dance in the Yokagura program, and it is possible to rank the degree of difficulty ranging from a children's dance to an elder's dance. Successors are trained by acquiring more advanced practice in accordance with this ranking, competing with each other to improve their ability in the dance. If their progress is recognised, they are permitted to dance high-ranking programs at a festival. (2)The allotment of roles in Yokagura is called Tewari. Those who perform well in their allotted roles at a festival may steadily advance in Tewari as skilled successors. It is possible to guide desire and growth considerably by applying ranking flexibly and selecting promising, albeit inexperienced, successors. The fine fe
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stival scene becomes, in practice, a mode of Successor-Training. (3)Traditionally, successors are trained as younger generations acquire higher-ranked roles in Tewari, but this Successor-Training has become more difficult because of rural depopulation. It is much harder to find young successors in the traditional places, and the consciousness of the inhabitants of such areas has changed. (4)This has led to a modernisation of the mechanism of practice, and a decline in the use of such terms as Narai and Narashi that illustrated the importance of mental attitude. This is changing into an exercise in which a teacher takes pains to 'steal' the skills involved in higher-ranked programs and pass these on. (5)It was recognised that teaching Kagura to children is the foundation of Successor-Training. Moreover, holding classes for outsiders in the villages may be regarded as a counter-measure against depopulation as well as the current structure of Successor-Training of Yokagura. (6)With the decline in the oral tradition in Successor-Training, the meanings expressed in the dance of Kagura are being lost, so it needs to be investigated and recorded urgently. (7)If we compare the traditional structure of Successor-Training, in which the style of the dance varied considerably from place to place, we find a tendency towards standardisation in the changes now taking place. Restraint and acceleration, diversification of movements and of repetition: these are all changing factors. Less
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