Reviving Festival Spaces - Cultural Sociology on Revival of Local Japanese Theaters

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23530713
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Konan Women's University
• Principal Investigator: ASHIDA Tetsuro 甲南女子大学, 人間科学部, 教授 (20151053)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2013
• Keywords: 芝居小屋 / 祝祭 / 文化財 / 産業遺産 / 町づくり

Research Abstract

There have been revivals of some old-fashioned local theaters that were constructed in Japan before World War II, such as Korakukan(Akita-ken), Nagameyokyojo(Gunma-ken), Eirakukan(Hyogo-ken), Kanamaruza(Kagawa-ken), Uchikoza(Ehime-ken), Kahogekijo(Fukuoka-ken) and Yachiyoza(Kumamoto-ken). Most of these theaters once substantially closed their doors and were brought to the verge of destruction or collapse, but somehow survived and were subsequently revived. Nowadays many of these theaters are expected to be centers of revitalization of local communities. I investigated the actual situations of a good number of these kind of theaters. And I searched how and why those theaters had revived and how those had been used. I have also considered the effects of the revivals on local communities.