Japanese Rainmaking and other Folk Practices by Geoffrey Bownas Pauline Brown

Author:Geoffrey Bownas, Pauline Brown [Geoffrey Bownas, Pauline Brown]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9781136550966
Google: qTlUAQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-10-11T05:51:13+00:00

boats have their name and destination, written sometimes on leaves festooning the straw bows—‘The Boat for the West’ (the Heaven in the West of Amidism) or ‘The Good Ship Paradise’ and so on.

The true function of the Bon Dance is to comfort and exhilarate the spirits—especially the havoc-wreaking ‘hungry ones—either just prior to or at the time of their departure. It is thus most properly performed on the evening of the fifteenth, the last night of the spirits’ visit—and the night of the full moon. Most often, the dancers congregate in the village square, though in the case of seashore and riverside communities, they sometimes enter the water as the spirit boats depart. In rare instances, the neighbourhood of the ancestors' tombs is the site of the dance. Once again, ‘New Bon’ households are singled out for special treatment; the dancers may break the circle and go the rounds of the community, pausing a little before each ‘New Bon’ house; or again, it is not uncommon for the dancers to form their ring round the Bon shelves and the lanterns brought from such recently bereaved families and placed in some open spot in the centre of the village. There is now practically no sex segregation of the dancers, though formerly there did occur instances of distinct male and female teams, or of men wearing women's, and women wearing men'sclothing. The steps and gestures of the dance are comparatively simple, the accompaniment is usually restricted to the drum as in Shinjō village (though flutes and gongs are included in some instances), and the words of the song—the singer often bellowing down from the top of a precarious-looking tower in the centre of the ring of dancers—are in the form of a four-line stanza, with a rhythm of 7.7.7.5. syllables, in contrast to the usual alternation of five- and seven-syllable lines in the literary verse of Japan.

There is a variety of names other than Bon Dance given to this final ceremony of Bon; it includes Dance of Offerings, Spirit Dance, Dance of the Tombs, Dance of the Eighth Month (which clearly derives from a date subsequent to the calendrical reforms) and, significantly, Dance of the Fruitful Year.

It will be clear from this account of the main features of the Bon festival that there is a deal more to it than can be adequately explained in terms of a simple and straightforward incorporation of a Chinese Buddhist memorial ceremony. First, there are hints that Bon is in some aspects a preparation for the harvest, a ritual designed to ensure that the crops yield well. Thus, one name for the Bon Dance is, as has just been noted, Dance of the Fruitful Year. The purpose of the ritual dance in Japan is not only to give thanks or to celebrate a good that is already provided; it can also act as an insurance, as a magic inducer of a future blessing. Again, if performed on its proper occasion, the evening of the fifteenth, it

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