Native and Newcomer: Making and Remaking a Japanese City by Jennifer Ellen Robertson

Author:Jennifer Ellen Robertson [Robertson, Jennifer Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Social Science, History, Asia, Anthropology, Japan, Cultural, World, Customs & Traditions, Kodaira-shi (Japan), Kodaira-shi (Japan) - Social life and customs
ISBN: 9780520072961
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 1991-04-14T23:00:00+00:00

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the place-kami aspect of Inari, this "sharing" of a yashikigami may have, at one time, signified the consolidation of an ie' s spatial domain, both in the sense of actual landholdings and in the sense of affective enclosure. And although each branch household still celebrates its own yashikigami, every year onhatsuuma, it also offers up to the main household's shrine rice steamed with red beans (sekihan ), sake, fried tofu (aburage ), dried sardines (mezashi ), and tapers (tomyo ). On this date, the branches also assist in cleaning the shrine and help erect colored banners, usually inscribed with the phrase "shoichi-i Inari daimyojin" and their names.[5] These joint activities demonstrate symbolically the relative tenacity of intra-ie ties, although, as some natives have remarked, the fact that their main and branch households no longer feast together on that day indicates the gradual thinning of those ties.

A given household's shrine may also serve as the focal point for a voluntary but exclusive consociation (ko ) based on faith (shinko ) and heartfulness (kokoro ). The yard shrine of Koyama K. offers an exemplary case in point. It also illustrates the manner in which a yard shrine may become a place of public worship. Popularly known as Kasamori Inari, or "pox-warding Inari,"[6] the shrine was installed about 135 years ago. Although no one quite knows why, Kasamori Inari was the focus of rowdy pilgrimages at the turn of this century. Tea shops, snack stalls, and bonsai vendors lined the path to the shrine, where Shinto dances (kagura ) were performed and young couples danced until midnight. The shrine's prosperity sparked quarrels among its custodians over the disposition of donations and offerings. In the ensuing squabble, Kasamori Inari was forgotten—at least until 1961, when the Koyamas and their neighbors in the same bangumi formed an Inari-ko and rebuilt the shrine on a smaller scale. The shrine's revival was prompted by a spate of traffic accidents and other misfortunes in the neighborhood, which the native residents interpreted as signs of Inari's anger at having been neglected for so long (Namiki and Tachikawa 1964, 32). The inauguration in 1960 of the native-run Kodaira Local History Study Society, which campaigned for the renovation of historical structures, also may have influenced the decision to rebuild the shrine.

There are about thirty wooden slats nailed to the outside walls of Kasamori Inari shrine, and on each one an Inari-ko member's name and donation are recorded in descending order of the amount given. Koyama's recently deceased father leads the list with a donation of 40,000 yen. Six tall torii, offered upon the fulfillment of a prayer, straddle a short stone path in front of the shrine. Inside the toolshed-sized

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