Abstract
This study attempts to clarify the transformation process of the festival form in a castle town in the Kanto region in the premodern period and discusses the development of or changes in the character of the town. The author selected Karasuyama-cho, Nasu-gun, Tochigi Prefecture, as the study area. The festival of the tutelary shrine of this castle town, Gozu-tenno, has been held continuously since the Sengoku era. It is called at present the “Yama-age Festival.” Characteristic festival activities include hanging papier-mache ornaments in stalls and setting up “Yama, ” made of Japanese paper. This study examines the forms and locations of the Tenno Festival, and the people who sponsor the festival, using the Akasaka-cho festival records from 1563 to 1762.
After the Sengoku era, sumo wrestling, kagura (Shinto music and dancing), and so forth were practiced in Karasuyama, and in the middle of the 17th century, dance performances were newly introduced. However, the dance performance declined at the beginning of the 18th century, and stall performances became dominant instead. In this process, the Tennno Festival became more colorful.
From the middle of the 17th century to the beginning of the 18th century, festival sites became strongly related with the ruling lord, such as the precincts of temples and samurai-class districts. These places lost their position with the decline of the dance performance, and the festival space moved completely to the tradesmen's and artisans' area.
“Six people” were responsible for the festival until the middle of the 17th century. They were privileged to meet the lord and were long-time residents. However, the position of the six people began to weaken from the beginning of the 18th century, as powerful merchants coming from other regions were nominated as town managers; the Hayano family came from Oyata-go, in Mino-no-kuni, and the Tsuji family from Ise-no-kuni, for example. Commodity crops such as paper mulberry and tobacco were actively grown in the villages around Karasuyama in the premodern period. The Tsuji family handled tobacco, and the Hayano family engaged in trade in Japanese paper.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the festival site moved to the trademen's and artisans' town, and stall performances began to be more elaborate. At the same time, powerful merchants who came from other regions tended to replace the six people's position. From this evidence, it can be estimated that new merchants made a contribution to building the stalls. It is thought that the transformation of the festival in Karasuyama was strongly related to the above-mentioned functional changes in the town.
