Abstract
A traditional tug of war festival is held annually on the first Sunday after 6, 26th. of the lunar calendar in Yonabaru-town, Okinawa. This paper describes the festival as a culture complex of sport and aims to discuss it from the viewpoint of culture change. Special attention is focused on the relationship between the changed and the unchanged aspects of the complex. The following findings were obtained : 1. The driving organization of the festival has expanded from Mon-chu to the Yonabaru 6 communities union, and finally to Yonabaru-town. An outstanding change can be seen in the social cultural phase of the complex. 2. Participants make their pilgrimage to the five sacred places before opening the festival. These places symbolize the origin of Mon-chu, so the pilgrimage functions to recreate its identity. The pilgrimage still remains unchanged as a formal part of the festival, although the management of the festival has shifted to the town. 3. The pilgrimage acts as a cultural focus and does not change. 4. Under the present conditions, even though the complex has been drastically changed in its method of management, the value of the complex still retains its original quality.
