Mo Ashibi in Okinawa: Educational role and function

Abstract

  This article analyzes the educational function of “Mo Ashibi,” an Okinawan traditional custom. Prior to World War II, midnight feasts known as “Mo Ashibi” were held in fields (Mo). During these feasts, young men and women formed a circle and sang and danced to the music of the Okinawan shamisen. This gave rise to a great variety of folk songs and dances, which were passed on to future generations. Improvisatorially, self-composed poems were recited, and men sparred in the traditional martial arts before the dances began.

  It can be said “Mo Ashibi” had a big educational power by the function which produces culture and cultural communication. Additionally, for a time, the feast had another function which was the only opportunity for men and women of Okinawan farming villages to find a marriage partner.

  The field was an important place where people made friends, and it also had a recreational function. There, the dances, songs, and traditional martial arts were indivisibly connected with the function of finding a marriage partner. The lifestyle reform movement tried to abolish the Mo Ashibi feast. However, as this article shows, the custom persisted until the 1940s in some areas.

  I visited Okinawa several times for fieldwork, questioning the locals about how this ceremony was performed and their experience. My findings indicate that in the absence of Mo Ashibi, it is difficult to pass down the cultural legacy of Okinawa i.e, songs, dances, and martial arts.