Community Creation by Residents and Tourists via Takachiho <i>kagura</i> in Japanese Rural Area

doi:10.4236/sm.2012.23041

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Sociology Mind

2012. Vol.2, No.3, 306-312

Published Online July 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/sm) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/sm.2012.23041

306

Community Creation by Residents and Tourists via

Takachiho kagura in Japanese Rural Area

Shiro Hori uchi

Shibauta Institute of Technology, Saitama, Japan

Email: [email protected]

Received February 22nd, 2012; revised Ap ril 2nd, 2012; accepted May 5th, 2012

Rural communities are disappearing in Japan due to aging, depopulation, and changes in lifestyles. Re-

cently, outsiders such as immigrants, volunteers, and tourists cooperate with residents to revive and

maintain rural communities. This paper uses my fieldwork in the rural areas of Takachiho, where the

Japanese traditional dance kagura is well-known, to consider the possibility that residents and tourists

cooperatively create shared communities. Actually, an increasing number of tourists visit Takachiho to

see kagura. Consequently, some dancers miss “classical” kagura, which involved almost exclusively local

residents in intimate interactions. Nonetheless, many dancers welcome the influx of tourists and its

stimulation of community festivals. Some tourists are attracted to kagura at community festivals, and

some dancers and tourists have tried to forge bridges between their groups to create a shared community.

The existence of kagura becomes an important common symbol that connects members of local commu-

nities.

Keywords: Community Boundary; Local Culture; Outsiders

Introduction

Throughout history, ideas about communities have attracted

continuous attention from sociologists (Tönnies, 1887; MacIver,

1924), who have studied various communities in the forms of

local villages or cities, companies or schools, and even Internet

groups (Delanty, 2003). In general, communities share the fea-

tures of a reserve, in which members interact intimately and

trust one another. Based on secure social relationships, mem-

bers govern common property resources or manage social capi-

tal following the rules or norms of the community (Coleman,

1988; Ostrom, 1990). To maintain the beneficial functions of

the community , member s almost alway s reify their me mbership

in some way and exclude outsiders (Cohen, 1985). Indeed, the

idea of a community entails some degree of xenophobia. Only

when community membership is fixed, do the members feel

obliged and willing to obey the rules of the community despite

the costs because they can gain benefits from its exclusivity

(Olson, 1965). Because membership is fixed, members com-

municate with one another frequently. Only when the member s

know one another can they monitor and punish those who vio-

late the rules of the community (Hechter, 1987). The members

reify their membership to secure their relationships; such secure

relationships, in turn, lead members to further reify their mem-

bership. Members continually construct social boundaries be-

tween themselves and outsiders to ensure the identity of the

community (Lamont & Molnar, 2002).

To further concretize images of a community, I will examine

the historically rural areas of Japan. Japanese rural areas were

historically composed of hamlets or shizen-son (Suzuki, 1968),

which had fixed memberships. Residents lived most of their

lives in the hamlets, where they were assumed to share the

same ancestors. Most residents were farmers and were involved

in the collective work of agriculture, exchanging mutual help,

which was referred to as yui or moyai. They excluded outsiders

from their shared resources. Local cultures were represented by,

for example, dances, music, and marches, which often became

common symbols by which members demonstrated their mem-

bership in the community. At times, residents sincerely wel-

comed certain outsiders before finally excluding them; these

welcome/exclusion customs formed the basis of the local cul-

tures in Japanese rural areas (Orikuchi, 2003).

Since the major industrial developments in Japan in the

1960s, the situation in rural areas has changed dramatically

(Hosoya, 1998). Most residents are not fully involved in agri-

culture. Instead, they may have part-time jobs in agriculture.

Collective agricultural jobs are disappearing because of greater

mechanization, and local cultures are also disappearing because

local residents hardly have time for festivals due to their new

jobs. Fewer young residents are interested in local cultures,

which appear outmoded to them. Many residents have left their

home towns for major cities to pursue jobs, studies, or leisure

activities. The few remaining residents can hardly sustain the

former rural communities. Indeed, the communities in many

rural areas are in danger of collapse.

Some Japanese rural areas now invite outsiders to activate or

revive their communities. Outsiders consist of immigrants,

volunteers, and tourists. Immigrants and volunteers actually

revitalize rural areas by operating new businesses through net-

works that transcend the boundaries of the settled rural areas

(Akitsu, 1998), by taking jobs that residents do not fill due to

depopulation or aging (Yamamoto, 2003), and by participating

in the local culture as new members (Hoshino, 2009). Immi-

grants and volunteers can really be regarded as new members of

rural communities in the sense that they make friends with

some residents and are concerned about the future of the com-

munity.

Compared with immigran ts and volunteers who interact wit h

S. HORIUCHI

residents directly, tourists have fewer interactions with resi-

dents. As a consequence, misunderstandings are more likely to

occur between residents and tourists. Previous studies have

actually suggested that tourism had negative consequences on

local societies (Smith, 1989); for example, tourists may cause

residents to abandon the practices that constitute part of their

local culture, steal sacred statues, provide few direct benefits to

residents, lead local residents to became engaged in the prac-

tices of the local culture for monetary gain, and contribute to

negative stereotypes due to limited opportunities for direct

contact.

Some tourists, however, contribute to the revitalization of

rural communities, and local residents have improved their

relationships with one another through communication with

tourists (Nash, 1996). To attract tourists, rural residents may

revive their traditional festivals as part of managing their rural

communities (Moon, 1989). Indeed, residents may consciously

construct the community imagined by the tourists after wel-

coming the latter from outside their borders to earn cash income

(Yamashita, 2003). Local cultures, which were originally cre-

ated as commodities to entertain tourists, have often become the

basis of the local identity of the residents (Cohen, 1988). These

consequences, however, are only by-products of the impact of

tourism on local societies. As long as tourists rarely interact

intimately with residents, they cannot be regarded as members

of the communities, a role that the immigrants and volunteers

adopt legitimately.

It remains unclear whether tourists can work with residents

to cooperatively create and maintain a shared community in

rural areas as do immigrants and volunteers; that is, the ability

of tourists to be members of their target communities is uncer-

tain. To revive rural communities, some portion of the tourists

should be sufficiently embedded in their target communities to

become members. Projects involving “alternative tourism”

(Smith & Eadington, 1992) are expected to revitalize rural

communities, perhaps by enticing some tourists to become

members of the communities. It is necessary to accumulate case

studies to address these issues because individual situations

differ greatly from one another. This paper introduces my

fieldwork as one examination of the possibility of community

creation via the cooperation of residents and tourists.

Takachiho kagura

Takachiho is located in Miyazaki prefecture in Japan. Al-

though the central part of Takachiho contains many shops, res-

taurants, and hotels, most areas of Takachiho consist of paddy

or vegetable fields, cattle sheds, and mountains with coniferous

trees.

Takachiho is famous as a sacred place in Japanese mythol-

ogy and as the birthplace of kagura1, a traditional dance that

was transmitted to many areas in Japan. Kotegawa (1976)

stated that Takachiho kagura probably originated in the Nara

era (710-794). According to Yamaguchi (2000), the present

style of Takachiho kagura dates from the Kamakura era

(1192-1333). In Takachiho, residents have performed kagura

every year, including during World War II (1939-1945). During

the 1970s, the number of dancers decreased because of de-

population and aging in the area. During those times, Taka-

chiho kagura was selected as an intangible cultural asset by the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technol-

ogy of Japan, and some residents were officially invited to per-

form kagura in several European countries. Because of these

events, which made Takachiho kagura famous, many residents

started to participate in kagura after the 1970s. Despite the

continued depopulation and aging of the area, kagura is still

practiced in 19 areas in Takachiho in 20102.

In Takachiho, the kagura season begins in November and

lasts until the February of the following year. It usually starts

during the evening of a festival day and involves the continuous

performance of 33 dances, including formal dances in which

audiences welcome local spirits (the dancers), amusing dances

in which dancers interact pleasantly with the audience, story-

telling dances in which dancers act out stories from mythology,

and climactic dances in which audiences say farewell to the

spirits that then return to the mountains. The finale occurs the

next morning. Kagura is both a prayer to the spirits by the

residents and a festival event in which residents interacted in-

timately with one another, ensuring comraderie within the com-

munity. All dancers are traditionally restricted to males.

Residents traditionally selected private homes as kagurayado,

places for performing kagura3. Historically, private homes in

Takachiho had been large because home owners had worked in

agriculture and owned cattle. Tradition is important for under-

standing Takachiho kagura in that the home owners of kagu-

rayado were proud of being selected and having their homes

welcome the spirits. Furthermore, dancers and audiences stayed

in the same rooms at the private homes. At midnight, dancers

and audiences interacted intimately amid great excitement. At

times, quarrels occurred among audience members who had

had too much to drink. At the end of kagura, audience members

were given sacred ornaments used in this tradition. Audiences

were largely restricted to the residents of Takachiho, although a

few tourists visited from distant areas. Thus, intimate interac-

tion between dancers and audience members was easy, allow-

ing the residents to reinforce their sense of community.

Today, Takachiho residents can barely fit performances of

kagura into private homes. Recently built houses are typically

small because the owners do not own cattle or work in agricul-

ture. As a consequence, kagura is often performed in public

buildings. In 2009 and 2010, respectively, nine and 10 of the 19

areas conducted kagura in public buildings. The change in

venue from private homes to public buildings represents the

change in kagura itself as it moved from traditional to modern.

Furthermore, the number of tourists from outside of Takachiho

1The myth tells about the sun spirit, Amaterasu, who had hidden herself in a

cave formed by rocks, referred to as Amanoiwato, located in Takachiho.

When the sun then dis appeared f rom the eart h, many sp irits tr ied to remov e

the rocks to liberate t he sun, bu t this plan fail ed because t he rocks wer e too

heavy to move. Uzume, a spirit related to the arts and joy, danced in front o

the rocks. Because her dance was entertaining, all the spirits gathered to

watch it. Amaterasu heard the laughter of the spirits from her position

behind the rocks. This piqued her interest, and she opened the rocks slightly

Then, the powerful spirit, Tajikarao, inserted his arms into the crack and

cleared the rocks. The sun then returned to the earth. Uzume’s dance is

regarded as the origin of kagura.

2Since the kagura revived in an area, it was practiced in 20 areas in 2011.

3This tradition includes Takachiho kagura, although kagura from areas

other than Takachiho are often performed in public buildings, in the areas

surrounding shrines, in prefabricated structures, or in theaters outside resi-

dential areas rather than in private hom es.

S. HORIUCHI

has increased considerably during recent years4.

I attended 11 kagura during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011

seasons. Information on the 11 areas is presented in Table 1. I

counted the number of audience members in and around the

kagurayado at the start of each dance. Because the audience

members were not uniformly distributed within the kagurayado

during performances, it was impossible to ascertain the exact

number of attendees. Thus, I approximated the number of au-

dience members, which was sufficient to reflect trends. Figure

1 shows two typical examples of the number of audience

members during kagura performed at a private home and a

public building, respect ive ly. The audience peaked earlier in the

public buildings than in the private homes. In the public build-

ings, the audience decreased to almost to its nadir by the finale

of kagura. In contrast, the number recovered to almost its peak

by the finale of performances at private homes. The minimal

audiences at midnight and at the finale of kagura performed in

public buildings compared with those performed in private

homes reflects the loss of the traditional meaning of kagura as a

festival event. Indeed, even those performances of kagura that

occurred at private homes included many tourists in the audi-

ences. Nowadays, residents cannot realistically ensure the sta-

bility of their community through kagura.

Thus far, this paper has introduced three dichotomous cate-

gories of people in Takachiho: community members versus

outsiders, residents versus tourists, and dancers versus audi-

ences5. Dancers are virtually necessarily residents, whereas

Table 1.

Kagurayado, experienced and young d ancers by area.

Kagurayado Experienced Young

2009-2010 2010-2011 Present

age Start

age Present

age Start

age

A Private Private 58 18 37 33

B Private Private 76 17 30 23

C Private Private 60 18 34 11

D Private Private 57 20 20 8

E Private Private 57 17 23 11

F Public Private 71 18 27 11

G Public Public 61 17 18 3

H Public Public 58 20 26 23

I Public Public 54 30 32 24

J Public Public 56 14 22 19

K Private Public 72 30 37 35

audiences include residents and tourists. Thus, we can classify

people into dancers, residents in the audience, and tourists. The

issue in this regard is where to locate the boundary between

community members and outsiders. Figure 2 presents four

hypotheses: 1) Community members are restricted to dancers,

whereas all audience members are outsiders. This hypothesis is

rejected because kagura is supported by many residents (Fuku-

shima, 2003); 2) All residents are community members, and all

tourists are outsiders. This hypothesis sounds naïve now be-

cause some residents origina ted from outside the rural commu-

nities; 3) Dancers and some of the residents in the audience are

community members, whereas the other residents in the audi-

ence and all tourists are outsiders. This hypothesis may be cor-

rect because some residents are not motivated to be embedded

in the rural communities, as implied in hypothesis 2; 4) Com-

munity members include dancers, some residents in the audi-

ence, and some tourists. This hypothesis may also be correct if

tourism associated with Takachiho kagura welcomed some

tourists as community members. If this hypothesis were sup-

ported, the creation of communities by residents and tourists

may be possible.

Experienced Dancers

In 2010, I interviewed 11 experienced dancers who served as

the leader in their respective areas (Table 1). All were patri-

archs. This section discusses the experienced dancers’ under-

standings of kagura. Hereafter, I will refer to each dancer in

Figure 1.

The numbers of audience members in a private home (solid curve: area

A, the 2010-2011 season) and in a public building (dashed curve: area J,

the 2009-2010 season). The d otted line indic ates 2 4:00.

4The two most famous magazines for domestic tourists, Rurubu (JTB coop-

eration) and Mappuru (Shoubun-sha cooperation), cover Takachiho kagura

every year. Rurubu initially covered not only Takachiho kagura but also

other kaguras performed in Miyazaki prefecture. Since 2002, the magazine

has devoted the most space to Takachiho kagura, and since 2007, the

magazine has included only Takachiho kagura. Mappuru also initially

covered many kaguras in the prefecture. Since 2004, however, it has pri-

marily covered Takachiho kagura, and since 2008, it has covered Taka-

chiho kagura exclusively.

5This paper intentionally avoided the use of notions related to hosts and

guests (Smith, 1989). Although thes e ideas are important in the sociology o

tourism, they may obscure the topic of this paper. Figure 2 .

Four hypotheses about the bound aries of community members.

308

S. HORIUCHI

terms of the area of his kagura group.

Many experienced dancers reported that kagura was not a

show for an audience but rather a prayer to the spirits. In this

sense, they were sorry about the change in venue from private

homes to public buildings because the relationship between

residents and spirits changed accordingly. Dancer G told me

that the owners of kagurayado had assumed important roles,

including receiving gifts from the spirits (dancers). Kagura

performed in public buildings involved no such owners, and

spirits (dancers) had to select audience members to receive gifts

as part of the ceremony for the sake of convenience. Many

experienced dancers missed the intimate interactions among the

residents at old-style kagura performances.

Dancers in areas in which kagura could continue to be per-

formed in private homes took pride in their traditional kagura.

Dancer B proudly told me that their kagura was famous be-

cause they had defended their traditional styles by performing

kagura in private homes each year. He also shared his deeply

felt attitudes about local traditions, as represented by kagura.

Indeed, Dancer B thought that the traditions had made him a

man. Dancer C also told me that they would not stop perform-

ing kagura at private homes, and that they would continue to

pray for local spirits even if they could not perform kagura due

to depopulation and aging.

In contrast, some dancers expressed neutral or even positive

impressions of the change in kagurayado. Although they tenta-

tively told me the size of the audience for kagura did not matter,

they also eagerly welcomed large audiences. The audience

capacity is usually larger at public buildings than at private

homes. Indeed, public buildings also have more space for park-

ing, rendering kagura more accessible to tourists who travel

long distances by car. Dancer J told me that the influx of tour-

ists contributed to the beautiful dances in their kagura and

noted that the dancers in his group worked hard during training.

In areas F and K, residents performed kagura in both private

homes and public buildings. Leaders in both areas told me that

the atmosphere of kagura performed in private homes did not

differ from that performed in public buildings.

Some dancers created unique kagura based on interactions

with tourists. In area D, children younger than 18 played central

roles in kagura. The leader told me he started kagura that in-

volved primarily children after he assumed his position. He

hoped their kagura would become famous among the areas of

Takachiho by performing such unique kagura. Some years ago,

a woman was accidentally invited into the sacred place of ka-

gura in area H, a practice that was strictly forbidden in all other

areas of Takachiho. The woman married a man who was also

invited to the sacred place. The leader told me that the dancers

interpreted the consequence as the will of the spirits. Welcom-

ing women into kagura has now become part of a new local

culture in that area.

Dancer A told me they once changed their kagura so that au-

diences would be more likely to enjoy the performance. They

were proud that their kagura attracted large audiences at thea-

ters and prepared new costumes for kagura to impress audi-

ences. After the experience of presenting kagura in shows, they

also recognized the value of the traditional kagura and recently

returned to a traditional form. They currently use clothes that

were worn more than 200 years ago and have found that such

traditional kagura also attracted large audiences who sought

authentic culture.

Young Dancers

I asked each experienced dancer to introduce me to a young

dancer who was active in his group, and I also interviewed

these young dancers (Table 1). All were males.

It has often been assumed that young people leave rural areas

to go to cities to pursue jobs, studies, and leisure activities.

Thus, I asked the young dancers whether they wanted to leave

their rural areas and live in cities. Contrary to my expectations,

no respondent reported hoping to live in a city. Some had al-

ready left their hometowns and lived in cities, but they became

tired of city life and returned.

Dancer G lived together with their parents, and his father was

also a dancer in the kagura group. He told me that he had been

trying to find jobs in Takachiho since he was a child to enable

him to continue kagura and that he had been successful in these

efforts. In response to my asking why his desire to continue

kagura was so strong, he told me that performing kagura had

been fun during his childhood because it allowed him to earn

money. At present, he loved kagura as a sophisticated dance

and tried hard to perform his kagura with beauty. His father

told me that his son remained a novice because kagura was a

sacred matter involving the spirits. Nevertheless, he noted that

his son’s kagura was sophisticated and that he was proud of

him. Dancers in all areas and from different generations en-

gaged in many discussions pertinent to this research. Many

young dancers told me that they were pleased because kagura

had enabled them to develop friendships with local residents

from different generations.

Young dancers welcomed tourists from distant areas. Dancer

D made friends with a tourist who had taken a photo of his

kagura and had won a prize for it. Dancer H told me that he

tried hard to amuse tourists who had come to their kagura from

distant areas. All young dancers reported being happy about the

possibility of many tourists visiting their area to see kagura

because their area would be more likely become the site of a

large festival after such exposure. They wanted to continue the

tradition of these festivals for their own enjoyment as well as

for the enjoyment of residents and tourists. They seemed to

believe more strongly than did the experienced dancers in the

power of kagura to revitalize their areas.

Dancer A had lived in a city area outside of his home area for

more than 10 years before returning and working at the office

of tourism in Takachiho. His father was the leader of in the

kagura group I interviewed. Based on his experience of living

in a city for many years, he appreciated the value of kagura. He

told me that residents did not lose their identity because they

were naturally motivated to perform kagura. He also noted that

such local traditions in rural areas should be preserved not only

for the sake of residents but also for the sake of tourists. He

hoped that tourists would invest in each area, thereby enabling

additional residents to settle in these sites. He viewed this

process as a kind of eco-tourism, and he insisted on the impor-

tance of having a mediator between residents and tourists to

promote such eco-tourism.

Dancer K lived about 130 km from Takachiho and visited

Takachiho every week to perform kagura. Although he was

accepted by the leader as a dancer, many other dancers initially

distrusted him. However, after much training, he now said he

was accepted by the other dancers. He told me he would not

move to Takachiho. Instead, he wanted to remain an outsider to

advertise the kagura that was performed not only in area K but

S. HORIUCHI

also the kagura that was performed in all areas of Takachiho.

Indeed, he wanted to advertise kagura to all people around the

world as the Sarutahiko spirit, who mediated between the spir-

its of heaven and those of earth according to mythology.

Audiences

I also interviewed audience members during kagura per-

formances. Because we spoke during kagura, each interview

was short. In total, I interviewed more than 100 audience

members, almost equally divided between males and females.

The interviewees ranged from children and elementary school

students to seniors who were older than 70. I did not sample

audiences systematically. In the following section, I will pre-

sent several typical audience members.

Some audience members were residents of Takachiho. For

them, kagura was a part of their everyday lives. To attend a

kagura festival was a duty of living in their area. Some had

lived in Takachiho many years ago. To see kagura was an op-

portunity for them to visit their homeland. Some were friends

or relatives of the dancers. They were invited by dancers to

kagura festivals. In response to my question about which ele-

ments of kagura appealed to them, they noted elements such as

the music, dances, and atmosphere. However, they sometimes

needed a longer time to respond, perhaps because kagura was

so natural to them, and they were not usually conscious of the

elements of kagura that held a particular fascination to them.

Some audience members were tourists seeing kagura for the

first time. They came from outside Takachiho, including from

Miyazaki (90 km), Fukuoka (130 km), and even Tokyo (850

km). I asked them about which elements of kagura appealed to

them. Almost all noted that Takachiho was famous for kagura

and that they had been interested in kagura or Japanese tradi-

tion for a long time, wanting to see kagura at least once. Some

had seen kagura in other areas. They presented detailed expla-

nations about the various features of kagura that they found to

be fascinating. These elements included not only the music,

dances, and stories, but also the local tradition that transmitted

kagura for multiple generations as well as the friendly interac-

tions between dancers and audiences.

Some tourists found kagura through a community festival,

and a male tourist around 40 had performed kagura in another

area. His kagura was about to disappear due to depopulation,

aging, and changes in lifestyle, and he sought to identify the

factors that enabled kagura to be active in each area and to

attract many tourists. One woman around 30 worked in the field

of performing arts and was interested in the kagura stage, not-

ing that it was very polished, possibly because of its use by

multiple generations. Another woman around 30 drew pictures

to depict the intimate relationships between the people and the

spirits that appeared in kagura because she was fascinated by

the kagura festival.

Some tourists were repeat visitors with strong motivation to

continue to see kagura. One male well-known researcher of

kagura around 60 told me that he had continually attended

kagura festivals to study the evolution of masks. Some dancers

of Takachiho kagura wear masks to model the spirits, a practice

that informed him about how the masks had been used in an-

cient times. A female tourist around 40 produced Japanese

haiku poems an d was in tereste d in Japanese religious traditions,

particularly those transmitted in rural areas. To deepen her

knowledge of rural religions and her haikus, she attended ka-

gura on a regular basis. A male tourist around 50 continually

visited Takachiho to take photos of kagura. He told me about

his efforts to capture the fascinating features of kagura in his

photos; these efforts were unsuccessful because photos could

hardly grasp the intimate atmosphere or the spirits at kagura

festivals. These people had intimate friendships with some of

the residents. Indeed, some residents welcomed the repeat visi-

tors into their drinking groups during kagura.

Some tourists visited Takachiho frequently not only to see

kagura but also to support the community. A woman around 50

had visited an area of Takachiho 7 years earlier for the first

time and had continued to visit the area since that time. During

the past 4 years, she had guided dozens of tourists to the area

every year. By inviting many tourists and encouraging them to

invest in the area, she was trying to support the local dancers

both financially and emotionally. A man around 40 had once

visited Takachiho as a tourist and later moved to Takachiho.

This individual was often asked to guide tourists, playing a role

as a mediator between residents and tourists. He told me he

wanted to educate tourists about the significance of kagura

from an objective perspective, a task that was difficult for more

established residents because they could hardly be expected to

grasp kagura from the standpoint of a tourist. Thus, he tried to

provide a bridge between residents and tourists.

Discussion

Audiences for traditional Takachiho kagura were almost al-

ways limited to local residents. Relationships between dancers

and audiences were close, which was a feature of classical ka-

gura festivals. Interactions between dancers and audience

members served to stimulate the community. In contrast, the

influx of tourists from outside of Takachiho is a feature of con-

temporary Takachiho kagura. The cooperative formation of

communities by dancers and audiences appears less likely now

because contemporary audiences include many tourists. Danc-

ers and audience members can hardly be expected to engage in

intimate interactions given the reservations held about one an-

other. Many experienced dancers miss traditional kagura, in

which dancers and audience members interacted intimately in

private homes.

Nevertheless, this study showed that residents could create a

community by cooperating with tourists. Tourists encouraged

residents to continue kagura and to reinforce their local identity.

Indeed, some experienced dancers approved of the changes in

kagurayado because the use of public buildings allowed more

tourists to attend performances. Some experienced dancers

recreated their traditions in response to tourist demand. Some

young dancers tried to stimulate their rural communities by

welcoming tourists to their kagura festivals. Some tourists

harbored particular motivations to attend kagura festivals and

to stimulate rural communities. Thus, residents and tourists can

construct kagura in cooperation with each other. Through

communication between residents and tourists, kagura is con-

tinually reformed; kagura thus becomes a symbol of the com-

munity shared by residents and tourists.

It is often assumed that globalization or the influx of outsid-

ers to an area likely leads to the disappearance of local commu-

nities and their cultures. However, globalization does not al-

ways destroy or ruin local culture; rather, globalization can

sometimes promote the revival of local culture through the

influx of welcome and helpful outsiders. After freeing them-

310

S. HORIUCHI

selves from unwanted social constraints, many people are eager

to be embedded in a community (Beck et al., 1994) in which

they find commonalities with other members. People often

create such communities with the aid of tradition (Hobsbawm

& Ranger, 1983). Takachiho kagura has a long history that may

date to more than 1000 years ago. The content of kagura has

changed continually since its inception, and this process of

change continues. Although the content of kagura may change,

its authenticity must remain intact because residents establish

their identity through this tradition. Indeed, contemporary ka-

gura brings great meaning to residents.

Tourists often have strong effects on local societies, whereas

residents scarcely influence tourists. This asymmetrical rela-

tionship between residents and tourists is often a barrier to in-

timate interactions between the two groups (Smith, 1989).

However, in Takachiho, some tourists have been strongly in-

fluenced by kagura, even creating new identities by attending

their performance. In a critical response to the image that tour-

ists seek only superficial experiences (Boorstin, 1962), Mac-

Cannell (1973) defined pilgrimage tourists as those who try to

find authentic culture. Pilgrimage tourists are expected to

communicate well with residents and may also create commu-

nities with residents.

This study suggested that some dancers, immigrants, and

tourists adopted important roles as mediators to bridge the gap

between residents and tourists. Horiuchi (2008) discussed the

role of mediators in decreasing the stress experienced by groups

who are separated by distinctions of some sort. In contexts in

which people differ significantly from one another, outsiders

who have moved between or among groups are often expected

to take on the role of mediators (Horiuchi, 2011). Kito (1998)

discussed the importance of outsiders in environmental move-

ments. Freed from any connection within the area, outsiders can

objectively understand local values and thus act as mediators.

Of all the participants in this study, outsiders were most con-

scious of the maintenance of the community. They therefore

tried to act as bridges between residents and tourists.

If mediators bridge differences between peoples, bridging

should count as social capital. Granovetter (1973) showed that

people benefited from weak ties with people of different groups

in the sense that they could use these connections to find good

jobs; weak ties may also contribute to the development of

whole communities. Putnam (2000) discussed the differences

between bonding and bridging social capital. The development

of bridging social capital, in which people from different

groups interact with one another, enables the stimulation of an

entire community. Mediators can revitalize rural communities

by bridging the gap between residents and tourists.

Bauman (2001) described two classes of people: people of

the lower class, who are restricted by space, and people of the

upper class, who are restricted by time. The former are losing

local communities, whereas the latter do not sympathize with

local communities. However, this study showed that local

communities are created by residents who could leave but de-

cided to settle in their home town. Local communities are also

created by tourists who seek community with local residents.

We cannot simply regard the residents as people of the lower

class and tourists as people of the upper class. Indeed, people of

the middle class may play central roles in revitalizing local

communities, and it is clear that members of the middle class

continually try to find their identities. People who are anxious

about their identities often create communities that exclude

non-members (Young, 1999). The communities of Takachiho

kagura, however, do not exclude outsiders. Rather, some out-

siders act as mediators that bridge the gap between residents

and tourists and thereby activate local communiti es.

At this point, we can identify where the boundary between

community members and outsiders is situated. Of the four hy-

potheses introduced, hypothesis 4 is likely supported. Media-

tors are important to making the creation of a cooperative

community involving residents and tourists possible. Also nec-

essary is the existence of a local culture that attracts residents

and tourists. To enable the development of a comprehensive

understanding of the features of local cultures that attract resi-

dents and tourists, I suggest that several members of each group

be designated as mediators. Additionally, further research is

needed to understand the factors that contribute to community

creation. It is possible that the local culture of created commu-

nities may need to be rooted in the history and nature of the

place itself, which would allow all participants to view the ex-

istence of the community represented by the local culture as

natural (Horiuchi, 2012).

Acknowledgements

I thank the dancers and audiences of Takachiho kagura for

their cooperation. I also thank S. Ogata who introduced me the

details of Takachiho kagura. I thank the members of Tokyo

Meeting for Mathematical Sociology and the members of Re-

search Group for Common Pool Resources for discussions.

This research was financially supported by Grant-in-Aid for

Young Scientists (B) “The Conditions for the Residents of

Mountains Areas and Urban Areas Cooperate Together” and

Meiji University Global COE program “Formation and Devel-

opment of Mathematical Sciences Based on Modeling and

Analysis”.

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