Showing posts with label danjiri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label danjiri. Show all posts

Monday, April 7, 2025

Announcement: New JAWS Newsletter released (and check out the cover! AGAIN!)

Congratulations and many thanks to the co-editors, Jennifer McGuire and Christopher Tso, on putting together and releasing the Japan Anthropology Workshop Newsletter (#53) "...continuing with our refreshed newsletter design and second cover photo by visual anthropologist and JAWS member Steven C. Fedorowicz..."

Available at:

https://japananthropologyworkshop.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/JAWS-Newsletter-2023.pdf

「Push-Pulling the Danjiri」

Residents of Shirogaki-cho in Kadoma-shi, Osaka push and pull a large wooden cart called a danjiri through the district’s streets as a part of the annual Fall Festival (October) and Kadoma-shi 60th Anniversary Culture Festival (November) in 2023. Navigating the danjiri is hard work, because the cart is heavy and awkward to steer through the narrow and winding streets. Shirogaki-cho’s danjiri, parts of which were made in the Edo period, is over 7 meters long, 4 meters high at its tallest point and weighs over 3.2 tons. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, participation by neighbors in these events has been decreasing over the years because of demographic changes: Japan’s aging society, the falling birthrate, and gentrification as traditional homes are torn down and replaced with apartments making the area into a bed-town of strangers. But a core of diehard and friendly residents take part every year to parade the danjiri with the temporarily installed deity from the local shrine throughout the parish to bestow its blessings to the neighbors, encourage cooperation, and promote continued good community relations. Ihave been photographing, researching, and pushing in the fall festival for over 15 years.

Friday, February 16, 2024

The Photo Exhibition Has Ended... Thank you for your interest, support, coming to see our photos, talking with us, filling out our survey, sipping the sacred sake and eating the treats... If you couldn't come, or you want more, we will be presenting at the KGU IRI Forum on 2/22/24.

So many came out to the exhibition - friends, colleagues, matsuri experts, former students, new students, new friends (including interested passersby) ... Thank you so much! We are so grateful! We finished on Tuesday and then it was back to school (and a faculty report meeting) on Wednesday. I am exhausted. Please allow me a little more time to send personal messages and photos to those who came. If you couldn't make it, or you want more, we will be presenting for the KGU IRI Forum, who funded a great deal of our research.

The 10th IRI Research Forum
第 10 回 IRI 言語・文化研究フォーラム 

日時 (Date and Time):2024 年 2 月 22 日(木) 10:30~16:30 
会場 (Place): 関西外国語大学・中宮キャンパス ICC 

Matsuri
「Through Multi-sighted Photographies」
 

祭り
「多視点からの写真を通して」 

Steven C. Fedorowicz and Lucile Druet 
スティーブン C. フェドロウィツとルシル ドルーエ 

第3室/Room 3 (6312 教室), 10:50 – 11:30 

関西外国語大学国際文化研究所 
Kansai Gaidai University Intercultural Research Institute

See you there, and/or see you again!

Monday, January 29, 2024

Wired! Walking to the printer's shop on a crisp sunny day to pick up our photo panels...

We have photos to be exhibited! The photos have been blurred so as not to ruin your Photo Exhibition Experience.


Matsuri
Through Multi-sighted Photographies」

祭り
多視点からの写真を通して」

2024 February 10 (Sat) ~ 13 (Tues)
2024年2月10日(土) ~ 13日(火)
11:00 - 18:00
(last day / 最終日は 11:00 - 16:00)

JARFO Art Square
Kyoto, Japan

Gallery Info: https://jarfo.jp/jarfo

See the promo flyer: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2024/01/matsuri-photo-exhibition.html

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Only 2 Weeks Until... / まであと2週間…

Photo Exhibition 写真展
Matsuri
Through Multi-sighted Photographies」

祭り
多視点からの写真を通して」

2024 February 10 (Sat) ~ 13 (Tues)
2024年2月10日(土) ~ 13日(火)
11:00 - 18:00
(last day / 最終日は 11:00 - 16:00)

JARFO Art Square
Kyoto, Japan

Gallery Info: https://jarfo.jp/jarfo

See the promo flyer: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2024/01/matsuri-photo-exhibition.html

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

祭り Matsuri
Photo Exhibition 写真展


Matsuri
「Through Multi-sighted Photographies」

祭り
「多視点からの写真を通して」

More information coming in future posts! For now, mark your calendars!

2024 February 10 (Sat) ~ 13 (Tues)
2024年2月10日(土) ~ 13日(火)

JARFO Art Square
Kyoto, Japan

Gallery Info
: https://jarfo.jp/jarfo

Link to accessibility/barrier-free information: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2024/02/matsuri-photo-exhibition-accessibility.html

This project is a collaboration that explores Japanese matsuri through the intersections of social science research and visual representation. Fedorowicz’s field sites are autumn danjiri festivals in his own neighborhood in Osaka. His research-based art is long-term, community-based, participatory, reflexive and informed by sensory ethnography and multimodality. Druet’s field sites are Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri and Jidai Matsuri. Her art-based research examines vernacular photography, spectacle, iconicity and the performative presence of the Kyoto geisha as dancers and models. Meshing their visions and what they captured together, the photographers want the images they took in these clearly separate loci to be features in a duo exhibition, juxtaposing 40 photos of the Kyoto and Osaka matsuri they engaged in with their cameras and embodied positions as researchers. The photographers hope that the visitors to this exhibition will participate in the research by supplying ideas and opinions through surveys, interview and informal discussions.

このプロジェクトは、社会科学研究とビジュアル表現の交わり (intersections) を通して日本の祭りを探求する共同プロジェクトである。 フェドロウィツの研究対象は、彼が住む大阪の秋のだんじり祭りで、彼のリサーチに基づくアートは、長期的、地域密着型、参加型、再帰的で、感覚エスノグラフィーとマルチモダリティの影響を受けている。一方、ドルーエの研究対象は、京都で最も祇園祭と時代祭である。彼女の芸術をベースとした研究では、ヴァナキュラー写真、壮観、アイコン性、そして、ダンサー・モデルとしての京都芸者のパフォーマティブな存在について考察している。自分たちのそれぞれのビジョンとカメラで撮影したものを融合させることで、明らかに別々の場所で撮影した写真を、今回の「デュオ展」の目玉として、京都・大阪で撮りためた写真40枚を展示する。来場者にはアンケートやインタビュー、非公式なディスカッションを通じて、アイデアや意見を共有してほしい。

Lucile Druet is Associate Professor of Japanese Arts and Culture at Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka. Her teaching covers literature, painting traditions, theatrical performances, film and Japanese fashion. Interested in the visual and aesthetical intersection of clothing and embodiment, she researches how kimono is practiced nowadays in Kyoto and how it appears in works of fiction and poetry. See more of her photographic work at: https://somosomo.co

Steven C. Fedorowicz is a cultural anthropologist, visual anthropologist and Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Asian Studies Program at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka. He has lived in Japan for over 25 years. His research interests include deaf communities, sign language, religion, ritual, performance, B-kyu gourmet, drinking establishments and ethnographic photography. See more of his work at: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/

ルシル ドルーエは、大阪にある関西外国語大学の日本芸術文化准教授。文学、絵画の伝統、演劇、映画、日本のファッション等、多岐にわたって教鞭をとっている。衣服と体現の視覚的、美的交差に興味を持ち、現在京都でどのように着物が着られているのか、小説や詩の中で着物がどのように表現されるのか、研究を重ねている。ドルーエの写真作品は下記のサイトで閲覧可能である: https://somosomo.co

スティーブン C. フェドロウィツは、文化人類学者、ビジュアル人類学者であり、彼もまた大阪にある関西外国語大学留学生別科の准教授でもある。日本に住んで25年、研究テーマは多岐にわたり、ろう者コミュニティ、手話、宗教、儀式、パフォーマンス、B級グルメ、飲み屋、民族写真などが含まれる。フェドロウィツの作品は下記のサイト閲覧可能である: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/

Thursday, October 5, 2023

「門真市地域伝統文化まつり」 Kadoma City Neighborhood Traditional Culture Festival

It is autumn so it is time to dust off the danjiri and celebrate fall festivals in many neighborhoods in Kadoma City, including my own, Shirogaki-cho. These local festivals will happen on October 14-15. In addition, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Kadoma, the city will have a big festival that includes a danjiri parade with at least 12 neighborhoods participating. The last time there was such an event was to celebrate the new emperor and the new Reiwa era.

Date: Saturday, November 4, 2023
Time: 9:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Suggested Viewing Spot: Keihan Furukawa Station


For more information, see below:
Source (Kadoma City October News in Japanese): https://www.city.kadoma.osaka.jp/soshiki/kikakuzaisei/5/2/4/koho2023/24930.html

Everything you wanted to know about danjiris in Kadoma-shi (and much more): https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/05/special-multimodal-bonus-resources-and.html

Sunday, October 23, 2022

2022 Fall Festival - Day Two

See yesterday's post for Day One Photos. Here's Day Two... I'm already looking forward to next year!

For (a lot) more information about the fall festival:

「Neighborhood Autumn Festival in Japan: A Multimodal Visual Ethnography and Performance」

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/05/special-multimodal-bonus-resources-and.html

Saturday, October 22, 2022

2022 Fall Festival - Day One


After two long years of COVID-19 restrictions, we were finally able to hold our neighborhood fall festival this year. The program was cut back a bit - no night festival or mochi maki and an abbreviated course. Rain hampered things on the second day no we couldn't have our usual yaki niku barbeque. But still, it was great to see my friends after so long and push-pull the danjiri throughout the neighborhood. My activities were cut back as well due to injury. I went back to being the event photographer rather than a danjiri pusher. But we were lucky to have a group of student volunteers from a nearby college - we really couldn't have done it without them. So, here are the Day One Photo Offerings...

For (a lot) more information about the fall festival:

「Neighborhood Autumn Festival in Japan: A Multimodal Visual Ethnography and Performance」

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/05/special-multimodal-bonus-resources-and.html