Analogue Archives No.1

A few 35mm flicks from winter.

The Japanese Mecca

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Ise Jingu is one of Shinto’s holiest shrines and probably the most important site for Japan’s indigenous religion.
Spread over a sprawling, leafy area in Mie Prefecture, Ise is entwined with the very fabric of Japan. The offices of high priest or priestess are filled by members of Imperial Family, with the current high priest the great-grandson of the Meiji Emperor.

The tranquility I had expected during my visit a few weeks ago was conspicuous by its absence, shattered by busloads of tourists wearing garish jackets and chattering noisily as they followed the tour leader’s flag.

Nearly all the day-trippers were elderly, beaming huge grins of satisfaction. I was perplexed: where were all the youngsters?

Slowly the penny dropped.

Just as devout Muslims must complete the Hajj at least once in their life, so must true Shintoists make the pilgrimage to Ise while still on this earth. For the ecstatic pilgrims on that wintry morning, it was mission accomplished: they beaten had the clock, and made it to the shrine before old father time taps.

Burakumin in the 1960s

Michael Rogge, a Dutchman, has a wealth of fascinating 16mm clips of Showa-era Japan and the Far East, including this one of those left behind by Japan’s speedy post-war economic development.  Interesting to see Burakumin acting as street bookies for bicycle races – along with leather tannery and undertaking, another example of Buraku involvement in jobs deemed taboo.

Some of the shots of the destitute don’t look so different to the less salubrious parts of Osaka today.

Zainichi Koreans II

While Osaka has the highest concentration of Zainichi Koreans in Japan, the influence of the Dear Leader reaches the most unlikely of places.

Thanks to Mike @ FCI London for the heads-up!

Seasons change….

….but Naniwa stays the same.

大阪人

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Some recent shots of residents of my fine city.

Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri

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Summer is festival season in Japan, and the Osaka area has two of the country’s the most famous matsuri. July’s Tenjin Matsuri takes place in downtown Osaka, along the banks of the Tosabori river.  While the raucous passage of boats carrying portable mikoshi shrines is a marvellous spectacle, huge crowds mean Tenjin Matsuri is a sweat-fest and claustrophic’s nightmare.

More interesting is the Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri.  About thirty minutes by train to Osaka’s blue-collar south, the festival involves around 35 wheeled danjiri – wheeled mikoshi – being pulled around the town at pace.  Originally a harvest festival, the Danjiri Matsuri has evolved over three hundred years in to a show of endurance, strength and celebration.

Each shrine takes about 200 children and men to get moving, and – this being Japan – the line-up is strictly hierarchical. Youngsters at the front of the rope, followed by high school kids who – just in case they don’t pull hard enough – are whipped with paper fans by their peers, running beside them screaming encouragement.

On the danjiri stand stern-faced greybeards and other assorted dignitaries, while dancing the hikouki-nori (aeroplane dance) atop – a tough ask on the fast-moving shrine - is the top dog of the community.

Running behind each of the danjiri is a motley group of about a hundred hangers-on, who sprint and shout, puffing and huffing to keep up.  The atmosphere of the town is transformed for three days, the streets filled with the shouts and screams of the crowd, the high-pitched call of pipes and the low thuds of taiko drums.

For the Japanese – by themselves often taciturn and reluctant to indulge in public outpourings of emotion - such matsuri allow the opportunity to let off steam.  To see the transformation from reticent weekday salaryman to high-spirited, passionate participant in the matsuri is to see the real soul of Japan.