Япония: цивилизация, культура, язык 2022

«ISSUES OF JAPANOLOGY, vol. 9» St-Petersburg State Univ 2022 515 Performed Genders in Contemporary Japanese Society: Geisha and Matsuri Otoko (Carmen Săpunaru Tăma ș ) Foreword I have done research on matsuri (Japanese festivals) since 2005, on drag queens since 2014, and on geisha for slightly more than one year, since the end of 2020, yet it took one colleague’s remark that I was going from one end of the gender spectrum to the other to make me consider analyzing my work from this perspective. I was not oblivious, of course, but there are several factors that would make this fieldwork approach difficult. In the case of matsuri, lately there have been numerous voices speaking of discrimination 1 (not of the “me too” level of seriousness, more of exclusion and separation), with men being accused of clinging to outdated ideas of purity and pollution in order to exclude women from activities that should involve the entire community. This has made the matsuri otoko (the men who not only participate in, but are also in charge of said festivals) wary of female researchers, as they do not know how their words and actions would be interpreted. The drag queens have held a liminal position in Japanese society, “special status people” 2 of the 21 st century, and are more open to such approaches, but my interest, as in the case of matsuri, was focused on performance and ritual. 1 Specific references are not provided here, as a simple internet search using keywords such as 祭り and 女性禁止 reveals a plethora of articles on the topic. 2 People who occupied a special position in Japanese society, one that could be either positive or negative, but in any case, something that set them apart from ordinary people (Emily Ohnuki-Tierney. 1989. The Monkey as Mirror . Princeton University Press). Ohnuki-Tierney does not refer to drag queens; however, I do believe they could be easily included in this category.