Япония: цивилизация, культура, язык 2022

ЯПОНИЯ: цивилизация, культура, язык 2022 516 The idea for this paper came from the statement of the owner of a teahouse in the Pontochô district in Kyoto. We were making plans for my fieldwork, and I wanted to know if the geiko (the word used to designate geisha in Kyoto) and maiko (apprentice geisha) did something special for Gion Matsuri 3 . Her answer made me think that this paper had to be written: “No, we don’t do anything special for Gion Matsuri, that’s a men’s thing.” With one statement she had unequivocally divided the world of “traditional” Japan into the realm of women and the realm of men, with no trace of regret or indignation. As a matsuri acquaintance often repeated, it is not 差別 sabetsu (discrimination), but 区別 kubetsu , a separation of roles. The goal of this paper is to shed some light on what exactly these roles are, and how they are performed in contemporary society. 1. It’s a (Gentle) Men’s World In 2017 I started doing fieldwork and research at Tenjin Matsuri, another one of Japan’s three great festivals, and the first thing I was told (and one of the very few I was cautioned about) was not to touch the mikoshi , the sacred portable shrine used to transport the celebrated deities from the shrine to the journey place —the temporary abode where they are entertained during the matsuri. Tenjin Matsuri 4 is a series of rituals performed to pacify the restless spirit of Sugawara-no-Michizane (an aristocrat and scholar from the 3 One of the “three great festivals of Japan,” and the oldest recorded large-scale matsuri, taking place in Kyoto between July 1 and July 30. 4 More information on Tenjin Matsuri can be found in my earlier papers: Carmen Sapunaru Tamas. 2019. “Uchimashô. Fieldnotes on Tenjin Matsuri” in Beliefs, Ritual Practices, and Celebrations in Kansai . Pro Universitaria. pp. 152-188 ( https://carmentamas.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/rituals 2020.pdf ); Carmen Sapunaru Tamas. 2020. “The Summer of Men. Tenjin Matsuri in the Year of the Pandemic” in Annals of “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University. Linguistics, Literature and Methodology of Teaching , vol. XX, Pro Universitaria. pp. 99~113