Matsuri

by Tatsuya Shimohira

(Softcover: 36 Pages, publisher: Zen Foto Gallery, 2010)

When I started to take photographs of Matsuri I was not intending to create artistic works or undertake an anthropological study. It was 5 years ago, in winter, as I watched the “Shishimai” dance at Hachinohe Jinja.

Where I come from there were very few matsuris, or at least I had little involvement in them, so it’s fair to say that this was my first real experience. When I saw the Shishimai dance on the light earth in the shady grounds of the Jinja, i was enchanted by the Shishi’s bright eyes and its face made a deep impression on me.

It has already been five years since that experience and I have come up with all kind of reasons for photographing matsuri, but most of all it is the feeling I got five years ago looking into the Shishi’s eyes… and I realized that this is the path I must follow.

During the period of more than a million years, between the evolution of homo sapiens and the development of modern society, animistic beliefs seems to me to be remarkably similar around the world among ancient peoples.

The concept that now dominates the great religions, of a single almighty God, is relatively new. Ancient people were aware of gods all around, in places, in animals, trees, rocks and mountains. Even in ourselves. There was much mystery and this mystery was celebrated in dance.

In Japan, some of the ancient beliefs and customs have survived. Shinto is not widely followed as a religion per se, but people have respect for the shrines. The shrines are the centre of activity for the “matsuri” which are traditional celebratory dances that take place throughout the country, especially during summer. Each village and each district of every town and city has its own unique matsuri, still enthusiastically followed by locals.

Dance can survive revolution, economic crisis, religion and even that most destructive of phenomena, economic growth. While the major religions nowadays do not seem to satisfy the masses, the mysterious traditions of the matsuri seem strong.