Becoming Island: The Aquapelagic Assemblage of Benten-sai Festivals on Sakurajima, in Sai Village, northern Japan
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: In the maritime districts of Sai village, on Shimokita Peninsula in the far north of Japan's Honshu island, annual one-day festivals called Benten-sai are held to worship Benzaiten, the Hindu-Buddhist-Shintō goddess deeply associated with islands in Japan.In Yagoshi District, an uninhibited rocky islet named Sakurajima serves as the sacred domain for Benzaiten on a set day each year when a flotilla of boats arrives, a local folk dance is performed and ceremonial food and drink is consumed.During the ritual, the barren rock becomes an island by means of performance and the residents who conduct it also become part of an aquapelagic assemblage as the flotilla parades in traditional fishing waters, extending the space of the island into the sea.As a consequence, the performance, the goddess and the island become each other as (and in) an aquapelagic assemblage.
Source: Shima
Author: Jun'ichiro Suwa
Institution: Hirosaki University
Language: English
Topic: Japanese History and Culture
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Hirosaki University
OpenAlex ID: W2762461271