If you are entertained, challenged, informed, or inspired by my words, please do not hesitate to become a paid subscriber to Philosopher's Insight. You will get access to every post in my archive, be able to comment on all of them, and be part of the best community ever!
Contemporary societies provide many kinds of entertainment. We are all used to being entertained in one way or another. However, entertainment is a much more complex phenomenon than we usually consider.
If the primary goal of entertainment is to “entertain” and make a profit, that is not the whole story. It is true that what we usually experience as entertainment is a profit-oriented activity that can be sold to a sufficient number of customers. However, entertainment is a much more functional mechanism in our societies.
In this post, I would like to discuss a very popular Japanese entertainment: local festivals or Matsuri 祭り. At the end of this post, I will post pictures taken this year during the first part of Gion Matsuri. These are for my paid subscribers.
Matsuri as Entertainment
Local festivals are very popular things in Japan. There are many famous festivals, from Gion matsuri 祇園祭 — Kyoto’s most famous festival — to Awa-odori 阿波踊り — considered the largest dance festival in Japan, which is held in Tokushima in August.
Each year these events gathered a lot of local people and tourists to enjoy the festivities. It is certainly a very good moment for local businesses such as hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.
Although Japan is not at war, living here is not always easy. Despite its peaceful appearance, Japanese society, like many countries, can be brutal and relationships with people, whether at work or not, can be somewhat unpleasant.
Local festivals offer people a time to breathe, enjoy local life or tourism, grab some food, walk in hyper-crowded streets that make feel part of something bigger.
Thus, local festivals (matsuri) are entertainments that give people a chance to breathe and take a break from everyday struggles.
Matsuri as the Cement of Local Community
Of course, such an entertainment is not just a breath that helps to overcome some difficulties. It relates to local communities in two ways:
Since local communities take part in the organization of local festivals.
Because it helps maintain local communities and solidarity.
Let’s take the example of the Gion matsuri 祇園祭. Various communities are involved in organizing the various elements that make up this event. At a higher level, an association manages the whole thing to make sure everything goes well.
Before the festivities, you can hear people practicing traditional music in the city, as some communities are in charge of perpetuating the tradition, passing on specialized knowledge and training local musicians.
A few days before the event, you can also see people building floats and setting up decorations on the main streets of the event.
It is not organized by some private company, but by local communities that do their best to organize pleasant and popular festivities.
Conclusion
Local festivals are a form of entertainment. And it is certainly a business. But entertainment is not just entertaining and making people think about something other than what they would otherwise think about.
They are creations that require one group to produce them and another to enjoy them. Even more commercial creations such as dramas are not just entertainment. They can be something to talk about with your friends and loved ones.
They are shared activities that make life more delicious; a recipe to be eaten in moderation, of course.
If you enjoyed this post, please like it, restack it, and share it with your friends. Your support will help me reach new readers.
Some Gion Festival pictures
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Philosophy and Beyond to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.