12 (Bestor 1989, 239)

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(Bestor 1989, 239)

During the matsuri of 1979 and 1980, an empty lot just down the shopping street from the O-tabisho was reserved for the use of a troupe of talented amateur musicians from a nearby neighborhood (outside the shrine parish), who specialized in matsuribayashi, the genre of music for flute, drums, and gongs that typifies festival music. For a nominal honorarium of 20,000 yen, the four musicians played for the better part of two days, seated on Miyamoto-choo’s hayashi, a cart for musicians, part of the festival paraphernalia the chookai stores throughout the year in the shed behind the shrine. By 1983 Miyamoto-choo had ceased hiring outside musicians, and matsuribayashi came on cassette tapes. Mr. Shigemori, who was in charge of music for that year’s matsuri, explained that the festival commmittee had decided against hiring live musicians for two reasons: they were outsiders rather than Miyamoto-choo residents, and in the wake of an expensive drive to purchase a new mikoshi, they were trying to keep expenses down. Other residents hoped that the loss of live music would only be temporary, and pointed to the recent revitalization of a taiko drumming group in a nearby neighborhood that included several participants from Miyamoto-choo.