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Takachiho, a small village in the south of the Japanese archipelago, has been known since ancient times and the earliest Japanese myths as the site of the descent of the celestial deity who was the ancestor of the current imperial dynasty. The rituals performed there commemorate this foundational event and celebrate the sun goddess who is said to have found refuge there. However, these religious arguments have become essential today in the promotion of tourism to this site. It is as the "sacred land of myths" that Takachiho attracts international tourism, despite its remoteness, a tourism further boosted by the inscription of the village's ritual dances on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
It is clear however that the legitimacy conferred by mythology and worship should not obscure the historical construction of this territory as a primordial site of the empire and of Japanese identity. In this presentation, we will focus on the actors who contributed to the development of this place of worship's national renown. We will trace the unexpected connections between religious movements, thinkers on national identity, the imperial government, and contemporary tourism promoters. We will also examine the media used to transform a remote location into an important national cultural asset: theater, poetry, and dance retellings of myths in the past, and animated films and fan culture today.
The case of Takachiho is particularly interesting because it uniquely and comprehensively illustrates the phenomenon of "religious tourism," which has become a defining characteristic of contemporary religiosity in Japan. It should allow us to discuss, from a comparative perspective, the modern and contemporary mechanisms for promoting and redefining places with a strong sacred character and a long religious history.
Nota biográfica | Short Bio
An ethnologist trained in France and Japan and a specialist in Japanese studies, Jean-Michel Butel is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Paris, France), where he teaches Japanese and anthropology. He is also a lecturer for the seminar "Anthropology of Religion in Japan" at the EPHE (Paris) and a researcher at the French Institute for Research on East Asia. A former resident of the Maison Franco-Japonaise in Tokyo, he has been conducting fieldwork on popular religious practices for over thirty years.
He is the founder of the team Japanese Populations - Contemporary Developments and Perspectives (https://popjap.hypotheses.org), as well as the research group Fieldwork in Japan - Interdisciplinary Association of Japanese Ethnographies (https://terrainjapon.hypotheses.org) and the Interdisciplinary Research Network on Religions and Beliefs in Japan (https://religionsjap.hypotheses.org).
| Palavras-chave | Keywords | Religious tourism, Japan, Myth, World Heritage, Fan Culture |
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