Recontextualizing Eisa-: Transformations in Religious, Competition, Festival and Tourism Contexts1

Henry Johnson

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isā is a dance with accompanying music that has a recognized tradi- E tional context in an annual Okinawan Buddhist ritual. In many contexts it has dynamic body movements, percussive accompaniment and colourful costuming, which provide a decidedly visible and audible spec- tacle through performance (Plate 22). Eisā can include lines of drummer- dancers who often perform stylized movements in an almost acrobatic way; its drums provide a percussive thundering of sound; its string instruments generate a characteristically Okinawan syncopated soundscape; and its costuming includes bright colours on quasi-traditional attire that is designed to catch the eye. Eisā provides a highly choreographed display of move- ment, sound and sight with dancer-musicians displaying a distinct emblem of local culture that has captured the local and national imagination. It is not only a dance form through which aspects of Okinawan culture are per- formed, but also one that represents part of the complexity of Japanese identity. Over the last half century, however, eisā has been recontextualized in competition, festival and tourist contexts. While focusing on these contexts and the processes of cultural transformation, a study of this particu- lar performing art in its traditional and contemporary settings can provide insight into Okinawan identity construction. The specific ethnographic focus of this study is Okinawa, one of Japan’s southwest islands (Ryūkyū rettō or Nansei shotō). The term ‘Okinawa’ Recontextualizing Eisa¯ 197 has several identities (Plate 23). It is a Japanese prefecture of 161 sub- tropical islands;2 it is the largest island of that prefecture; it is a city on that island; and it was once part of the Ryūkyū Kingdom – in this dis- cussion the term ‘Okinawa’ refers primarily to the island unless otherwise indicated. Stretching about 1,320 km from Japan’s largest southwestern island of Kyūshū to very close to Taiwan, the Ryūkyū islands are usually subdivided into four groupings. From northeast to southwest they are Amami Ōshima, Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama. Okinawa prefecture comprises the last three groupings and has a population of around 1.3 million. The Ryūkyū Kingdom was established in the fifteenth century and pro- vided a link between China and Japan (Table 1). It had a close relationship with China, from which much Okinawan culture has been influenced, and from the early seventeenth century experienced turbulent relations with Japan: the Kingdom’s autonomy was challenged in 1609 when the Satsuma clan of Kyūshū invaded; the Meiji government replaced the Kingdom with Okinawa prefecture in 1879; and the United States of America occupied the islands from the end of the Second World War in 1945 until 1972. Okinawa now has a distinct place within the Japanese nation-state in terms of its history, geographic location and culture. Using a paradigm of multicultural Japan (Sugimoto 1997; cf. Dale 1986), Okinawa has many cultural traits that are seen as unique vis-à-vis mainland culture, and is sometimes viewed as a geographic and cultural ‘other’ within the nation-state.3 For example, the Okinawan language is related to Japanese, but is so distinct and unique that most Japanese would not understand it (there are also several dialects within Okinawa itself); there are many types of cuisine unique to the prefecture; and there are numerous performing arts (old and new) that are specifically located there.

Table 1 Periodization of Ryūkyūan/Okinawan History (after Taira 1997, 141) Period Dates Prehistory 40,000 BC – AD 1000 Proto-history AD 1000–1310 Three kingdoms AD 1310–1429 The Ryūkyū kingdom 1429–1609 Dual subordination 1609–1879 Okinawa prefecture (I) 1879–1945 US occupation 1945–1972 Okinawa prefecture (II) 1972 to present