COMING TO TERMS WITH DISASTER RECOVERY THROUGHFOLK PERFORMING ARTS:THE CASE OF FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE
Tomoko Ichiyanagi

Koriyama Women’s CollegeFukushima Prefecture is a region in which numerous folk performing arts have been
passed down through the generations. In the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011,
the Hamadōri area was stricken by multiple disasters, both natural and manmade,which affected many folk performing arts. From the perspective of disaster mitigation,
I will report on disaster victims’ use of folk performing arts as a means ofpsychological support for coming to terms with the realities of the middle phase ofdisaster recovery and on their efforts to pass these folk arts down to the nextgeneration.
This report focuses specifically on case studies of two Taueodori societies in areas of
Hamadōri affected in distinct ways by disasters – the Murakami Taueodori Society andthe Murohara Folk Performing-Arts Society – and discusses their conditions before anda�er the earthquake as well as the restoration process undertaken thus far. The ‘taue’of Taueodori (taue dance) refers to the work of cultivating rice. Taueodori has been
passed down exclusively in the Tohoku region; however, there are geographic
variations even within this region, and it is a highly entertaining dance.
Both forms of Taueodori passed down by the two societies belonged to the cultural
sphere of the Souma Nakamura fiefdom in the early modern period and havenumerous similarities, including dance styles, costumes, songs, and the fact that bothare performing arts (see Figures 1 and 2). However, there are also many differences
between Murakami and Murohara Taueodori, such as their means of transmissionthrough generations, their dancers, their methods of administration, and theirrelationships to religious rites.

Figure 1102

Murakami Taueodori (2012).
(Source: T. Ichiyanagi)

Figure 2

Murohara Taueodori (2017).
(Source: T. Ichiyanagi)

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
AND NATURAL DISASTERS

Figure 3

Conceptual diagrams of areas with evacuation orders (as of 1 April 2017) (le�); andareas ﬂooded by tsunami (right).

To get a sense of the geographic challenges faced by these societies, we must
examine the areas of Hamadōri of Fukushima Prefecture, where evacuation orders
remain in effect due to the nuclear power plant disaster (Figure 3, le�). The red areas
currently remain as diﬃcult-to-return zones due to nuclear disaster damage. The areas
shaded with green diagonal lines are those wherein evacuation orders have beenli�ed. The map on the right cross-references the area in the rectangle in the le�, withareas of tsunami damage (indicated in orange).
The Murakami region, where the Murakami Taueodori Society is located, is part of thearea shaded with green diagonal lines in Figure 3 (le�) and part of the orange area inFigure 3 (right). Although evacuation orders have been li�ed, the area has been
designated a disaster risk area due to tsunami damage, and residents are unable tobuild their dwellings there. On the other hand, the Murohara region, where theMurohara Folk Performing-Arts Society is located, avoided tsunami damage due to its
inland location (see Figure 3, right); however, due to the nuclear disaster damage, italso remains as a ‘diﬃcult-to-return zone’ (see Figure 3, le�).
Thus, both societies are facing the challenge in attempting to pass down their
Taueodori dancing traditions while their members being unable to return to theirhomelands. In order to perform their folk dances, the members of the societies mustleave their disparate evacuation points and gather together. Outside their homelands,
they maintain the relationships that existed within their original communities andcontinue passing down their dances to the next generation.
Before the earthquake, the Murakami Taueodori Society was already admi�ng a fewsociety members and dancers from neighboring districts; since the earthquake, they
have continued passing down their art form by loosening the membership
requirements. The Murohara Folk Performing-Arts Society, on the other hand, has
never admitted a single person from outside the society, neither before nor a�er theWORKSHOP PAPERS
SPECIAL SESSION : EFFORTS OF POST-DISASTER REVITALISATION OF ICH IN JAPAN103

earthquake, and continues to hold events just once every seven years. However, bothsocieties have managed to preserve their folk performing arts in forms similar to those
preceding the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The Great East Japan Earthquake was an unprecedented catastrophe, but the peopleof these societies have made it through the period immediately following theearthquake. Now, thanks to their efforts at gaining a sense of recovery by resuming
the forms of cultural transmission they practiced before the disaster and bycontinuing to operate the societies, as well as their efforts at reassembling the samecommunities from disparate evacuation points for the purpose of performing folk
dances, the people of Murakami and Murohara seem to have come to terms with thecurrent instability of the middle phase of disaster recovery and to have gained a senseof psychological ‘disaster mitigation’ through folk performing arts, because folk
performing arts evoke among the disaster victims the desire to come together and todo their best.

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
AND NATURAL DISASTERS