Traditional Festivals in Japan Face Financing Difficulties

August 19, 2018

Tokyo- Traditional local festivals in Japan face difficulties securing financial resources to cover costs for the events.

In the western city of Tokushima, the "Awa Odori" traditional local folk dance festival saw a record-low number of visitors this year, due partly to the fallout from confusion triggered by financing difficulties.

"We've managed to generate profits," said Taku Okuno, an official of the organizing committee of Yosakoi Soran Festival in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido. While costs, including for security, are on an increasing trend because the scale of the festival has been expanded, the organizer has not received public subsidies.

The organizer is struggling to secure stable funds for the early summer festival, with sponsor companies changing almost every year. "Although we don't aim to make profits, we're fighting every year," Okuno said.

The situation is similar for Nagasaki Kunchi, a festival lasting nearly 400 years as a ritual of Suwa Shrine, a Shinto shrine in the southwestern city of Nagasaki. Each district in the city needs to secure some 30 million yen every year for the festival to cover the costs for floats and other items used in dedicatory dance by parishioners of the shrine.

An official of an association for promoting Nagasaki traditional performing arts said that residents are struggling to gather funds for Nagasaki Kunchi.

Some of residents who have moved from areas outside Nagasaki Prefecture are not interested in the tradition of the festival and are thus reluctant to make financial contributions, the official said, adding that the efforts to secure financial resources for the festival are on a tightrope.

Meanwhile, an association for organizing Gion Festival in the western city of Kyoto started to utilize crowdfunding in 2017.

The association successfully procured more than 13 million yen in 2017 and over 4 million yen this year, with both figures surpassing its targets.

On its website, the association calls on people to "cooperate for the project, and feel the excitement and elegance of the festival."

At Aomori Nebuta Festival in the northeastern city of Aomori, the prices of tickets for spectator seats were raised by some 15 pct to 3,000 yen in 2017 due to a decline in sales and higher labor costs, including for security.

"Passing down what our predecessors did is our duty," an official of the executive committee for the festival said, seeking understanding for the price hike. "We want to cherish the tradition." Jiji Press