Kadokuri no Uta to Kame Onna Odori no Laughter - Folk Scenery of Yakushima Island and the Showa Period (1950s)

Kadokuri no Uta to Kame Onna Odori no Laughter - Folk Scenery of Yakushima Island and the Showa Period (1950s)

In the 1950s, Yakushima was still a place where the ties between nature and community were strong. The "Kadomawari," or "round the gate," held on the seventh night of the New Year, was a custom in which children visited each house to celebrate the rebirth of the community by singing a festive song. The joy of life and the bonds of community were alive and well in the sight of the children receiving rice cakes and gifts. The author has a story about an accidental fall into a pot of manure, which is later connected to the "Kamejo Odori" (Turtle Woman Dance). In the Turtle Woman Dance, there is a play on words that combines the words "turtle" (kame) and "jar" (kame), which shows the wisdom of the island in turning the games between the sexes into laughter. These customs were a rite of passage for children to participate in the local community and a festival that reaffirmed the relationship between the blessings of nature and people. The "communal humor" of laughing off poverty a
nd hardship was the very essence of the folk wisdom of Yakushima, where people live in harmony with nature.