Transformation after Modernity: The Decline and Reverberations of the Violent Exclusion Ordinance and Texan Culture from the Postwar Period to the 2010s

Transformation after Modernity: The Decline and Reverberations of the Violent Exclusion Ordinance and Texan Culture from the Postwar Period to the 2010s

The existence of tekiya was an important community that supported the black market and fairs in the postwar period, but it reached a major turning point in the modern era, especially with the Gang Exclusion Ordinances enacted throughout Japan in the 2010s. These ordinances aimed to cut off the sources of funding for gangs and imposed strict regulations on street vendors and festival stalls. Traditionally, local festivals and fairs were led by tekiya, who supported the community by maintaining order and providing entertainment as well as business.

In the chaotic period immediately after the war, tekiya supplied the necessities of life in a society with a shortage of goods and strengthened their presence on the black market. During the period of rapid economic growth, urbanization and a boom in consumption led to the expansion of fairs and festivals as a part of local culture, and tekiya played an indispensable role in the operation of local festivals. However, as the economy stabilized and large stores and distribution networks were developed, the "complementary role" played by tekiya shrank. The "riot police ordinances" were then put into effect, and the traditional street vendor culture came to bear the risk of being equated with "antisocial forces.

However, the tekiya culture has not completely disappeared. Even today, street vendors line the streets at local festivals and fairs, and the sight of goldfish scooping, cotton candy, and target practice evoke nostalgia in the hearts of the people. The tekiya culture is still alive and kicking, and the remnants of the old order of "bosses and henchmen" and the belief in kami no nou (divine agriculture) still linger in the air. The tekiya are not mere merchants, but continue to be remembered as another community that supported postwar society, and remain as a cultural memory even in the face of postmodern regulations.

From the postwar period to the period of rapid economic growth, tekiya supported the lives of ordinary people by supplying goods on the black market and providing entertainment at fairs. During the period of high economic growth, their role expanded with the rise of festivals, but gradually shrank as distribution networks were improved, and they retreated from the public sphere with the Violence Prevention Ordinance in the 2010s. Nevertheless, the stalls that remain in the fair scene convey the reverberations of the cultural traditions of the past. The history of tekiya is also a fragment of the struggle between regulation and freedom, community and state power in Japanese society.