Torch relay on traditional 'men-only' boat in central Japan sets sail with women aboard

 Thank you https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210406/p2a/00m/0na/023000c

April 6, 2021

HANDA, Aichi -- A controversial section of the Tokyo Olympic torch relay taking place on a traditional boat that women are excluded from boarding went ahead in this central Japan city without gender restrictions on April 6, after organizers changed plans to keep it men-only amid backlash over its inconsistency with the Olympic Charter.

The "men only" boat is used in the city of Handa's Chintoro Festival, which dates back to the Edo period (the 17th to 19th century) and was planned to carry a torch relay runner as a way to promote the festival.

On the morning of April 6, Taishin Hirano, 26, a member of all-male pop group "Magic Prince," rode the boat as a torch relay runner while about 30 locals, including three women, were on board to recreate the festival.

The Handa Municipal Government originally planned to limit boarding of the boat for the torch relay to men, because women have traditionally not been allowed to ride the sacred vessel during the festival, and the Olympic torch relay task force in Aichi Prefecture approved the local government's request. However, criticism including "They don't understand that the Olympic Charter calls for equality of the sexes" was raised, leading the city government to treat the use of the boat as part of an "event" rather than the "festival," thereby allowing women on the boat.

The torch relay passed through an about 200-meter section of the Handa Canal. Honoka Sakakibara, 6, a local girl suddenly added to the boarding list, smiled, saying, "It was fun." Her father Masao, 36, said, "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so it became a good memory to ride it with my daughter."

Tatsumi Shiraiwa, 69, who serves as a consultant for the festival, said, "It was an event this time, but brought about a good opportunity to think about letting women board in the Shinto ritual festival in future."

(Japanese original by Shinichiro Kawase, Nagoya News Center)

Thank you https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210406/k00/00m/040/107000c

女人禁制「ちんとろ舟」、女性も乗船して聖火運ぶ　愛知

 

HANDA, Aichi -- A controversial section of the Tokyo Olympic torch relay taking place on a traditional boat that women are excluded from boarding went ahead in this central Japan city without gender restrictions on April 6, after organizers changed plans to keep it men-only amid backlash over its inconsistency with the Olympic Charter.

The "men only" boat is used in the city of Handa's Chintoro Festival, which dates back to the Edo period (the 17th to 19th century) and was planned to carry a torch relay runner as a way to promote the festival.

On the morning of April 6, Taishin Hirano, 26, a member of all-male pop group "Magic Prince," rode the boat as a torch relay runner while about 30 locals, including three women, were on board to recreate the festival.

The Handa Municipal Government originally planned to limit boarding of the boat for the torch relay to men, because women have traditionally not been allowed to ride the sacred vessel during the festival, and the Olympic torch relay task force in Aichi Prefecture approved the local government's request. However, criticism including "They don't understand that the Olympic Charter calls for equality of the sexes" was raised, leading the city government to treat the use of the boat as part of an "event" rather than the "festival," thereby allowing women on the boat.

The torch relay passed through an about 200-meter section of the Handa Canal. Honoka Sakakibara, 6, a local girl suddenly added to the boarding list, smiled, saying, "It was fun." Her father Masao, 36, said, "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so it became a good memory to ride it with my daughter."

Tatsumi Shiraiwa, 69, who serves as a consultant for the festival, said, "It was an event this time, but brought about a good opportunity to think about letting women board in the Shinto ritual festival in future."

(Japanese original by Shinichiro Kawase, Nagoya News Center)

April 6, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

Japanese version

April 6, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

Japanese version

 

 

Thank you https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210406/k00/00m/040/107000c 

女人禁制「ちんとろ舟」、女性も乗船して聖火運ぶ　愛知 東京オリンピックの聖火リレーは6日、愛知県で2日目を迎えた。このうち、同県半田市では江戸時代から続く祭りで使われる女人禁制の「ちんとろ舟」に、乗船者を男性限定にして聖火を運ぶ予定だったが、男女平等の五輪精神に反するとの批判を受けて一転、女性も乗船して実施された。 　6日午前、舟には男性アイドルグループ「マジックプリンス」の平野泰新さん（26）がランナーとして乗り込んだ。舟では祭りを再現しようと、子どもを含め計約30人の地元住民が乗船。うち女性は子どもと保護者の計3人が乗った。 　半田市は地元で江戸時代から続く「ちんとろ祭り」を盛り上げようと、舟によるリレーを計画。その際、祭りでは舟に乗れるのは男性に限られてきたため、リレーも参加者を男性に限定した。市の申請に県実行委員会も承認していた。しかし、「男女平等をうたった五輪憲章を理解していない」などの批判の声が上がり、市は「祭り」ではなく、あくまで「イベント」として女性の乗船を認めた。 　リレーは半田運河の約200メートルの区間を通った。急きょ乗船が決まったという地元の榊原穂香さん（6）は「楽しかった」と笑顔を見せ、父親の全雄さん（36）は「一生に一度なので、娘と一緒に乗れて良い記念になった」と語った。 　祭りの相談役を務める白岩辰巳さん（69）は「今回はイベントでのことだったが、今後、神事である祭りにも女性を乗せることを考える良いチャンスになった」と話した。【川瀬慎一朗】

Japan local Olympic torch relay organizers U-turn on 'men only' boat section after criticism

April 2, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

April 2, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

Thank you https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210402/p2a/00m/0na/011000c

NAGOYA -- The decision to exclude women from a section of the Olympic torch relay set to take place on a traditionally men-only boat in central Japan's Aichi Prefecture was scrapped April 2 following the Mainichi Shimbun's reporting on the plans. 

 In the early hours of April 2, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay in Aichi Prefecture Task Force urged a rethink from the Handa Municipal Government, which runs the city where the section of the route is being held, and it was decided that women would be allowed to board the vessel. 

A "men only" traditional boat ride was initially set for inclusion on the Olympic torch relay itinerary scheduled for April 6 in Aichi Prefecture. The boats, used in the city of Handa's Chintoro Festival dating back to the Edo period (1603-1867), will carry Olympic torchbearers, but because women are traditionally forbidden from riding the vessels, a request by the city to allow only men on them in the relay had been accepted by the organizers, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay in Aichi Prefecture Task Force. Experts criticized the move, with one saying, "Don't they understand that the Olympic Charter calls for equality of the sexes?" 

According to the Aichi Prefecture task force, an around 200-meter section of the course across the city's Handa canal was to be limited to men only. Apart from the torchbearer, a total of about 30 male residents were to ride the boat, some of whom will provide live musical accompaniment recreating the traditional festival's atmosphere. 

The Handa Municipal Government proposed to the task force that the boats be used in the relay to promote the festival. During the event, only men are allowed to ride the boats, so it was reportedly decided the relay also would be a men-only affair. 

In an earlier conversation with a local male executive in charge of the festival, the Mainichi Shimbun learned that police officers and media-related individuals riding the boat were also all set to be men. When the plans were put forward to the Aichi Prefectural Government, they were reportedly told that women are traditionally forbidden from getting on the boats. 

But following media reports and discussions with the festival's local organizers, which manage the boat, its use this time will now be treated as an "event" rather than a "festival," thereby allowing women to ride the boat in this instance. Children will also be among those performing traditional festival music on the vessel, and their parents and guardians will also be on board. Owing to the gender limits on the boat, it had been expected that only male guardians would be allowed on, but with the change it's reportedly now possible for female ones to ride, too. 

Before the change, a city government official told the Mainichi Shimbun, "While there might be elements that aren't in keeping with the Olympic spirit, the festival is the way it is. It's an issue about whether we choose history and traditions, or the latest commonly held views." 

But after it was decided to let women on board, one member of the task force said, "Although it's important to protect traditional culture, it's not in-keeping with the Olympics. We reviewed it so that it could take a form which the public could appreciate."

 In its original reporting on the story, the Mainichi Shimbun heard critical views from cultural experts. Among them was professor emeritus in cultural anthropology at Keio University and expert on female exclusion in culture Masataka Suzuki, who explained how the tradition came to be maintained: "The boats used in the festival are intended to welcome and celebrate the gods, and so allowing women to ride them became taboo." 

He indicated the festival was inappropriate for the torch relay, saying, "The question is, why did they decide to use a ship originally meant for the gods in the torch relay? They should think of the festival and this event as separate things." Kyoko Raita, a professor at Chukyo University and an expert on sports and gender issues, said, "That this was decided without anyone feeling any kind of doubt itself shows there are issues of no one even looking at this from a gender perspective." (Japanese original by Shinichiro Kawase and Shiho Sakai, Nagoya News Center)

Article of the day: Tricking and treating has a history

Tricking and treating has a history

Halloween parade in New York. AP Photo/Andres Kudacki

Regina Hansen, Boston University
Over the past few decades, Halloween celebrations have gained in popularity, not only with children and families, but with all those fascinated with the spooky and scary.
As a scholar of myth and religion in popular culture, I look at Halloween with particular interest – especially the ways in which today’s Halloween tradition came to evolve.

A pre-Christian tradition

Many practices associated with Halloween have origins in the pre-Christian, or pagan, religion of the Celts, the original inhabitants of the British Isles, as well as parts of France and Spain.
The Celts held a feast called Samhain – a celebration of the harvest, the end of summer and the turn of the year. Samhain was separated by six months from Beltane, an observance of the beginning of summer, which took place on May 1 and is now known as May Day. Because Samhain led into the cold, fruitless and dark days of winter, the feast was also an opportunity to contemplate death and to remember those who had gone before.
The Celts believed that the veil between the living and the dead was thinner during this time, and that spirits of the dead could walk on Earth. Bonfires were lit to ward off the coming winter darkness, but also to sacrifice livestock and crops as offerings to the gods and spirits.
Some scholars – because of the long historical association of the Celts with the Romans – have also linked the modern observance of Halloween to the Roman festival honoring Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees. During that festival people practiced divination, which uses occult for gaining knowledge of the future.
One of the practices was similar to the modern-day Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples – a party game in which people attempt to use only their teeth to pick up apples floating in a tub or a bowl of water. Originally, it was believed that whoever could bite the apple first would get married the soonest.

Later influences

Many of the modern-day practices of Halloween and even its name were influenced by Christianity.
Halloween coincides with Christian celebrations honoring the dead. In the autumn, Christians celebrate All Saints’ Day – a day to honor martyrs who died for their faith and saints. They also celebrate All Souls’ Day – a day to remember the dead and to pray for souls more generally.
The history of how these dates came to coincide is worth noting: It suggests ways in which the pagan holiday may have been absorbed into Christian observance. Starting around the seventh century A.D., Christians celebrated All Saints Day on May 13. In the mid-eighth century, however, Pope Gregory III moved All Saint’s Day from May 13 to Nov. 1, so that it coincided with the date of Samhain.
Although there is disagreement about whether the move was made purposely so as to absorb the pagan practice, the fact is that from then on Christian and pagan traditions did begin to merge. In England, for example, All Saints Day came to be known as All Hallows Day. The night before became All Hallows Eve, Hallowe’en, or Halloween, as it is now known.
Around A.D. 1000, Nov. 2 was established as All Souls Day. Throughout the Middle Ages, this three-day period was celebrated with Masses. But the Pagan tradition of appeasing the spirits of the dead remained, including the Christian – now Catholic – practice of lighting candles for the souls in Purgatory.

Guy Fawkes Day celebrations in East Sussex, England. Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA

People still light bonfires on Oct. 31, especially those in regions where the Celts originally settled. In Ireland, bonfires are lit on Halloween. In England, the bonfire tradition has been transferred to Nov. 5. This is known as Guy Fawkes Day and commemorates the Gunpowder Plot, a thwarted attempt by Catholics, led by Guy Fawkes, to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.
There are other practices that continue today. In England, for example, one of the practices on All Hallows Eve was to go door to door begging for small currant biscuits called soul cakes, which were offered in exchange for prayers. While not all scholars agree, it is part of popular belief that this practice is echoed in the modern tradition of trick-or-treating.
In Ireland, people would walk the streets carrying candles in a hollowed-out turnip, the precursor of today’s jack o’lantern, or the carved pumpkin.

The carved pumpkins. Sarah Ackerman, CC BY

When the tradition came to the US

Halloween, however, did not make its way to the United States until the 1840s, when waves of immigrants from the Celtic countries of Ireland and Scotland arrived. These immigrants brought with them their tradition of Halloween, including dancing, masquerading, fortune-telling games and – in some places – the practice of parading the neighborhood asking for treats, such as nuts and fruits and coins.
By the late 19th century, some stores began offering commercially made candy for Halloween.
The North American observance of Halloween also included everything from minor pranks to some major vandalism, as well as a lot of drinking. By the early 20th century, however, many municipalities and churches attempted to curb this behavior by turning Halloween into a family celebration with children’s parties and, eventually, trick-or-treating as we know it today.

Halloween today

Today, Halloween has become a multi-million-dollar industry.
Candy sales, costumes, decorations, seasonal theme parks, annual television specials and October horror movie premieres are some of the many ways North Americans spend their money on the holiday.

Trick-or-treaters in costume. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

But Halloween has come to mean many things to many people. Roman Catholics and many mainline Protestants, for example, continue to observe All Saints’ Day for its spiritual significance. In the Catholic Church it is considered a holy day of obligation, when people are required to go to Mass. All Souls’ Day is celebrated soon after. In fact, the entire month of November is set aside as a time to pray for the dead.
On the other hand, some people reject Halloween because of its pagan origins and its perceived association with witchcraft and the devil. Others see it as too commercial or primarily for children.
Nonetheless, whether people see it as a children’s holiday, a sacred ritual, a harvest festival, a night of mischief, a sophisticated adult celebration or a way to make money, Halloween has become an integral part of North American culture.
Regina Hansen, Senior Lecturer, Rhetoric, Boston University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Halloween