2.c Belief in auspiciousness and inauspiciousness

According to villagers, the sources of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness can be outlined in several categories. There are auspicious and inauspicious words, numerical references and combinations of numbers, ages associated with numbers. Certain colours, animals, flowers, trees, and mountains are also perceived as auspicious and inauspicious. There are also inauspicious and auspicious zodiac signs, combinations of zodiac elements, dates, directions, blood types, and places. Auspicious and inauspicious circumstances call for gifts. Prestations are given to individuals and deities for the success of a favourable occasion... Villagers do not regard these references as something one should contemplate often. Individuals should not make use of these associations and ideas out of the context of ‘new beginnings’ or actual ‘criticality’. In relation to this an informant argued:

‘Moto san uses tannuki (racoon dog) skin and other things to protect himself from ‘evils’. He always sees ‘evils’ around his house, he is what you say in English ‘superstitious’.

Moto’s use of the racoon dog was criticised by some of his neighbours. I was surprised by the criticism that his ideas inspired because there were six public representations of racoon dogs in Kamikatsu, including one close to a local school. One giant racoon dog was given as a ‘good luck charm’ to a mushroom factory at its opening. All representations of racoon dogs had in common that the animal was ‘happy’, it waved, it smiled, it danced, it was dressed like a child and it was ‘festive’ wearing lucky head bands, like those that men and children wear at festivals. By contrast, the actual animal was the only[48] animal considered ‘powerful’ and ‘dangerous’, and as such it was chased by most villagers. The villagers always commented that racoon dogs damage fields, and specially that they affect the outcome of garden harvest. Despite the legal sanctions against traps it was never possible to walk in the forest without finding empty traps or racoon dogs trapped in them. If the racoon dog was ‘hated’ when wild, it was much loved when used as a symbol of good luck. To my observations the racoon dog represented the ‘wild’ aspect of the forest that had been ‘tamed’, a process of domestication of the forest. The reason why villagers saw Moto’s concern as superstitious, but did not see their use of racoon dogs as such, tells us something important about the form of their belief. Villagers have many beliefs about things and conditions that bring fortune and misfortune. They turn to gods in times of misfortune. They give prestations to gods in times of crisis and at recovery. They ‘throw money’ to buy charms and protective amulets against fire, bad luck, exams, new jobs, new business, harvests and at new year. They claim not to be religious nor superstitious. Reader (1991) has argued that most forms of belief in Japan are predicated upon the idea that each individual is able to choose a combination of gods and actions of giving to suit her individual needs in times of crisis (1991: 107). However, as Reader further suggests, ritual action precedes belief and is not expressed as dependant on it (Reader 1991: 16). The amulet surprised Motos’s neighbours for different reasons. Villagers use amulets of many kinds such as folded papers with names of deities, statuettes of racoon dogs and cats. Amulets are bought at Shrines to ensure its ritual efficacy. However, the ritual efficacy of all amulets is always related to the actions of giving or throwing money, to deities or temples. Moto used the amulet without any reference to giving a prestation. One of my informants, argued that Moto should not be so worried about the perils surrounding his house: ‘Individuals have luck and strength if they perform certain ritual actions to ensure so but there are certain times and actions for these. Evils and misfortune should not affect individuals if one has performed these actions’. It is these ‘actions and times’ that I examine next and in Chapter Five.

[48]There were no references to wolves or monkeys. Horses were considered as powerful and given prestations as deities during festivals. Monkeys were considered ‘dangerous’ but villagers believed that they did not live in Kamikatsu. When I saw them and brought them to the attention of an informant who was one of the largest owners of forest, he argued that he was surprised to hear that there were still monkeys, but he knew about them and they were ‘dangerous’ and not good. However, there were no further references to them, nor they were used in anthropomorphic representations, statuettes or drawings. There were several representations of monkeys in Tokushima capital, mostly representing ‘King-Kong’ escalating the buildings of the city.