March 5, 2015 (Thursday) 6:00 PMat Room 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University

Ritual Surveillance: Seeing Gods on a Japanese Island
Michael Dylan Foster (Associate Professor of Folklore, Indiana University)

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Please join us next week for a fascinating talk by Michael Dylan Foster.

Michael Dylan Foster (Associate Professor of Folklore, Indiana University)
Ritual Surveillance: Seeing Gods on a Japanese Island
Thursday 5 March, 6 PM
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University

This presentation will introduce “Koshikijima no Toshidon,” a New Year’s Eve ritual performed annually on the island of Shimo-Koshikijima off the southwest coast of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. During the event, men masked and costumed as frightening demon-deity creatures enter individual households in order to “discipline” and “educate” young children. Performed since at least the Edo period, in 2009 the ritual was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This talk will focus particularly on the way in which the dynamics of “seeing and being seen” inform the performance of Toshidon and to a certain extent the everyday lives of the islanders. An understanding of Toshidon through the lens of vision and the gaze provides insight into broader questions of tourism, UNESCO, and the production of heritage in Japan and elsewhere.