Acculturation of violence in the tug of war in Haebaru-cho

Abstract

In the southern part of Okinawa main island, there are many villages to have had a traditional tug of war as an annual event. The tug of war takes a structure that two groups compete with each other, so the antagonism between the two leads to the violence with body contact at times. But the violence in the tug of war has been eliminated in many villages up to the present. Pointed out by the preceding studies of the violence in festivals or sports, the elimination of the violence was caused by the modernization of the society. However, in some cases, the villages where the violence seen in the tug of war have been eliminated adjoin the villages where the violence is in existence. So it seems hard to think that the modernization caused the elimination of the violence.The purpose of this study is to specify the violence in the tug of war in Haebaru-cho, Okinawa prefecture and the factors of its acculturation. To attain the purpose, I give consideration based on fieldworks over a 4-month period in total. As for the definition of the violence of this study, I quote one by K.Sugawara, “all physical acts that intend to give physical harm directly on the body of another person.” The main results of this study are as follows : 1) Such acts as beating, kicking, pushing down, throwing down to the ground, striking with a stick come under the violence in the tug of war.2) In the tug of war that people in a village are divided into two groups according to Munchus, patrilineal descent groups, the violence relates to the antagonism between Munchus.3) From 1960s to 1970s the violence was eliminated in most of the villages in Haebaru-cho. The considered factors of it are school education, growing interest in education, popularization of higher education, social concern about the violence, increase in population, change of industrial structure, and change in children's play.4) As for the tug of war in Kyan, Haebaru-cho, one of the acts which did not fall under the category of the violence has changed into the violence. I considered the factors as follows : (1) Newspaper accounts which put emphasis on the violence as a feature of the tug of war in Kyan.(2) The interruption of the young men's association activity.5) For young men in Kyan, the violence is an experience for socialization and for developing their identification to the village.6) For people in Kyan, the violence is a good opportunity to be conscious of and realize their ideal which is the equality in social status and role performance. Therefore they appreciate the violence seen in the tug of war.7) It may safely be assumed that the violence in Kyan functions as cultural focus which is resistant to the rapid change in the social conditions.Judging from the results mentioned above, the main factor of the acculturation of the violence in the tug of war is whether the violence functions as cultural focus in a village or not. And the modernization of the society pointed out by the preceding studies is the only clue to the acculturation of the violence.