Small-scale Fisheries in Japan Environmental and Socio-cultural Perspectives

The article provides an anthropological overview of the critical processes of empowerment and disempowerment of ritual leaders in a small Japanese fishing community. The main topic of the paper is a winter festival that takes place during the New Year’s Eve in Kamishima island (Ise Bay), whose management and celebration represent an important catalyst for local leadership, which is related to the transformation of the local institutions and to the power relations among the various local leaders. Summary


Introduction 9
Use of Explosives in the Southwestern Archipelago Immediately after World War II Taku

Introduction
This article provides an anthropological overview of the critical processes of empowerment and disempowerment of ritual leaders in the context of demographic and social-economic transformations of a Japanese fishing community. In particular, the article focuses on a community-based festival (matsuri 祭り), which is structured into a series of winter festive celebrations collectively called gētā matsuri ゲーター祭り (gētā festival) 1 that take place during the period of New Year's Eve (shōgatsu 正月) on the island of Kamishima (map 1). This festival could be considered as an example of power arena managed by two different typologies of ritual leaders who are considered powerful figures whose social prestige lie in preserving their social status, which they have gained within the local institutional systems. The article will Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176 Map 1. Geographical position of Kamishima island Map 2. Subdivision of the three seko of Kamishima: (A) higashi seko (east neighborhood), (B) naka seko (center district), (C) minami seko (southern district). The rural settlement of Kamishima is crossed by two rivers: mizo and dai mizo, which are the geographical boundaries that separate the three seko: mizo separates naka seko from higashi seko, while the dai mizo divides naka seko from minami seko explore the balance of power between the kumiaichō 組合長 (director of the local fishing association) who is connected to the 'new' institutional system introduced in Kamishima (that is, chōnaikai 町内会, neighborhood associations and gyokyōkumiai 漁業組合, fishing cooperative association) and miyamochi 宮持, the head of the religious ceremonies, traditionally elected year by year by the seko セコ system (that is, the three historical local districts of Kamishima) and inkyoshu 隠居衆 (group of retired miyamochi). The article is divided into two main topics. First of all, it will be discussed how local festive management represent an important catalyst for local leadership. As will be seen, the kumiaichō and the miyamochi can act as mirror reflecting the particular characteristics of these organisational systems, which differ mainly in two aspects: on the one hand, the seko system represent the territorial division of historical settlement of Kamishima, which is rooted into the local religious activities, including the practices of election of the miyamochi; on the other hand, chōnaikai and gyokyōkumiai, represent nowadays more efficient organizations for the needs of the local community, if compared to the 'staticity' of the traditional seko system. This radical administrative change is mainly due to the constant lack of funds for the festival celebrations which has forced the new organizations to take on the responsibility of managing funding of the religious events, including gētā matsuri, which was traditionally managed by seko system. Such institutional dualism has become more critical especially when the aging population and the consequent economic implosion forced local community groups to develop a number of strategies giving decision-making power to a single person: the kumiaichō. Secondly, the article will discuss the ritual involvement of kumiaichō in the celebration of gētā matsuri. As many other New Year's Eve festivals performed in Japanese rural communities, Kamishima's gētā matsuri is not based on a single festive event but includes a series of interrelated ceremonial events, that ritually prepare the community for the new year. In particular, between December 31 and January 1, there are several religious events that represent the most important part of Kamishima's New Year's Eve. 2 For this peculiarity, in order to offer an ethnographic account on the relationship between the institutional change of local organizations and the increasing social visibility of the kumiaichō, in this section will be discussed two main celebrations of gētā matsuri: awa tsukuri アワ作り (creation of the awa) and awa tsuki アワ付き (lift of the awa). In the conclusions, the topics discussed in the previous sessions will serve to put some anthropological reflections on the question of Kamishima's leadership and its complex hybrid nature, highlighting the many political, economic and sociocultural factors that characterize the religious role played by kumiaichō and other local leaders.

Territorial Roots and Institutional Dynamics
Kamishima is a small island located at the entrance of Ise Bay, on the border between Mie Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture. The island is about 16 km from the coast of the city of Toba, being situated at the further east point, between Toshijima and Sugashima islands, and just 4 km from Irako Cape (Atsumi Peninsula, Aichi Prefecture). Characterized by a compact and rounded shape, the mountainous territory has placed complex constraints to the urban settlement which is concentrated in a very limited space, occupying the northern side of the island, connecting longitudinally the beach with the fishing harbor. The spatial organization of the village consists of a succession of dwellings set in a complicated web of alleys and streets that connect the main buildings (shrines, temples, administrative buildings, etc.) ( fig. 1).
From an administrative perspective, Kamishima is a typical municipality (Kamishima-chō) which is, since 1954, headed by the coastal town of Toba 2 According to the official calendar, Kamishima shōgatsu officially begins after the exorcistic ceremony of yarimashobune ヤリマショブネ (ward off boat), which takes place on 8 December, followed by towatashi と渡し (delivery of the god) on 11 December, the shōgatsu hajime 正月始め (the beginning of New Year's Eve) on 13 December, morōmo kubari モーロモ配 り (sending mandarins), awa tsukuri アワ作り (construction of awa), saba tsukuri サバ作り (costruction of saba), awa tsuki (raising awa), both performed on December 31, the namikirifudō kakeji kukaichō 波切不動掛け軸の開帳 (opening the scrolls of Namikiri Fudō), the saba tori サバ 取り (saba catch) and hinata no matsuri 日向の祭 (festival of the sun) performed on 1 January, the funa matsuri 船祭り (festival of boats) the iso matsuri 磯祭 (festival of the beach) on 2 January, shishi mai 獅子舞 (lion dance) on January 4 and finally Hachiman sai 八幡祭 (festival of Hachiman) on 6 January (also called muikasai 六日祭, festival of the sixth day) (Bulian 2012 (Mie Prefecture). Kamishima is divided into three historical districts called higashi seko 東セコ (eastern district), naka seko 中セコ (centre district) and minami seko 南セコ (southern district), 3 and it represents, along with chōnaikai (neighborhood associations) and the local Fishing Cooperative Association (gyokyōkumiai), the main institutions of the community. The three seko, unlike chōnaikai system, administer some open spaces called tsuka ツカ (shell heap), located along the quay in front of the port of Kamishima and used for the repair and cleaning of the fish nets. The complex seko system is also characterized by an articulated internal organisational structure, which varies depending on the seko: each seko has a representative called tsuka iin 塚委員, more commonly called seko no yakuin セコの役 委員, elected together with other representatives with the task of assistants and accountants. Until about twenty years ago, every seko had its youth organization (seinendan 青年団) called, respectively, higashi shibu 東支部 (East district), naka shibu 中支部 (Centre district) and minami shibu 南支 部 (South district), and each shibu had its own headquarters where the young were performing cultural activities (Bulian 2012).
The system of chōnaikai was instead introduced in Kamishima before the beginning of World War II and nowadays there are four chōnaikai, subdivided into 25 sub-associations (tonarigumi 隣組) including a fifth chōnaikai, called 'Kamishima chōnaikai', which has the task of leading the local administration of the fishing community. The administrative function of these chōnaikai is extremely important because these 'new' organisational structures were strategically designated to adhere to the national politics of 'ideological centralization' (Sugimoto 2003, 71). That is, chōnaikai are moreover social institutions which are at the lowest level of Japanese administration, transmitting government or semi-governmental programs to the local communities. 4

Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176
However, these new institutions are rooted in a complex historical background. In Kamishima, the traditional seko system and the new centralized chōnaikai system represent two aspects of the traditional Japanese community organization, based on the territorial configuration of the internal relations in an urbanized space: muragumi 村組 and kinringumi 近隣組 (Fukuda 1979). Muragumi is a term for a settlement area separate from the rest of a village, whose boundaries are drawn from a river or a road. Each village can contain a number of muragumi and each house can only belong to one of these. Topographical names and terms belonging to the rural architectural vocabulary are often used to indicate the muragumi such as, for example, cave, garden, valley or stream. Muragumi primarily performs also different social functions within the rural community (mutual aid and support in the daily activities of the community, cooperation for community activities, organization of religious services).
In turn, muragumi is divided into small groups called kinringumi, which have the task of carrying out a series of community work for the muragumi management. Kinringumi is a term that indicates a particular type of neighbourhood association, which administers its own a specific area of muragumi without the direct intervention of governmental authority. The main functions assigned to kinringumi are the local administrative organization, cooperation and mutual support among its members. Moreover, the kinringumi is divided into subgroups called tonarigumi, which can carry out similar tasks to those assigned to kinringumi. The main difference between muragumi and kinringumi consists in the fact that the first is a separate area of the village, based on a series of social relationships between residents, while the second term indicates an area of the muragumi, generally consisting of a row of houses or group, whose members perform some basic functions of local government (also called jichikai 自治会, local self-administration body). Both terms also imply the idea that the basic unit of the village is mainly the neighbourhood, which is the principle of the 'shared territory bound by an organization' (Fukuda 1979).
This brief introduction contextualizes the main organisational structures of Kamishima and highlights two important aspects of the local institutional system. First of all, local organizations are closely tied to the territorial system: the seko system, which corresponds to muragumi, and the system of chōnaikai, which corresponds instead to kinringumi. Around these two opment in urban and rural areas and the emergence of new social issues. Urban sociology focused on the interrelations between chōnaikai using theories then in vogue: system theory, theory of social movements and community theory. From 1980 onwards, sociological studies focused on the revaluation of the roles of chōnaikai in regional areas (Masashi 1997). In anthropology, Theodor Bestor, for example, analyzed chōnaikai as social institutions that produce and reproduce traditionalism as a social process to support the current patterns of social organization (Bestor 1989). Iwasaki Nobuhiko focused on analyzing the role that chōnaikai played in environmental movements (Nobuhiko et al. 1989).

Bulian. Leadership, Ritual Power and Festival Management in a Fishing Community 159
organisational systems gravitate a number of small and medium-sized organizations, which perform simple tasks (road maintenance, grass cutting, etc.), or more complex tasks (organization of fire brigades, the Association of pensioners, the Association of women, the parent-teacher Association, the Association of students, etc). Interestingly, the chōnaikai system in Kamishima has not an exact geographical correspondence within the community: if the boundaries of seko are mainly driven by geographical features, the four chōnaikai are distributed in such a way that members belonging to the same chōnaikai can also be resident in two different seko (Bulian 2012). It is also important to note that the muragumi and kinringumi systems are two systems that have two different institutional roles not only from an administrative point of view. Place-based institution assume their importance not only for the frequency they are used, but also for the intensity of the arousal they cause. As seen through the schematization of the main traditional institutions proposed by Fukuda (1979), the Kamishima community is thus constituted by a set of smaller communities and bounded by geographical boundaries. Even from a linguistic point of view, if we look at the etymology of the term seko we note that it indicates the boundary of some rural or urban settlement: according to the Kokugo Daijiten (Dictionary of the National Language) seko means 'side road or narrow passage', 5 while in Kadokawa Nihon Chimei Daijiten (Geographical Dictionary of Japan Kadokawa 1991) indicates an 'out-of-the-way' or 'a part of the city or village'. 6 If on one hand, seko is therefore a 'community within a larger community', defined according to specific geographical and institutional boundaries, on the other hand, it is also an example of a community defined according to certain symbolic boundaries which, "encapsulate the identity of the community and, like the identity of an individual, is called into being by the exigencies of social interaction" (Cohen 1965, 13). It is no coincidence that the folklorist Wakamori Tarō used the expression 'seko spirit' to indicate a sense of 'rivalry' among the various seko members (1964). This expression also indicates how the system of the seko constitutes a set of cultural values so deeply rooted in individual identity that one may say that the inhabitants of Kamishima are not related to their own community but to their own seko.
Finally, another important difference between seko and chōnaikai, is that the seko system represents the spatial orientation that characterizes the main religious practices of this community. For example, there is a small shrine dedicated to Aragamisama 荒神様 (a kami protector of the 6 The term seko is also used in another village, Kō Ago, while the term sekonomi セコノ ミ is used in the village of Kohama, both under the Toba administration (Wakamori 1965).

Bulian. Leadership, Ritual Power and Festival Management in a Fishing Community
Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176 seko) in each seko, while chōnaikai have instead no place for religious practice remaining, on the organisational level, simple 'institutional inventions'. In this cultural context, it can be said that the religious practices that take place in the seko are therefore part of a 'theology of the territory'. As we shall see later, Kamishima's New Year's celebration is mainly based on this territorial configuration, determining specific cultural norms and ritual practices which are connected to miyamochi.

Renegotiating Ritual Power
While, on the one hand, the urban settlement of Kamishima community is structured according to specific cultural and geographical factors, on the other hand, the management of these institutes has undergone radical transformations in recent decades, influencing strongly the local policies. In particular, the question of the economic management of community religious ceremonies has undergone critical changes in the organisational and administrative level.
The religious organization of Kamishima falls under the category of socalled 'tōya community', and the local term miyamochi refers to a 'person in charge' (tōya 当家) who organizes the religious events (Hagiwara 1973;Sekizawa 2000). According to the historical rules established by seko, the role of the miyamochi lasts one year, and the criteria for election are based on three requirements: 1. The miyamochi must belong to a wealthy family of the community. This condition was important because the role of miyamochi consisted in financially supporting all New Year's Eve ceremonies. 2. The new miyamochi must be married and have two generations of descendants. This condition requires that the miyamochi and his wife should have reached the age of sixty, although the age threshold has been recently brought to seventy years. 3. According to the religious prescriptions of the Shintō tradition, the miyamochi family must not be ritually unclean, but must constantly maintain a state of purity. It follows that the miyamochi and his family will have to keep away from the graveyard and the places of mourning or childbirth. In the past, in the case of mourning in his family, the miyamochi was purified with water on the 1st, 15th and 28th of each month in the public baths of Kamishima. This custom, though of extreme importance, has fallen into disuse towards the end of the last century.
In addition to these three conditions, in the past the miyamochi was traditionally chosen according to the seko of origin using a turnaround system (Hotta 1970;Hagiwara 1973;Itō 1992, 513), while nowadays the  poration in 2002. 7 With the new organisational restructuring, Kamishima's corporate association was able to guarantee and manage a greater flow of money to finance New Year's religious ceremonies. Within this new institutional setting, the 'lay' figure of the kumiaichō (director of Kamishima Fishing Cooperative) has begun to play an increasingly strategic role. 8 The position of the kumiaichō is considered prestigious in Kamishima playing also a key role in choosing the new miyamochi. In fact, the selection of the new miyamochi is organized on June 11: the kumiaichō along with the chōnaikaichō (the director of the neighbourhood association) goes to the candidate's home to ask him formally if he wants to become the new miyamochi. It is generally considered a decisive moment, because becoming a miyamochi triggers the social mechanisms involved in the candidate's family sphere, according to which the candidate can not refuse.
After choosing the new miyamochi (who will formally be entrusted during a religious ceremony on December 11th), the kumiaichō organizes a banquet after the conclusion of the religious ceremonies of isomatsuri 磯 祭り (beach festival) 9 and gokuage ゴクアゲ. 10 After completing his annual role, the miyamochi then passes the charge to the new miyamochi during a handover ceremony, where the ex-miyamochi gives to the new miyamochi 7 Until 1948, the Kamishima Cooperative was one of the many gyogyōkai 漁業会, or 'fish- 8 After the merger of the co-operative with Tobashi-Isobe, the kumiaichō became shitenchō 支店長, that is, the director responsible for the Kamishima cooperative section, but since the co-operation of the cooperative and the consequent change of roles occurred in too recent times, the inhabitants of Kamishima continue to call him kumiaichō as a sign of respect 9 Isomatsuri is an important event for the community because it involves men and women working in fishing, and because, on a symbolic level, this ceremony is aimed at the ritual purification of the island. During the ceremony of the isomatsuri fishing boats circumnavigate the island of Kamishima, crossing some uninhabited islands.
10 Gokuage is a religious ceremony that consisted in the ritual exchange of gifts (abalones and rice cakes) between miyamochi and ama fishers.

Bulian. Leadership, Ritual Power and Festival Management in a Fishing Community
Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176 a box, a symbol of his ritual power, containing a hung scroll (kakejiku 掛け 軸) bearing the inscription 'Watatsumi Ōmikami', the name of the guardian of the sanctuary Yatsushirō. Once the ceremony is completed, the former miyamochi becomes officially the kuchimai no jii 米口の爺 (the elder of kuchimai). 11 After the annual role of the kuchimai no jii has been completed, the former miyamochi becomes part of the inkyoshū 隠居衆 (group of retreats), the group to which all the former miyamochi have completed the two-year ritual process (see also Takeuchi 1952;Chang 1970;Davis 1977;Sekizawa 2000). The term inkyo 隠居 in the Japanese language means 'retired person', but in Kamishima this word indicates a major responsibility within the community, since inkyo must play a role of mediator in internal conflicts or attend ceremonial events. The status of belonging to the inkyoshū is considered of great importance and the ceremony that sanctions the definitive admission of the former miyamochi to the inkyoshū is called inkyonari no oiwai 隠居なりのお祝い (celebration of retirement). To become thus inkyo, the kuchimae no jii must then arrange the inkyonari no iwai by choosing one day before May 20, and set up a banquet where all the members of the inkyoshū are invited.
In this context, the active presence of the kumiaichō (and in many other cases the chōnaikaichō) has become more and more strategic with his progressive involvement in organizing community religious events and, above all, in the negotiation practices of the role of the miyamochi with the candidates, a task that in the past belonged exclusively to the organizations of the seko system. In many cases, the kumiaichō also carries out the task of chonaikaichō, rojinkaichō (Director of the Association of Retirees) and priest of the Yatsushirō Shrine (the main Shintō shrine of Kamishima) and this overlap of institutional tasks in a single person becomes therefore an example of centralization of political and ritual power. In the next section, some New Year's religious ceremonies will be examined, in which the director's involvement in ritual practices represents a means to legitimize his authority but also to 'build' it. 11 In the past, kuchimai was a tax for the village and kuchimai no jii controlled this tax together with the sanninshū 三人衆 (three people), who were elected as representatives of the three seko. The sanninshū and the kuchimai no jii paid the tax and collected the money from the families of the village. The role played by sanninshū and kuchimai no jii was very important within the fishing industry, but with the disappearance of this charge, kuchimai no jii is now limited to attend the end-year ceremonies and visit the shrine of Ise Jingū in the city of Ise to propose good fishing and dedicate an ema 絵馬 (votive tablet) to the Kamishima Fishing Cooperative Association at the Yatsushirō shrine. In the following year the kuchimai no jii become then the oremairi no jii 俺参りの爺, a charge that is disappeared in 1964. The main tasks of the oremairi no jii consisted of attending the gētā matsuri and Hachimansai (Hachiman's festival), and visiting Ise Jingū on January 11 to thank for the completion of his ritual role (Hagiwara 1973;Bulian 2012).

Bulian. Leadership, Ritual Power and Festival Management in a Fishing Community 163 4 Recontextualizing a Winter Festival
As seen in the previous section, the involvement of the kumiaichō in the election of the new miyamochi has highlighted the new dynamics of economic, political and ritual power within the Kamishima community. In this section, the role played by the kumiaichō will be examined in the context of the festive celebrations of New Year's Eve in Kamishima. In particular, a brief ethnographic description of two important ceremonies will be proposed: the awa tsukuri ceremony (the awa construction) and the awa tsuki ceremony (lifting of the awa). In addition to highlighting the ritual role played by the kumiaichō, these ceremonies also represent two key examples to understand the importance of the roles played by the main ritual actors involved in the organization and performance activities.

Awa tsukuri
December 31, 2008 In the late afternoon, all the men of the community, accompanied by the relatives of the new miyamochi, go to the Fishing Cooperative's headquarters to celebrate the awa tsukuri, a ceremony in which they build a huge circle (awa) made of twisted gumi グミ (oleaster) and wrapped with sheets of white paper. Although in the past the construction of the awa was a task that was solely for the relatives of the miyamochi, due to the demographic and population aging problems, the members of the various chōnaikai started to participate. 12 During the afternoon some relatives of the miyamochi distribute to all the families of the community a leaflet containing all the information, timetables and procedures to be followed for the celebration of the awa tsukuri. The leaflet is prepared yearly by the Kamishima chōnaikai (Kamishima Neighborhood Association) with the collaboration of the management of the local Fish Cooperative. The material used during the awa tsukuri is prepared a few weeks before: the new miyamochi, accompanied by his relatives and some members of the Fish Cooperative Association, goes to the mountain behind the Gori beach to cut rubber branches (Elaeagnus multiflora), chosen on the basis of their natural curvature. A few days before the celebration of the awa tsukuri some men go to the beach to cut bamboo medake メダケ (Pleioblastus simonii) used for the ceremony of the awa tsuki. Once cut, the medake is then adorned on the tip with zigzag strips of white paper (shide) and placed in front of the home entrance. 13 The place where the awa tsukuri takes place is prepared during the afternoon: desks and chairs and other material left in storage are stacked in the corners of the room while on the walls of the room is hanging a long white and red striped canvas and adorned with the shimenawa しめ縄 (sacred rope) to sacralize the area. In the middle of the room is stretched a huge blue canvas above which straw mats and tools are arranged. On one side of the room is placed the tokonoma, where are hanged some scrolls depicting the kami of the sun Amaterasu Ōmikami, the kami of the sea Watatsumi Ōkami 綿津見大神 and the kami of the war Hachiman 八幡. Sake, cakes and some straw lanterns are placed in front of the scrolls as a sign of offer.
Before the ceremony begins, the kannushi performs a ritual of purification of the room and participants, singing some norito 祝詞 prayers. After the ritual purification, the eldest son of miyamochi offers a cup of sake to the miyamochi, then to his wife, to the kuchimai no jii, and finally to all the participants of the ceremony. The construction of the awa begins with a first arrangement of the gumi branches, which are tightened together with strings ( fig. 2). This operation is done several times, until the structure of the awa reaches a certain degree of stability. During this initial phase, participants call the awa with the term 'without meat'. The awa is then lifted up to several times and 'compressed' by the participants, who push the ring to prove its stability. Leaning on four wooden slats, the awa is then tied with straw lanyards, wrapping it completely. Once the awa is completed, the kumiaichō binds a purified cord to a part of the awa, symbolizing the head of the awa (awa no atama アワの頭).
The ceremony called saba tsukuri サバ作り (construction of the saba) 166

Bulian. Leadership, Ritual Power and Festival Management in a Fishing Community
Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176 is held simultaneously in the same hall during the celebration of the awa tsukuri, whose preparations begin a few weeks earlier. 14 On December 13, some men go to Benten Mountain, near Bentenzaki (Cape Benten) to cut a piece of wood (saba), which is delivered to the new miyamochi.
The saba's carving is a task that is entrusted to the ōdaiku 大大工 (great carpenter), a carpenter who has built the miyamochi's house and he is in close relationship with the miyamochi and his family. The ōdaiku carves the saba with twelve facets representing the months of the year (fig. 3). 15 Once the saba is completed, the kumiaichō writes the kanji of ue 上 (above) on the sheet and puts it back on the tokonoma. The saba is then handed over to the miyamochi who will guard it until the celebration of the saba tori.

Awa tsuki
Once completed the awa tsukuri, relatives of miyamochi and kuchimai no jii carry the awa in the house of miyamochi, where is celebrated a feast. Arranged on a tokonoma (alcove), the awa is sanctified through prayers and offerings ( fig. 4). After midnight, the participants are offered some food cooked with water drawn from a well, which is prepared as a meal to prepare for the 'battle' that will take place during the celebration of awa tsuki. Between 1 and 4 a.m., two young men, respectively, related with the miyamochi and the kuchimai no jii, leave the house of the miyamochi to announce the upcoming ceremony of awa tsuki. Called nanadohan 七度 半 ('seven and a half times', a name due to the number of times they run through the village) the two messengers shout the words beronno berorenno ベロンノ ベロレンノ, following a predetermined route that leads them from east to west of the village. At about 5 a.m., when relatives of the miyamochi complete their task, the miyamochi and kuchimai no jii, after wearing the traditional ceremonial clothing, come out from the house Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176 of miyamochi to visit the homes of the inkyoshū members, the kumiaichō and chōnaikaichō. Following the same ceremonial procedure of the nanadohan, the miyamochi utters the phrase beeron irasshai ベーロンいらっしゃ い (welcome beeron) every time he crosses the threshold of a house, but he never receives any response. When the visit of nanadohan is over, a group of young people come to the house of miyamochi to take the awa and carry it on to the Suzu beach, located north-east of the village, to celebrate the awa tsuki. The procession led by the miyamochi is firstly directed towards the main entrance of the Yatsushirō shrine. On the way, at regular intervals, the awa is lifted upright under the shouts of encouragement of participants ( fig. 5). Before arriving to the great torii (Shintō portal) of Yatsushirō Shrine, the awa is again raised, while the procession awaits the arrival of negisan (local term for kannushi, the Shintō priest). The awa is then 'compressed' again by the group, performing an action similar to that which took place during the celebration of the awa tsukuri. The procession then heads on higashi seko, where the awa is 'compressed' again and raised. Later the procession moves towards a narrow alley in higashi seko, where another group of young people intermarried with the kuchimai no jii expects to carry on the awa to the Suzu beach. Residents of higashi seko and naka seko await on the beach the arrival of the procession to start a simulated combat against minami seko residents, using the long medake bamboo poles adorned with strips of white paper which symbolize the swords. The group led by the kuchimai no jii then pushes the awa in the middle of the battle where it is repeatedly hit with the bamboo. After the conclusion of this first phase of the ceremony, the awa is transported to minami seko to pay tribute to the tsuka and finally the awa is carried on the beach for the last phase of the ceremony. At dawn, all the participants raise the awa using long bamboo rods to make it float as high as possible. The awa tsuki lasts only a few minutes, although there is an effort on the part of all participants to raise it as high as possible in order to propitiate a good catch in the New Year ( fig. 6).
When the awa finally touches the ground, the group led by kuchimai no jii carries the awa to the Yatsushirō shrine, to place it in front of the main building. While awa is transported on top of the Yatsushirō, a small group of people gather on the Suzu beach to celebrate the saba tori (catching the saba). The miyamochi delivers the saba (the piece of wood prepared during the celebration of awa tsukuri) to the kumiaichō to launch it into the group. The celebration of the saba tori consists in the attempt of the participants to take the saba in order to ensure good luck in the new year (for this reason it is also called saba takara サバ宝, 'saba treasure'). Although competition lasts only a few minutes, attempts to catch the saba push participants to behave in a violent and aggressive way. The man who succeeds then cries totta 取った (taken), and runs up the staircase leading to Yatsushirō shrine, to place the saba in front of the awa, as a ritual gesture of good wish for the New Year.

Contextualizing Local Leadership: Conclusive Remarks
This article has taken into account the need to rethink power relations among members of a fishing community and its contribution can be identified in the description and interpretation of the role of local organizations and their main representatives within the New Year's Eve celebrations. Starting from the assumption that the gētā matsuri could ideally represent a 'total social phenomenon', according to the conception inaugurated by Marcel Mauss and widely shared by most anthropologists, this series of religious ceremonies embraces a whole series of topics related to socioeconomic complexity of the celebrant community and the transformation of the local political and administrative organization. The gētā matsuri reflects in fact the classical conception of the modus operandi of the ritual actors immersed in a certain social context and the strategies adopted Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176 by local fishermen to come to terms with the transformations that have occurred inside of their community. As seen before, the complexity of the gētā matsuri is also loaded with particular thematic connotations that give it not only an historical-religious autonomy, but this festival also sheds light, on a symbolic level, issues related to the power relations of the local ritual leaders and, in particular, the issue of local leadership.
Regarding the last topic, some conclusive reflections on the concept of local leadership must also be delineated and contextualized. Local leadership is generally defined as a concept that must be understood contextually, occurring within a given local configuration of power, authority, social prestige shaped by local institutions with specific economic or political goals. In the context of Kamishima, the question of local leadership is of particular interest: it implies an anthropological insight into the social dynamics and internal equilibrium of this community. More specifically, local leadership is considered to be a particular form of social relationship that takes shape within a precise context, such as a fishing community, which requires socially accepted behavioural choices in order to create a strategical policy of general consensus. Local leadership is therefore interpreted as a process of influence produced by the combination of three critical factors: the power position of the leader (in this case, the kumiaichō), the nature of his task and the interpersonal relationships between the leader and the components of the groups (fishing associations, religious groups, etc.), which motivates a conforming group behaviour.
Local leadership must therefore be understood as a dynamic process that takes into account the skills of the leader and his collaborators in achieving specific objectives and such characteristic is particularly relevant in the context of this fishing community, since critical economic factors such as local economy (fishery management), geography (insularity) or demography (ageing population) are crucial in conditioning local welfare and require particular managerial skills (Bulian 2012). More specifically, local leadership in Kamishima is an example of transactional or transformational leadership (Burns 1978;Davies 2009Davies , 2011, in which a leader through a variety of social mechanisms operates with the members of his community to identify needed changes and achieve benefits. According to Bass (1999, 11;cited also in Davies 2011, 62) transformational leadership is a style of leadership where: "the leader moves the followers beyond immediate self-interests through idealized influence (charisma), inspiration, intellectual stimulation, or individualized consideration. It elevates the follower's level of maturity and ideals as well as concerns for achievement, self-actualization, and the wellbeing of others, the organization, and society" (Bass 1999, 11).
Returning to the central theme of the article, in order to understand the theoretical background of the relationship between local leadership and rural festival management, it may be useful also to resume Davies's Small-scale Fisheries in Japan, 153-176

Bulian. Leadership, Ritual Power and Festival Management in a Fishing Community 171
reflections on the role of transformational leadership in an Australian rural festival management: identifying and measuring the benefits (and costs) of festivals to rural communities is not as simple as subtracting the net investment capital from the net participant expenditure. Festivals catalyse social networking, capacity building and entrepreneurial capacities. Benefits are not just achieved during the period of the festival itself, but also through the organisation process. [...] Transformational leaders exhibit behaviour that make followers aware of the importance of their involvement in tasks, activate followers' higher-order needs and encourage them to move beyond self-interests for the sake of the wider community. (2011, 60-1; see also Podsakoff et al. 1990) Interestingly, transformational leadership in Kamishima is characterized by a number of factors that give it a certain political and cultural identity. These factors, which are all related to each other, can be summarized as follows: a) local leadership is a sort of 'circular leadership'; b) local leadership is indirectly influenced by the community of elders (genrō 元老); c) the modalities to obtain leadership in Kamishima are based on the economic and political history of the community. With regard to the first point, Kamishima's leadership can be defined as a 'circular leadership', as the most important institutional roles of the community follow a sort of circular pattern: generally, the one who is appointed as the new director of the Kamishima Fishing Cooperative Association (kumiaichō), then becomes chonaikaichō (head of the chonaikai) and, when his role is concluded, he subsequently becomes the head of the Kamishima Elders's Association (rojinkaichō). Such power arena sheds light on how this fishing community accepts its leaders by following a certain meritocratic system. At the same time, local leadership is influenced Scheme 1. The "circular leadership" of Kamishima