ABSTRACT
S Hitayama-cho was, of course, in no full sense of the word a community. On the other hand, it was something more than a postal district. Although the majority of the inhabitants satisfied most of their economic needs and many of their recreative needs quite outside the ward and in contact with persons other than their ward neighbours, most of the more settled residents had a sense of belonging to the ward in a way in which the Londoner only rarely in wartime has a sense of belonging to his streets or his buildings. In Shitayama-cho young men who are keen on group activities think automatically in terms of ‘getting the youth of the ward together’; it is often as ‘Shitayama-cho-ites’ that children engage in gang fights and insult-exchanges with the children of other wards; at the time of the borough council elections the question is discussed which of the hundred-odd candidates can be most relied on to do his best for ‘the ward’ and deserves to have the backing of ‘the ward’; it is for ‘the children of the ward’ that outings and film-strip shows are arranged (and voices are raised in protest when children of other wards gate-crash); it is because ‘she was an old resident of the ward’ that people regret an old lady's having to sell her house to settle a mortgage, and wish that they had known earlier so that they could have arranged to lend her the money; it is from the hereditary ‘chief of the ward that people buy their New Year's decorations, and it is in ‘the ward's’ celebrations of the festival of the local shrine that they participate. There is, moreover, a formal association which performs for the ward inhabitants such services as street lighting not provided by the borough, arranges that ‘the ward’ shall not be neglected by the police, the fire brigade or the borough office, and ensures that ‘the ward’ does its bit when contributions are being collected for the Red Cross or the Community Chest.
