ABSTRACT
This chapter traces what Germans call Intensittsinseln or islands of intensity an in-between realm between friends and enemies where people would meet on equal terms regardless of rank and status order, with a particular focus on sites for the performing arts. It suggests when uprooted individuals become attached to sanctuary life, they tend to overdo the rituals, though while refining these, the elements in ritual and ceremonies come to the fore. Thus in the context of Edo society the za arts are a fine example of an urban sanctuary, and through the study of aesthetic art circles, Eiko Ikegami encircles and localises the time of the moment in the city. Eiko Ikegami argues that individuals who were assigned different stations by the Tokugawa shogunate would temporarily escape that structure in the pursuit of poetry, flower arranging, the tea ceremony, theatre, painting, and so forth.
