ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a study in the anthropology of visual communication. It explores a number of issues which have to do with the relations between photography and the performance of rituals. The chapter examines how groups involved in different capacities in the rite make diverse kinds of photographic records of the proceedings, and how these visual records, in turn, have influenced the interpretation of the rite itself and the manner by which these groups themselves perceive the event. It shows how such photographic records are related to the nostalgic appeal of "authentic" local traditions in contemporary Japanese society. The assumptions of much photographic reportage in anthropology – of the unobtrusiveness of the photographer or the habituation of "natives" to the camera – have thus allowed many of us to attempt unquestioningly to preserve the "authentic", natural folkways of vanishing traditions. The chapter examines the "stylistic choices" that guide the picture-taking.
