ABSTRACT
Chichibu dually refers to the westerly region of Saitama Prefecture and this region's largest population centre, the town of Chichibu, home to just under 60,000 people. In 1956, Chichibu Yatai-bayashi was selected by Saitama as a Saitama Ken Shitei Mukei Bunkazai, a prefectural intangible cultural property. Many Chichibu musicians vehemently opposed the iemoto system as alien to the festival tradition. This chapter argues that preservation programmes may not be so benign, and can have unexpected and unintended consequences for the traditions on which they impact. The Chichibu region, however, is traversed by a dramatic mountain range, isolating it culturally and economically from the rest of the prefecture. In the Edo period, Chichibu town was one of Japan's key centres for the production of silk. Chichibu festival is dedicated to Myoken Bodhisattva, the deification of the North Star. Myōken, which means 'wondrous seeing', is popularly believed to cure eye disease and is the principal deity of Chichibu shrine.
