ABSTRACT
Theundookaiisoneofthemostimportantpubliceventscarried outintheHieidaira-Yamanakaschooldistrict.Thisevent-which drawstoithundredsoflocalparticipantsandtensofcommunity organizersandcityofficials-isablendofcommunalceremonies andsportscompetitions.Assuchanimportantpublicevent,the sportsfield-dayclearlyhastodowithanattemptatcreatingor communicatinganumberofelements:asenseoflocalsolidarity orunityinthedistrict;astressonthesharingoftheexperience ofparticipation;afreedomforthelocalstoexplorethenatureof thetieslinkingthem;andthedefinitionofcommunityactivityas partofthequestformeaningfulleisure.Atthesametime,however,theundookaiismarkedbyahighlycomplexandproblematicalnature.Thisisbecauseitiscarriedoutinanartificiallycreated territorialunitwithacommunityidentitythatisopentoquestion. Moreoveritisbasedonthevoluntarycontributionsandefforts oflocalorganizations,andinvolvesthepartialparticipationof localsmanyofwhomarestrangerstoeachother.InthisconcludingchapterIexploresomeoftheimplicationsoftheserealizations.This,however,entailsproceedingfromthefollowingpoint. Iftheundookaiisaconstructthatsomehowoperatesonthesocial orderofandsocialrelationsbetweenthelocalresidents,thenan examinationofthelogicbywhichitisputtogetheriscrucialtoan understandingofhowitworksandwhatitisabletoaccomplish.
Theconstructionoftheundookai-againliketheconstructionof allpublicevents(Handelman,n.d.:10)- ispredicatedupona
