Restoring lost vitality to the Bikan Historical Area and preserving its history and culture
The custom of displaying folding screens died out in the late Meiji period, but was revived in modern times.
In fact, Soichiro Oka was instrumental in reviving the Byobu Festival.
We spoke with Mr. Oka about how it was brought back.
When was the custom of displaying folding screens revived?
Oka
The revival can be traced back to 2001, when Ohara Kenichiro became chairman of the Kurashiki Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In the late Showa to early Heisei period (the late 1980s), when the Seto-Ohashi Bridge opened, tourists flocked to the Bikan Historical Area, and it was bustling. It is said that around 5.2 to 5.4 million people visited each year.
After that, social conditions such as the collapse of the bubble economy took their toll. By 2001, the number of visitors to the Bikan Historical Area had fallen to about half the level at the time the Seto-Ohashi Bridge opened, to around 2.6 million a year.
Ohara wanted to restore vitality to the historic Bikan Historical Area. Kurashiki has thriving industries such as manufacturing, commerce, and agriculture, so the town would not decline even without tourism.
However, the Bikan Historical Area is a Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, a town where history and culture remain.
Ohara was concerned that without people coming and going and the bustle they bring, historic heritage and culture like this would also disappear. However, this was no longer an era when simply investing money in visitor attractions was enough.
So Ohara believed that, rather than focusing on physical infrastructure, it was necessary to focus on initiatives that would bring life to the town.
He selected several members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to hold regular monthly meetings on how to revitalize the Bikan Historical Area. I was one of them.
Were the other members also concerned about the decline of the Bikan Historical Area?
Oka
We locals didn’t often go into the Bikan Historical Area back then. We mostly traveled by car, so even when we went nearby, we just passed through.
So until Ohara brought it up, I hadn’t paid attention to the state of the Bikan Historical Area.
When I actually went there, I found that there were few businesses open on Honmachi-dori and Higashimachi-dori, apart from a few exceptions.
They were traditional townhouses, with shops facing the street and living quarters at the back. The shops were closed, and the owners weren’t renting them out to anyone else.
People still lived in the homes at the back, but the population was aging. Once we learned about the situation, we began to understand the threat facing the Bikan Historical Area.
How did the idea of reviving the Byobu Festival come about?
Oka
It started with a comment made by one of the members during a discussion.
“In Katsuyama (now part of Maniwa City), in the historic district where the townscape is preserved, each traditional townhouse displays hina dolls during the Hina Festival as part of an event called ‘Hina Meguri.’”
The suggestion was, “It’s very lively, so why not try something like that in Kurashiki?”
In response, I blurted out, “Katsuyama’s Hina Meguri is wonderful, but if Kurashiki does the same thing, it’ll just be a copy, so perhaps we shouldn’t.”
Then someone retorted, “So what could we do that wouldn’t be a copy?” To be honest, I’d said it reflexively without thinking it through, so I was really flustered when they challenged me.
The very next moment, what suddenly came to mind was the custom of displaying folding screens in the Edo period, which I had read about in a book.
I said, “Apparently, during festivals at Achi Shrine in the Edo period, people displayed folding screens in their townhouses for passersby to see.”
But no one knew about the custom of the Byobu Festival.
When I looked into it later, I found a reference to the Byobu Festival in a book called “Suinkyo,” published by the Kurashiki Suinkyo Preservation Society.
Then Ohara and the other members all said, “Let’s give it a try!” Ohara appointed me to oversee recreating the Byobu Festival.
But since I’d just come up with the idea on the spot, to be honest, I wasn’t sure whether we could revive the Byobu Festival.
Were the folding screens still around?
Oka
I assumed the folding screens were still there.
They’re very large, and even if someone wanted to take them out of a storehouse and dispose of them, just getting them out of the storehouse would be a major undertaking.
I asked an acquaintance whose family home was in the Bikan Historical Area to check whether there were any folding screens in their storehouse, and they found some magnificent ones.
His mother had said, “I’ve been married into this family for over 50 years, but I’ve never once seen a folding screen, so we don’t have any.” But it turned out they did.
That made me think other households would still have folding screens too.
How did you prepare to revive the Byobu Festival?
Oka
The Byobu Festival could not happen without the cooperation of people living in the Bikan Historical Area.
I visited each household, explained the situation, and asked for their cooperation, but we received little understanding. As I mentioned earlier, the population was aging.
We were turned down across the board for reasons such as, “We want to live quietly, so it’s better if there aren’t more people,” “More people will make the area less safe,” “We’re too old to take on extra work,” and “We don’t want to help tourism businesses make money.”
So I asked the neighborhood association leaders to gather, and told them how I felt about the Byobu Festival.
“We’re not holding the Byobu Festival to promote commerce. We want to hold it to preserve the history and culture of Kurashiki, a town designated as a Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, for future generations. Through the Byobu Festival, we want more people to learn how wonderful Kurashiki is.”
The neighborhood association members responded along the lines of, “If you feel that strongly, go ahead,” and reluctantly agreed.
With the whole town pitching in to prepare, the Byobu Festival was revived during Achi Shrine’s autumn grand festival in 2002.
At first, the neighborhood association members were quite reluctant to agree, but once preparations for the Byobu Festival actually began, they were the most enthusiastic participants.
That made me happy. The original spirit is for local people to enjoy it of their own accord.
How did the revived Byobu Festival go?
Oka
Around 55,000 people visited in 2002, the year it was revived. We were surprised by the turnout, which exceeded our expectations. Thirty-three households displayed folding screens and took part.
Before the festival, local residents had worried that more foot traffic would make the area noisy or less safe, but once they actually tried it, they found it a lot of fun.
Some were delighted to see old classmates they hadn’t met in a long time. We conducted surveys, and at first many visitors came from the surrounding area. There were also many visitors from the Hiroshima area.
As in the past, Achi Shrine is not directly involved in the current Byobu Festival.
After the festival, someone from Achi Shrine praised it, saying, “The autumn festival brought the whole community together and was lively and fun. I think the shrine and the town created a synergistic effect, making it a tremendous success.”
What happened after that?
Oka
Since 2002, the Byobu Festival has been held during Achi Shrine’s autumn grand festival every year, except for a two-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, local residents have actively taken part in the Byobu Festival, and it has become something they look forward to every year. They seem to enjoy thinking up new ideas for each year’s festival.
In 2024, the festival was held over two days, Saturday and Sunday, and drew around 50,000 visitors in total. It rained on Saturday. Thirty-five households displayed folding screens.
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