Analyzing urban rituals with reference to

development of social capital for disaster resilience

A case study of Kishiwada City, Japan

Roshan Bhakta Bhandari Norio Okada

Graduate School of Engineering Disaster Prevention Research Institute
Kyoto University Kyoto University
Kyoto, Japan Kyoto, Japan
[email protected] [email protected]

Muneta Yokomatsu Hitoshi Ikeo

Disaster Prevention research Institute Graduate School of Engineering
Kyoto University Kyoto University
Kyoto, Japan Kyoto, Japan
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Based on the field survey data of Kishiwada City, neighborhoods pull the ritual float (Danjiri) from their parish
Osaka, Japan, this paper analyzes the potential role of social shrines. The uniqueness of the event is an assembly of
capital developed through ritual events in building a disaster individual neighborhood processions engaged in competitive
resilient community. The preliminary findings show that the aesthetic and athletic display [1]. Initially, the ritual
rituals are contributing to the development of trust in the processions give a sense of inter-neighborhood rivalry,
community at Kishiwada. Bonding social capital, bridging social however, towards the end they combine together to form a
capital and trust are found to enhance disaster awareness and huge parade, symbolizing a collective identity and mutual
self reliance. It is also found that ritual based organizations in coordination among the participating neighborhoods.
Kishiwada are functioning as a social platform that regularly
activates residents for collective actions in civic activities. Some key facts about the event include; community
Implications regarding the social utility of ritual based participation and social inclusion; repetition; social dynamics
organizations in disasters are also discussed. during rituals such as, sharing roles and responsibilities by
community people in the built-in social system named as
Keywords— ritual, social capital, resilience, disaster risk , Chonaikai; loyalty among actors in different levels; the
multiple correlation analysis. deliberative process of selecting leaders; and spiritual
I. INTRODUCTION attachment of the residents to the ritual. It can be speculated
that each of these factors contribute to the formation and
One of the long held goals of disaster studies has been to development of social capital.
establish a social mechanism to enhance the capacity of a
community to cope with the disaster risk. More recently, some The primordial concept of community in Japan is said to be
disaster researchers have given attention to the concept of emerged from a cooperative social organization developed to
social capital - a term that encompasses the norms and fulfill the requirements of wet-field rice cultivation [1]. It is
networks that facilitate collective action. These studies focus on later recreated as neighborhood associations or Chonaikai. And,
how social capital can help reconstruct disaster affected this neighborhood level is precisely the level of social
communities and victims more efficiently [6, 9, 11]. But, little organization involved in ritual.
attention has been paid to how social capital is formed and in The organizational structure and social virtues of Chonaikai
what ways it can be helpful to a community in a pre-disaster helps to understand about how ritual may contribute to the
context. Therefore, this study aims to analyze how rituals help development of social capital. A resident in Kishiwada learns
in the formation of social capital, and examines the association various facts about the neighborhood while moving through the
between social capital and disaster resilience through a field various levels of this organization over one’s life. The levels
study in Kishiwada City, Osaka, Japan. range from the kodomokai, community association for kids up
II. THE DANJIRI MATSURI IN COMMUNITY AND BUILDING to the age of fifteen to sodanyaku, the counterpart for adults
SOCIAL CAPITAL over fifty five. Through these Chonaikai level hierarchies, all
generations are given a function and guidance during ritual. It
Kishiwada City is renowned for an annual ritual event would allow anyone of the proper age to fulfill the duties of
named Danjiri Matsuri (matsuri means a ritual in Japan). Every various positions of responsibility (seikinisha), even that of
September, over half a million people witness this spectacular nenban, the group’s year on duty needed to organize and
event. On this occasion, twenty-one participating perform the ritual. People at various levels coordinate with
each other to conduct the ritual smoothly every year and the III. SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DISASTER RISK
organization is thereby more consolidated. Apart from MANAGEMENT
providing a necessary command structure for organizing and
In social science, the concept of social capital is defined
maintaining the ritual, Chonaikai is also instrumental in
generally as the norms and networks that enable people to act
creating a strong, stable and cooperative community [1].
collectively [2]. Robert Putnam, the most prominent advocate
It must be noted that every year new residents from each of this approach describes it as features of social organizations,
neighborhood (chonaikai) are selected by a deliberative process such as networks, norms, and trust that facilitate action and
to form the nenbancho, which is a core organization to run the cooperation for mutual benefit [3]. The basic idea of social
ritual. Currently, a widespread practice of discussion and capital is that a person’s family, friends, and associates
deliberation is undertaken to determine leadership in Chonaikai constitute an important asset that can be called in a crisis [2].
as well. It helps to overcome the potential for power Those endowed with a diverse stock of social networks and
monopolization by regularly altering the positions in both civic associations are in a stronger position to confront poverty
Chonaikai and nenbancho, as the umbrella organizations. It is and vulnerability, resolve disputes and take advantage of new
found that positions are regarded more as responsibilities rather opportunities [5].
than positions of power, with expectations that burden of
A great deal of confusion concerning the actual meaning of
responsibility will be broadly shared over the years. Also, it
social capital and its alleged effects is growing hand in hand
gives an impulse of social inclusion and participation in the
with its popularity [2]. Though there is a consensus among
community.
many social capital researches regarding its importance in
Danjiri Matsuri resembles itself as a site for community development, some evidences demonstrate that it may not
formation where local people at neighborhood level work always lead to desirable outcomes [4]. For instance, strong
together for conducting a safe ritual event. It is repeated group loyalty can exclude members outside the group to share
annually with preparations beginning nearly a month before the information and resources. Lately, the scope of social capital
actual event. During this occasion, everyone try his/her best to expands to include both the horizontal associations (bonding
fulfill the assigned task within the ritual organization. In this social capital) within a community and vertical associations
process, the community is expected to develop social capital. It (bridging social capital) among organizational entities at
is understood that social structure of the Chonaikai is an ideal different levels. It gives rise to a conclusion that both strong
type where the members are selflessly oriented toward the intra-community ties and weak extra-community networks are
goals of the group. Local leaders of Chonaikai mentioned that needed to enhance the efficacy of social capital, and fulfill the
the hierarchically organized group achieves harmony with the broader interest of a community [5].
help of human relations based on functional diffuseness and
Though the field of social capital covers huge area of
trust. The organizational system is expected to operate
research, we find very few researches related to social capital
smoothly as people have mutual trust that everyone is working
and disaster risk management. Nakagawa et al. describe about
for the shake of the community. Though vertical relationships
the significance of social capital in disaster recovery in the
are prominent within the social structure, the leaders with their
context of earthquake disaster of Kobe, Japan and Gujarat,
benevolence and support protect the followers at all times
India [6]. From a disaster management perspective, there is
regardless of personal cost. In return, subordinating members
evidence that community structure with decentralized decision
are expected to express their uncalculating loyalty and
making through social networks using trusting and reciprocal
devotion. While at the same time horizontal ties and
normative behavior leads to a more effective disaster response
relationships among equals in organizations are established by
[7]. Buckland et al. explain that communities characterized by
cooperative interaction among colleagues [1].
higher level of physical, human and social capital are better
As the normal mode of life changes to ritual mode, prepared and more effective responders to flood [8]. Also, their
organizational structure gets active. Human interactions findings show that high level of social capital complicates the
increase and resources are mobilized. Sometimes, decision making process in community development activities.
organizational demand can surpass its capability. Under these
Dynes explains that community is the locus of the response
circumstances, organizations learn to function under stress, and
to disaster and such social units have the social capital
it can be predicted that this enhances the capacity to cope with
necessary to respond to disasters [9]. He further adds that
a crisis. During Danjiri, local government, security agencies
communities already exhibit considerable resilience in dealing
and hospitals work in close collaboration with the nenbancho
with various types of disaster [9]. His study explores a new
for safety and security of the participants. It develops an
dimension on how social capital could be built and enhanced in
extended network of organizations outside a community. The
any community. Earlier researchers paid little attention on how
capacity to work under stress, intra community networks and
to create social capital that can be utilized to achieve the
inter organizational co-ordinations engendered during the ritual
desired outcome. Dynes mentions that the local social system is
can make Kishiwada people extremely helpful in a disaster
the logical and viable base for all stages of emergency action
situation. At the same time, it can be claimed that Danjiri
and certain specific mechanisms can be utilized to increase
matsuri inculcates a spirit of local and self initiated action for
community identification and collective responsibility which
community’s well being. In order to test the generalisability of
are the components of social capital [9]. In this context, civic
these findings this study proposed: Hypothesis 1 –Rituals
occasions such as anniversaries, disaster memorials and
contribute to the development of social capital in the
festivities are important. Enhancing the existing community
community at Kishiwada.
network and social structure makes its convenient for Kishiwada. Questionnaires were distributed in a booklet form,
information flow during disasters, and increases the efficiency informing participants of research aims. It was assured that the
of decisions within established authority which is crucial in the survey data would be only analyzed for academic purpose.
case of disaster for timely response [9]. Overall 1400 questionnaires were distributed with 700
questionnaires on each school district. 485 completed responses
Earlier the disaster management practices focused more on were returned, with an overall corresponding rate of 36.4
reducing physical vulnerability, however, in recent times it has percent. This survey didn’t intend to compare the heterogeneity
been realized that enhancing social capacity helps to reduce the between areas, as our analytic focus was on community as
human toll. As witnessed in severe disasters such as Kobe whole rather than individual areas.
earthquake 1995, neighbors and individuals are the first to save
the victims as the Government or Non Government B. Sample
Organization has limited capacity to help everyone [6]. It is
found that social capital is crucial to mobilize community Respondents were all from the two school districts in
efficiently in disaster recovery [6]. At the same time, the Kishiwada city. Demographic characteristics of the
existing networks and associations within a community can respondents were as follows: gender (female = 83.3 percent;
play a vital role to keep residents alert in a pre disaster situation male= 16.7 percent); age ( <20 years = 0.4 percent; 20-29
and sustain their inbuilt capacity to cope with upcoming years= 2.9 percent; 30-49 years = 89.3 percent; 50-59 years =
uncertainties. 6.2 percent; 60-69 years = 0.8 percent and > 70 years = 0.4
percent); length of stay in the area ( > 20 years = 48 percent;
As disasters are simply a fact of life, Japan has developed 15 to 20 years = 14 percent ; 10 to 15 years = 19 percent; 5 to
several advanced structural and non structural measures to deal
10 years = 13 percent; 1 to 5 years = 5 percent and <1 year = 1
with these hazards. Though not explored to a greater extent, the
ritual based formal and informal associations and networks can percent); occupation (house wife = 35 percent ; private
be important in mutual assistance during disasters. Every year institutions= 28 percent; part time job holders = 26 percent
local people are invigorated with the ritual spirit which renews ;government = 9 percent; and unemployed / retired person = 2
social bond and relationships that they already possess. In fact, percent); and frequency of participation in the ritual event
there is a long history in Kishiwada, at the local level, of (every year = 57.9 percent; once in 2-3 years = 3.1 percent;
associations (formal and informal) and networks committed to rarely = 6.2 percent and not at all = 32.8 percent).
individual and community welfare that may enhance people’s C. Measures
capacity to withstand misfortunes such as disasters. These
associations and networks have largely gone unnoticed by The questionnaire survey was comprised of Likert scales.
disaster professionals who have sought to establish more mono The responses to the perceived gain from the rituals were
purpose disaster related associations according to their own recorded using sample items such as: it helps to get much
criteria of what such organization should comprise. Therefore, closer with people in the community; it helps to build a sense
they often fail to recognize the existence of other multipurpose of community; and it helps to understand the local culture.
ones that don’t share the same outward form but may fulfill Perceived loss was recorded in terms of disturbances to daily
many of the same functions. This paper attempts to correct this activities, increase in household expenses, crowd and chaos
oversight by highlighting the possible role of inbuilt social during the rituals. Hazard awareness was measured using
institutions such as ritual based organization under Chonaikai sample items such as: frequency of talking with neighbors
in building the community capacity in a pre disaster context. about disaster related matters; and familiarity with the city
With this perspective, this study proposed: Hypothesis 2 - hazard map.
Social capital built through ritual based organization The sample items for bonding social capital, bridging social
contributes in enhancing awareness and self reliance of capital and trust were developed by referring to the World
people that helps them to cope with disaster risks. Bank list of questionnaires [10]. Bonding social capital focused
within a community and sample items included: level of
IV. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
interaction respondents have with their neighbors; number of
A. Design and Procedure people in the neighborhood that respondents can interact with;
This research aims to investigate the possible role of rituals and frequency of greeting or talking with neighbors. Bridging
in building social capital and how this enhances the disaster social capital covered networks outside a community and
resilience of the community Disaster resilience is understood in sample items included: frequency of participation in sports
terms of building social capacity in a pre-disaster context to groups, religious groups and civic groups such as rotary club,
cope with uncertainties and crisis caused by a disaster. It is Red Cross, Non Government Organizations and volunteer
conceptualized in terms of building awareness and making groups. Sample items for trust included: you trust most people
local residents more self-reliant. The social capital variables in your neighborhood; most people in this neighborhood are
considered for this study are bonding social capital, bridging willing to help if you need it; and, in this neighborhood one has
social capital and trust. to be alert or someone is likely to take advantage of you.

Questionnaire surveys were conducted in two different In addition, responses to self reliance were recorded using
school districts namely; Habucho junior high school and Omiya sample items such as: in your opinion, who is responsible for
elementary school in Kishiwada City. Questionnaires were sent handling supplies such as drinking water or food during
through school children to their respective parents living in disaster; and in your opinion who is responsible for making
evacuation decisions during disasters. All the items listed All this explains that people perceiving gain from
above showed a high internal consistency (Cronbach α = >0.7). participating in the rituals tend to develop trust among each
other. Trust being an important component of social capital, it
V. CASE STUDY AREA can be claimed that our Hypothesis 1 that rituals contributes to
Kishiwada city was selected for this study as it is located on the development of social capital is supported.
natural hazard prone area with frequent occurrences of
disasters. Here, people live with the spirit of Danjiri and it is a
major element to sustain networks and relationships in the Helps to be much
community. According to the City Office, there are 180 major closer with neighbors
community organizations (Chonaikai) to serve 81,880
Builds awareness about
households and the total population of 203,371. Each neighborhood features
Chonaikai in comprised of associations for elderly groups,
women’s groups, children’s groups and hazard protection Develops a sense of
groups. Besides this, each Chonaikai has its own ritual community
organization to conduct the well known Danjiri matsuri. There
Helps to know about
are twenty-one neighborhoods (Chonaikai) participating in the local culture
festival. The present study focuses on two school districts
namely; Habu Junior High School and Omiya Elementary 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
School. These school districts consist of eleven neighborhoods highly agree agree
conducting Danjiri matsuri. neutral disagree
A. Disasters in Kishiwada highly disagree

It is obvious that Japan is one of the world’s most Figure 2. Perceived gain from participating in ritual events
hazardous countries with frequent natural disasters such as
earthquake, flood, typhoon, tsunami and volcano. Since 1940,
there are major regular disasters in an interval of every three The responses about the perceived gain of rituals are shown
years. The disaster record (1940 – 2010) obtained from the City in Fig.2. It is found that nearly 80 percent of respondents agree
office is shown in Fig.1. that rituals help them to be much closer with the neighbors,
develops a sense of community and helps to know about local
Figure 1. Past record of Disasters in Kishiwada culture. This finding supports that rituals can contribute to the
6 development of social capital by creating social bonds.
Frequency of occurance

5 The results of multiple correlation analysis in table 1 show

4 a positive correlation between bonding social capital, bridging
3 social capital and trust. It indicates that networks and
2 relationships both within the community and with
1 organizations outside the community are important to build
0
trust in the case of Kishiwada. The findings show no significant
T yphoon Flood Heavy rainfall Earthquake
correlation between perceived gain from the rituals, bonding
T ypes of disaster social capital and bridging social capital which contradicts with
our assumption. It indicates that in Kishiwada other formal and
VI. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
informal associations apart from the rituals must have also
As shown in Table 1, multiple correlation analysis indicates contributed to the development of bonding social capital and
that perceived gain from the rituals is positively correlated with bridging social capital. While, the positive correlation between
trust (r = 0.28, p<0.01). And trust is positively correlated with perceived gain from rituals and trust supports that rituals
bonding social capital (r= 0.441, p < 0.01) and bridging social contributes in the development of social capital.
capital (r= 0.168, p < 0.01). In the mean time, trust is
negatively correlated with perceived loss from the rituals (r = -
0.193, p<0.01).
TABLE 1. MULTIPLE CORRELATION ANALYSIS

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1. Trust .280** -.193** -.012 .173** .168** .441** .240** 1
2. Hazard Awareness .147* .048 -.012 -.004 .210** .254** 1
3. Bonding Social Capital .116 .038 .035 .042 .390** 1
4. Bridging Social Capital .104 -.059 .073 .033 1
5. Self Reliance .044 .005 -.085 1
6. Frequency of Participation .051 -.125* 1
7. Perceived Loss -.263** 1
8. Perceived Gain 1
Pearson’s r; *Correlation significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed).
**Correlation significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed).
 The findings in Table 1 do not show a significant that we can change the level of self reliance by manipulating
correlation between frequency of participation in ritual events, the predictor variables. For example, by change in one standard
social capital and disaster variables. These findings are deviation of the predictor variable (hazard awareness) will
meaningful in several respects. To begin with, only being a result in 28 percent change in the standard deviation of the
passive participant in the ritual event is not necessarily target variable (self reliance). It is important to notice that
important in terms of building social capital. Instead, how one bonding social capital, perceived gain from rituals and
gets involved in the rituals is important. It is true that every awareness is contributing to self reliance. In order to enhance
participant mayn’t share the same ritual spirit. Those who community resilience in Kishiwada, trust built through ritual
perceive benefit from the rituals and get actively involved to participation and social bonds at neighborhood level are
carry out ritual task can obviously contribute to the important.
development of networks and trust which are key components
of social capital. Later, social capital is expected to enhance The Goodness-of-Fit statistics for the model are: (x2 =
disaster resilience. 106.3, D.F. = 89, p = 0.101), RMSEA = 0.02, GFI = 0.951, NFI
= 0.897. The p value of 0.101 indicates that the estimated
Besides this, the results in table 1 also show a negative model is a close fit to the data and the difference between the
correlation between frequency of participation and perceived actual and estimated model is non-significant. The estimated
loss from the ritual event (r = - 0.125, p < 0.05). It indicates results confirm the validity of the model as a predictor of self
that people who participate quite often perceive less loss from reliance in case of disasters.
the event. It might be because people learn about the
significance of the event over time with regular participation. In view of these findings, Hypothesis 2 is verified. Social
capital built through rituals helps to enhance the awareness and
The findings in table 1 also reveal that hazard awareness is self reliance of people in Kishiwada.
positively correlated with bonding social capital (r = 0.254,
p<0.01), bridging social capital (r = 0.21, p<0.01), trust (r = VII. DISCUSSION
0.24, p<0.01) and perceived gain from the ritual (r = 0.147, p< This study examined the impact of ritual based social
0.05) (Table 1). Self reliance is positively correlated with trust capital on disaster awareness and self reliance. It revealed two
(r = 0.173, p<0.01). It reveals that increase in social capital interesting points: a) people perceiving benefit from the ritual
variables such as bonding social capital, bridging social capital event contributed in developing trust b) disaster resilience
and trust increases the hazard awareness and vice versa. Self interpreted in terms of self reliance and hazard awareness were
reliance increases when trust increases and the latter in turn predicted by trust, and trust in turn was predicted by perceived
increases with both bonding and bridging social capital. gain from ritual and bonding social capital. This study suggests
However, the multiple correlation analysis does not clearly that disaster resilience is based on social capital and social
identify how each social capital variable contributes to the events such as rituals play a significant role in building
development of hazard awareness and self reliance. For the community resilience.
shake of analytic validity and to show the path of linkages In an informal interaction, local residents in Kishiwada
between variables, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM, see showed a mixed response about Danjiri Matsuri. Some
Fig. 3) was performed with self-reliance as the dependent respondents were found positive about the matsuri as they
variable. In this study, resilience is understood in terms of regarded it as a fun and get together event. While, others
enhanced self-reliance. SEM indicated a linear path of linkage seemed to be pessimistic and revealed that Danjiri often invites
from other variables to self reliance. stampede. Despite these facts, in order to upkeep the resilience
of the community policy measures must focus on preserving
BoSc and promoting ritual practices.
0.86** Local people can make use of ritual infrastructure to cope
0.28* 1.46 ** with disaster risk. For instance, ritual store houses can serve as
SR HA T community disaster centers where first aid boxes and other
essential items can be stored for compelling immediate needs
0.47**
during response efforts in disaster. Open spaces where people
PG
gather during the rituals can serve as convergence points after
initial evacuation, and also provide space for medical assistance
Figure 3. Structure Equation Model. and rescue in disasters.

(BoSc-Bonding social capital; PG-perceived gain from ritual; T-Trust; HA- The relationship found between perceived gain from ritual,
Hazard awareness; SR – Self Reliance) trust and disaster resilience supports the view that more people
* Significant at 0.05, ** Significant at 0.001 work together under the ritual organization of Chonaikai, the
more they build trust among each other and towards the
institution. The more they trust the organization, more likely
The path is from trust to hazard awareness and self-reliance.
they try to seek information from this source and use it to
Trust is predicted by both bonding social capital and perceived
formulate their own disaster plans making them more self
gain from ritual. It is revealed that increase in trust results in an
reliant.
increase in hazard awareness and self reliance in the
community at Kishiwada. The main conclusion of the model is
 A major influence of social capital in enhancing disaster can lead to appropriate emergency action. Leaders of ritual
resilience is investigated through this study in a ritual based based organizations who are highly respected and trusted by
community of Japan. Our study suggests that it is important to local people can play the role of facilitators for community risk
understand the significance of cultural elements such as rituals reduction efforts.
in building social capital. The findings suggest that social
organizations involved in conducting ritual events are viable Since it is difficult for local residents to continuously show
sources to communicate disaster risk information to the public. their concern for local risk, some support from local
government for emergency management activities is also
VIII. IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS required. Collaborative efforts between ritual based
organizations and community based disaster risk management
The aforementioned analysis in this study suffered from organizations can be equally helpful in sustaining risk
generalisability of the findings. To begin with, it didn’t reduction efforts and activating the coping capacity of people.
consider how community utilizes its social capital at the time of In the study area, initiative has already been taken by
disaster. As the occurrences of natural disaster are community based disaster management organizations which
unpredictable, one can’t be certain whether the built-in social can be further enhanced by strategically using the ritual based
capital functions as expected in such uncertainties. If baseline organizations under Chonaikai.
data on pre-disaster and post-disaster comparative analysis
were available, a more convincing evidence of the use of social ACKNOWLEDGMENT
capital can be obtained in the case of natural disasters. Though
this investigation is a significant step forward, an in-depth The authors thank Habu Junior High School and Omiya
study on ritual based social capital during disasters in Elementary School in Kishiwada for their kind assistance
Kishiwada awaits further research. during the data collection in January, 2010. Also, special
thanks to the staffs at Kishiwada City Office, Osaka for their
Second, before pursuing a linkage between ritual event and valuable support during the field research.
social capital as presented in this study one needs to be
cautious. There are other events beside ritual which must have REFERENCES
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