Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
to the understanding that Kasama Inari-ko have the strong characteristic of being
a collective worship organization of believers, rather than a social function used
for bonding in cities and rural areas. The dogyo nakama ko were widely distrib-
uted throughout Kanto over 50 km from Kasama Inari .
2. The doshoku nakama ko were formed in workplaces or by professional associa-
tions, meaning the ko were based on organizations that were originally created for
a purpose other than that of worshiping at Kasama Inari . This category includes
ko organized at workplaces to pray for commercial prosperity, factory safety, and
ko organized by professional organizations, such as wholesale, production, or
fi shing associations. These ko were usually distributed near Kasama Inari, mainly
in Ibaraki, Mito, Ishioka, Tomobe, Dejima, Tsuchiura, and Shimodate. These ko
were easy to form because the members shared the same workplace and associa-
tion, but the functionality of the ko was rather low and the continuity of belief
weak. About 30 % of Kasama Inari - ko belonged to this category.
Municipalities can be classifi ed by the category of Kasama Inari - ko (Fig. 3.9 ).
In about half the municipalities within 50 km of Kasama Inari, 60 % of ko were
doshoku nakama ko (same occupational peer type) instead of dogyo nakama ko ,
which had a lower connection with worship. Within 50 km, few municipalities con-
tained organized ko, and this characteristic is particularly signifi cant in the northern
sector of Kasama Inari .
Most of the municipalities where dogyo nakama ko account for more than 60 %
are distributed within an area of 50-150 km in the western and southern sectors of
the Kasama Inari area. Most of these ko were organized by believers in Kasama
Inari . Village volunteers formed a dogyo nakama ko in agricultural and fi shery rural
areas, mainly in Chiba, Saitama, and Ibaraki. In urban areas such as Tokyo, most ko
were formed by commercial and industrial groups, with their peers from street mer-
chant associations and business partners. Some of those ko delegated the arrange-
ment of buses and accommodation for those worshiping at Kasama Inari to tourist
agencies.
These data reveal fi rst that the worship style of groups concurrently incorporat-
ing functions of both belief and recreation can be observed in areas over 50 km from
Kasama Inari; and second that few municipalities close to Kasama Inari had Kasama
Inari - ko, and most of those ko consisted of peers from the same occupation.
Figure 3.10 shows the ratio of members of Kasama Inari - ko to the population by
municipality. This fi gure reveals Kasama town had the highest ratio of ko members
per population of 10,000 with 219 members. More than half (58 %) of municipali-
ties within 50 km of the shrine did not have any ko, showing these areas had a low
density of religious association members. About 55 % of the municipalities within
50-100 km had ko , which were organized downstream of the Tone River
(Kawachimachi with 201, Asahi City with 128, Takomachi with 123, Iiokamachi
with 106, Kurimotomachi with 105, Kaijomachi with 103, and Sakuragawamura
with 101), in areas from the southwest of Tochigi Prefecture to North Katsusika and
Higashi Katsushika, and the northern areas of Tochigi (Yuzukamimura with 199 and
Kurobanemachi with 116) at a high ratio to their population. The areas with a high
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