This dissertation explores how residents of rural Japan respond to challenges associated with ongoing demographic change through participation in local ritual practices. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews, Grafstrom examines two ritual performance traditions in Akita Prefecture, located approximately 500 kilometers north of Tokyo along the coast of the Sea of Japan. In recent decades, Akita has experienced significant demographic shifts, including “super-aging,” declining birthrates, rural-to-urban migration, and overall population decline. These developments have disrupted everyday social life, altered community relationships, and placed considerable strain on the maintenance and transmission of local traditions practiced across generations. Grafstrom focuses on Yamaya Bangaku (a form of ritual dance) and Miyoshi Bonden (a Japanese “fighting festival”) both of which are associated with mountain worship traditions centered on Akita’s Mt. Taihei.
Drawing on theoretical concepts from Rural Studies and Ritual Studies, Grafstrom argues that demographic change has produced institutional and structural transformations in both Yamaya Bangaku and Miyoshi Bonden. These transformations, in turn, have affected the social functions of the rituals, the relationships formed through participation, and the processes through which local identity is constructed.
Ben Grafstrom successfully defended his thesis on 12 June 2026.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: Ritual Theory Today: Major Approaches, Their Limitations, and Insights from Rural Japan.
Evaluation committee
- Associate Professor Timo Thelen, Kanazawa University (first opponent)
- Assistant Professor Paulina Kolata, Harvard University (second opponent)
- Professor Aike Peter Rots, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Professor Kathinka Frøystad, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Mark Teeuwen, University of Oslo
- Professor Susanne Klien, Hokkaido University