Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 1
·
May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
77
themselves lost in the multiplicity of possible interpretations which are offered mainly by the
marketplace (Ishii 2009: 190-203). I suggest, however, that a more constructive perspective
should be considered when analyzing contemporary conditions.
Roots of many of the salient features of Shichigosan that characterize its present form
can be found in the 18
th
century urban setting of Tokyo. The pattern that developed in that
period offered sufficient space for the expression of the emerging urban culture. In the
subsequent decades and centuries, when an elaborated consumer culture gradually developed
in Japan, the urban pattern underwent further expansion. The impact of the marketplace
increased and this affected ritual culture in general. However, this impact cannot be seen as
occurring in a one-way process. Consumption is not solely an economic behavior, for it is
embedded in the social, religious, and historical context of the given culture (Sahlins 1972;
Douglas and Isherwood 1984; Miller 1987).
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The innovative activity of the market is often a
response to emerging needs from the side of the consumer, while at other times it can even
precede them and make previously unimagined goods and services desirable. However, in
each case the introduction and institution of new customs by the market is conditioned by the
acceptance of a wide segment of the individual members of society. This acceptance is
determined by cultural factors and must be congruent with existing values.
In the case of Shichigosan, its postwar development was encouraged by social
phenomena such as the transforming structure of the Japanese family, changing views on
children, declining birth rates along with changes in the overall lifestyle that brought the
Japanese family to seek new ways of identity affirmation, unity and harmony. Celebrations
such as Shichigosan can be excellent instruments by which these aims are at least partly
achieved. One of the most important functions of family rituals lies in their ability to
contribute to a symbolic constitution as well as reconfirmation of values to which the family
wishes to adhere. Besides, the case of Shichigosan shows us that consumption practices can
be viewed as an integral part in the process through which ‘ritual experience’ is created. Due
to the variety of choices for goods, services and celebration patterns available to the
observers, consumption becomes an interactive process between consumer-observer and
marketplace/media. Consumption, with its variability, diversity and plurality can thus be
interpreted as providing a platform where the creative and innovative part of molding the
30
More recent studies indicate that consumption and consumer behavior have a ritual dimension too
and hence its symbolic aspects need to be taken into account (Rook 1985; Belk et al 1989).
