Reki-jo as a Otaku Group
As explained in the abstract Reki-jo are part of the much larger Japanese Otaku culture. Otaku is a term that historically has been used as an insult to describe "hobby-obsessed freaks" in Japan, but as time has gone on the term, has somewhat been less demonized. For some Otaku is seen as a term to describe a group that is a big fan of something. There is Otaku for all sorts of interest from military otaku, to train otaku, to the most well-known type of anime and manga otaku. Many smaller otaku subgroups overlap with the larger manga and anime otaku. This is convenient as most Otaku tend to talk to each other through virtually bound spaces. However having a space-bound to an overall sense of being an Otaku, such as the biannual event of Comiket, pictured below, allows for groups to meet up and feel safe sharing their hobbies in physically bound spaces. This is the case for Reki-jo who enjoy historical Otaku pop culture. They tend initially talk in virtual spaces such as the web app Mixi. However, after a sense of trust is reinforced through many discussions of history with other Reki-jo online, some might want to geek out in person with others so a physical spot to meet at is planned and set. Meeting in person allows Reki-jo to do in-person activities together, such as historical dress up, historical debates and, reenactments of battles. These activities help to further reinforce the group's identity. Even for Reiki-jo who could not make it to the event, they are still able to feel connected via the shared photos and experiences from those who attended documented on digitally bound spaces for the group.
Reki-jo and Pop-Spirtalism Tourism
Japanese women have been some of the biggest participants in heritage tourism since the 1970s. However it was not until the mid-2000s with the emergence of pop culture set in Pre-modern Japan started coming out that there was an influx of surprisingly young women visiting Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, and historical sights to gain spiritual power and pay homage to different real historical figures, Shinto kami (gods), and the Buddha. After seeing the pop culture depictions of real historical figures as handsome and young men, many of whom were considered the historical losers of battles and rebels who met their ends in their prime. The Reki-jo would tend to sympathize with the historical figures. Some even formed an instinct to want to support them. They then form a psychological and spiritual connection to the figure and desire to visit historical sites dedicated to the figure to pay homage. This sense of pop spiritualism is what differentiates Reki-jo pop culture-based tourism from other forms of Otaku pop pilgrimage tourism, where other Otaku go to sites featured in pop culture for fun without a deeper psychosocial connection.
Reframing History for Locals via Partnership
For some locals in historic towns, the way Reki-jo frame historical figures based on the Japanese pop-cultural media they consume has reframed the way local residence from historically important figures towns view themselves, and that figure. An example of this can be seen in the town of Nagahama City, the birthplace of the famous Warring States Period Samurai Ishida Mitsunari. This Samurai is well known among folks who know Japanese history for being the commander of the western army during the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara, of which he lost and was executed. Due to being a historical loser, he was not very popular among locals who lived in his hometown for decades. With younger locals in the past sometimes complaining about setting up and having to host an annual memorial to a warrior who died and lost hundreds of years ago. This way of looking at Mitsunari changed in the mid-2000s, due to depictions of him as an attractive young man in pop culture media such as in the video games Sengoku Muso and Sengoku BASARA. These romanticized depictions of the samurai caused a surge of Reki-jo to become interested in the losing warrior and resulted in the revitalization of tourism in the small town of Nagahama City. Because of their passion and their believed “spiritual connection” to the figure of Ishida Mitsunari some Reki-jo actually, go out of their way to and travel from far out of town to help local people set up for the annual memorial service to Mitsunari. The combined hospitality of locals towards the tourist and tourists towards the locals has allowed both parties to exchange their understandings of history and take away a reframed reflexivity of the historical figure of Mitsunari not as a losing warrior but a rebel who represents Japanese identity.
Combining Pop Culture and Historical Content for a New Type of Performance
The revitalized interest in Japanese history among Reki-jo women has led to a desire among some historic town’s local residences to work together with Reki-jo as seen in the example of Nagahama City. Another example of this can be seen in the tourism revitalization of the Northern Japan Miyagi prefecture town of Shiroishi City. A town where famous Japanese military commander Katakura Kojuro (1557-1615) lived. Due to Kojuros’s depiction as a young attractive main character in the 2006 game Sengoku BASARA2 HEROS. There was a sudden surge in visitors to Shiroishi City, especially among women in their 20s and 30s. At first, the tourism board was very confused by this apparent influx of tourists. However, after researching the game and talking to fans of the series they saw the economic and touristic advantage this pop culture-induced revitalized interest in their community historical heritage had. Because of the overall interest in Kojuro by groups of Reki-jo and other demographics of fans of the Sengoku BASARA series, the tourism bored worked together with these individuals to create a festival catered to the game’s fans.
Starting in 2008 a festival is held annually at the Shiroishi main castle. Where people come dressed up in Sengoku period samurai armor and reenact the historic 1615 Battle of Domyoji from the Summer Siege of Osaka Castle, a battle that was led by Kojuro. By seeing the performance of historical events flow together via performance in modern-day the hope is that tourists can combine their contemporary understanding of the Sengoku period with the understood real historical content.
This then demonstrates that through a process of combining people’s personal externalizations of historical figures or time periods through the pop culture they consume, with the traditional accounts of real historical text written about figures and events. The emergence of a new traditional and modern framework of historical contents has occurred. This pop-cultural and historical framework has allowed young women, a group not commonly associated with a more stereotypically masculine hobby of enjoying Japanese history, to come together with local communities to create a way to revitalize historical heritage tourism in certain areas. To ensure that the legacy of the area’s unique history is experienced, understood, and enjoyed by the largest outcome of people.
