Kirk here coming back to the Fujisakigu festival. I found a book in my university’s library that presents interesting information about the festival (see cover image). On pages 78 and 79, it says that in 1982, public dissatisfaction with the involvement of yakuza in the festival (apparently, yakuza groups were shaking down folks in town by demanding “contributions” to fund their participation in the festival) and the abuse of horses. In response, a “Fujisakigu Reitasai Decorated Horse Supervisory Committee” was established and a set of rules written up and distributed. In 1983, four groups that were found to be in violation of the rules were banned from the festival the following year. Impressive! But, the author doesn’t say (at least not in this part of the chapter) whether or not such enforcement of rules was continued in following years.
This got me wondering about contemporary rules that the groups must follow. I found an application for on the shrine’s website that requires all participating groups to follow rules established by the shrine but I couldn’t find the set of rules itself. If they are really committed to enforcing a set of rules, I think that publishing them for all to see would be a good start. Indeed, the animal rights group I quoted in my last message complained that the shrine had not yet responded to a request for a clear list of rules (but this was a few years ago).