The purpose of this presentation is to consider the YouTube streaming of Kakeuta, which began as a response to Covid-19 restrictions, as resilience of tradition. Over the past 20 years or so, streaming of performing arts has flourished across various platforms, including YouTube, whether for commercial purposes or as a pastime. Reciprocal singing in East Asia is no exception, with numerous videos circulating on YouTube, TikTok, and others. Many of these appear to be clearly commercial in nature or reposts of commercially sold VCDs/DVDs.

Kakeuta is a traditional reciprocal singing transmitted in Akita Prefecture, Japan. Kakeuta Competitions, the main opportunity of performing Kakueta, are held at two separate shrines on their respective festival days. While it enjoyed considerable local popularity until the 1980s, the number of singers declined due to aging and failure of recruitment of new singers. By 2009, when I began my research, its popularity had significantly waned, resulting in less competitors and small audiences. Despite many efforts, this trend has continued since the 2000s, and eventually competition A was halted due to Covid-19 and remains suspended. 

However, Competition B has long sought to survive by changing its format, and even during Covid-19 restrictions, it maintained its annual event by holding a “special competition” streamed on YouTube. While the 2020 online format for Competition B was implemented at the request of the preservation society and singers, the online streaming has continued even after Covid-19 restrictions ended, with technical improvements made each year. Although the competition itself has fully returned to its pre-Covid-19 format, the YouTube archives remaining after the broadcast serve as resources for tradition transmission and as a second-best option for those unable to attend the venue. This YouTube livestream represents one of the indicators demonstrating the resilience of Kakeuta.