First published in Thailand 2019 by River Books Co., Ltd.
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Copyright collective work
© River Books 2019
Copyright texts
© John Lander 2019
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© John Lander 2019 except where indicated otherwise
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Editor: Narisa Chakrabongse
Production: Paisarn Piemmettawat
Design: Peter Cope / Ruetairat Nanta
ISBN 978 616 451 011
World Heritage Map of Japan
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Kasugayama Primeval Forest 春日山原始林 has been untouched for thousands of years. It stretches across a large area behind Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Logging and hunting have been prohibited here since the year 841 and this has preserved the forest as a rare ecosystem with over 175 species of tree, rare birds and wild animals, including the sacred wild deer that roam around central Nara by day, returning to Kasuga Forest at night.
Kamigamo Shrine 上賀茂神社 is the oldest Shinto shrine in Kyoto. Kamigamo Jinja has preserved the legends relating to the birth of its shrine deity, Wakeikazuchi. The Kamo Shinto gods protect Kyoto from malign forces. The area has many large oaks and weeping cherry trees coexisting in harmony. The austere conical sand mounds symbolize purity. Kamigamo Shrine was under Imperial patronage during the Heian period.
Daigoji 醍醐寺. Within its grounds, Daigoji houses eighteen of Japan’s national treasures. Among them are buildings belonging to Sanbo-in famous for the quality of its Japanese garden. The garden was laid out with a large pond, paths and bridges and is said to contain over 700 stones. Sanbo-in was designed for viewing from a specific perspective within the temple’s buildings. Laid out in the Momoyama period (1573-1615), the garden’s islands depict ‘fortuitous crane’, the ‘tortoise’ and the ‘isle of eternal youth’ – poetic terms that show stones and ponds can be poised in a prescribed, esoteric relationship.
HIROSHIMA 広島
At 8.15am on 6 August 1945 the first atomic bomb in human history was dropped on Hiroshima. Even though Hiroshima’s Industrial Promotion Building was almost directly underneath the explosion, it somehow avoided complete destruction.
However, the people who were inside at the time died instantly and the interior of the building was totally gutted. Its skeletal remains still stand today, desolate in the middle of Peace Park, to serve as a reminder to all of us of the hideous destruction that can be caused by an atomic bomb. The Peace Park Museum displays walls, otherwise white, stained with black rain, photos of victims’ backs with imprints from their clothing seared into their skin, charred children’s lunchboxes and other haunting reminders of this atrocity. The message is clear: never again.
On a far more peaceful note, not far from Hiroshima’s city center, visitors take a ferry
boat ride to the island of Miyajima, domain of Itsukushima Shrine. At the ferry landing, the visitor is greeted by the local inhabitants: wild deer which roam the village streets and the quay. After a short walk, the visitor sees the huge torii gate hovering in the sea as the watery gates to Itsukushima Shrine.
Looking back towards land, the shrine itself seems suspended over the water –a labyrinth of red lacquered pavilions sandwiched between the green forest behind and the ocean below. Inside and outside you wander down vast corridors. One hears the rustling of the trees overhead and the sloshing of the sea below. From a veranda the visitor again sees the torii out at sea from a different viewpoint, for Itsukushima opens directly onto the sea and is part of it, seeking not to overwhelm, but to charm by its very uniqueness.
Itsukushima is not merely a shrine or a view, it is an experience.
Washoku 和食 traditional Japanese cuisine has drawn attention from all over the world for being healthy, decorative and delicious. It is simultaneously simple yet complicated, plain yet sophisticated. Seasonal specialties play an important role in Japanese cuisine. Preparation involves maximizing natural flavors of the ingredients, while enhancing their beauty through artful presentation. The most accessible version of this cuisine for most Japanese is the New Year’s feast.
Chakkirako チャッキラコ is a folk dance that blesses the harvest and prosperity for the New Year for the townsfolk of Misaki, located at the tip of the Miura Peninsula. The chakkirako ritual is a traditional event held in this fishing port famous for its tuna markets. Girls aged 5 to 12 perform dances to music holding fans and bamboo sticks called chakkirako. There is no established theory behind the origin of the ritual, but it has been performed as a prayer for a good catch of fish since the Edo period.
Gagaku 雅楽 literally means ‘elegant music’ and was originally performed exclusively at the Japanese imperial court for formal banquets and sacred rituals. Since gagaku had always been associated with the imperial court and was hardly ever heard by common people, it consequently remained static for centuries. Today it is also often performed during ceremonies at temples and shrines and also as accompaniment to bugaku dance performances. The instruments used are: koto or Japanese zither, biwa or Japanese lutes, flutes and traditional Japanese oboes, drums and mouth organs.
