LAND OF THE RISING SUN
After the clouds, there is the sky.
I am travelling in Japan this week. Even though I have made more than 50 international trips over the decades, it’s my first visit to Japan.
While much of the world – or more correctly the world I read about, listen to and see on my screens in South Africa, is aflame with conflict, Japan presents an ancient truth; respect – not subservience, dignity & reverence. And this is exactly how I experience it. No clouds, just sky.
I feel like I have temporarily ‘escaped’ from Trump’s intolerant America. The bombs & drones raining down on Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, Israel & Iran. It feels like it is happening on the other side of the world while I revel in the tranquillity of the Japanese, their attention to the smallest detail and their ability to delight in their own magical culture.
I will try to give you a short summary of the foundational principle of Japanese culture & spirituality.
Shinto is central to the essence of being Japanese, meaning "the way of the gods," Japan’s indigenous religion. It lacks a founder, a central text, and a formal dogma, but emphasizes harmony with the natural world and the presence of kami [spirits or deities] in all things – the importance of purity and harmony are central to being Japanese.
The Ise Grand Shrine is one of the most sacred Shinto shrines. Ise Jingu is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu and is rebuilt every 20 years, symbolizing renewal and continuity – the Japanese respect for continuity, whilst believing that renewal is the only pathway to the future. A very Japanese teaching for all of us.
Japan is both ancient and super modern.
It inhabits the spirit of Shinto and Buddhism.
In public spaces you are asked not to raise your voice,
in some, not to use your voice at all.
It shifts you a gear down. It demands tolerance from you.
It is the land of the Bullet train and the ancient tea ceremony, Chado,
it is inhabited by both Emperor and Democracy,
it is the land of Toyota, Muji & Anime.
Tradition and Progressive are the animating spirits.
Here respect comes easily, because it is given in abundance.
But be not mistaken, during WWII evil infected the Japanese spirit to such an extent that it took two atom bombs to stop them. A moment of madness.
In a brand new art gallery, celebrating modern Asian art, which I visited today on the island of Naoshima, I read this summary of a big art installation by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. It spoke to me – I hope it will speak to you.
“My work communicates a universal message, relevant even today, that life and death, and light and darkness, exist side by side.”
To that I say アーメン = Amen