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Haven of the Heart: Nara  Author: Miro Ito

Translated by Andreas Boettcher

Author Miro Ito’s photographs strike a chord close to the core of Japan’s religions that permeates the historic strata of Nara’s temples and shrines; each of her images has an atmosphere that seems to make the existence of deities tangible.

These are highly artistic images worthy of large coffee-table books. However, in keeping with the author’s desire of making this volume accessible to a wider audience, it is put together in regular-sized photo-essay format. Nonetheless, the impact of the photographs is not lost, vividly conveying the author’s impressions of “the haven of the heart, Nara”. A lot of care went into the artwork of the book jacket design; and if one removes it, one finds an unexpected golden embossed image on the book surface.

It is also fascinating that this book includes messages of some of Nara’s representative scholars such as Abbot Emeritus Kosei Morimoto of the Todaiji Temple, Myogen Nishiyama of the Toshodaiji Temple, Taizen Tsujimura, the head monk of the Gangoji Temple as well as Akio Okamoto, Chief Shinto priest of the Kasuga-taisha Shrine. Although their ability to easily speak about how to lead one’s life is astonishing, each of their words reaches heart of the reader.

With this year being the 1300^th anniversary of’ Nara’s establishment (under its original name of Heijokyo), the message of this book is even more appropriate.

[This Week’s Recommendation]

ManzaiRaku: Extensively and leisurely observing, to the farthest horizon…

Works of Mannojo Nomura by Miro Ito

Published by Nihon Camera / JPY3,990

Profile of Miro Ito

Photographer/author. After graduating Keio University (major: aesthetics and fine art history), she studied philosophy at the Ruhr University in Bochum as well as photography and applied art in the faculty of communication design at Essen University in Germany.

Portrait of a young kyogen master whose career once flourished…

(reviewed by Akiko Moriyama, Professor of the Musashino University of Art, translated by Andreas Boettcher)

One might wonder why Japanese society needs kyogen master Mannjo Nomura on the cusp of the 21^st century. With every flip of the page in the photo book “ManzaiRaku”, a deep emotion starts to stir. The prelude to Nomura’s great success was his stage direction of the closing ceremony of the Nagano Winter Paralympics in 1998. Since then he has had a strikingly successful career that took off with his own initiatives such as “Shingigaku” and “Mask Road” projects in 2001.

His “Shingigaku” was a recreation of gigaku (*1) performances with 23 masks that were replicas of originals preserved in the Shoso-in Treasury of the Todaiji Temple (*2).  While his Shingigaku performance was expanded to South and North Korea as well as the United States, his family’s school of “Yorozu Kyogen” performed in several European and American cities. Moreover, he endeavoured to develop new genres such as “Kaidan Kyogen (kyogen of ghost stories)”, “Onna Kyogen (kyogen by women) as well as “Reproduction: Okuni Kabuki” until his death on 10^th June 2004.

Miro Ito started to photograph Mannojo Nomura at his Shingigaku perfomance in Washington D.C. in 2002, while she was residing in the United States. Her digital images succeed in capturing the steep career of this visitor’s (*3) last years. Nomura’s candle burned out before he could become the 8th head of the traditional kyogen family of Manzo Nomura, whose family guidance is “Extensively and Leisurely Observing, to the Farthest Horizon…”.

At the end of this volume, 66 people have paid their respective tributes, including Yasuhiro Nakasone (Chairman of the Japan-Korea Cooperation Committee) (*4). Each of their messages contains expectation as well as sorrow. Mannojo’s own words clearly explained why: “the 21^st Century is said to be the Asian Era. Shingigaku is capable of conveying what Asia is, and it heralds the advent of an era of sharing culture rather than exchanging it” (quote from Mannojo Nomura’s book Mask road : maboroshi no gigaku saigen no tabi [literally: Mask road: journey to the revived phantom of gigaku]).

It certainly seems to be the common desire of Mannojo Nomura, Miro Ito, and all the others involved in this book, that Japan foster cultural exchange by sending its sharable culture westward along the Silk Road.

Translator`s Notes:

(*1) Gigaku is probably the oldest Asian mask theater.

(*2) The Shoso-in Treasury (at the Todaiji Temple) in Nara has a collection of treasure from the 8^th century.

(*3) Marebito is the original Japanese term (literally, visitor).

(*4) Former prime minister of Japan (1982-1987)

Title: ”Home of Life and Prayer “Nara(Book)

Translated by Andreas Boettcher

Miro Ito, photographer and author who has mainly been active in Europe and the United States, published her photo essay “Kokoro no sumika nara: inochino kongen narumono to no deai (literally, Haven of the Heart, Nara: Encounter with the fundamentals of life)” by Random House Kodansha (*1) price: JPY 1,905 (excl. tax).

One of her images from a sequence of butoh performances was selected as official poster for the 2006 Venice Biennale – Dance Section. While she has successfully been active overseas, she encountered the events of 9.11 in NYC. Immediately after that, she found the message expressed by Abbot Emeritus Shoen Hashimoto at his inaugural address dedicated to the Great Buddha: “equality and solidarity” and “tolerance and perseverance” on the internet and “was moved by the universal appeal of these words that transcend the diversity of religions”.

In an endeavour to research Japan’s rich spiritual culture, she temporary relocated there in 2004. While visiting Nara’s shrines and temples and participating in its Buddhist rituals, she became convinced that this city is a haven of life and prayer preserving teachings of “what it means to live and let live”, where “the conviction that Nara is a haven of life and prayer preserving the teachings on what it means to live and let live”, while visiting the city’s shrines and temples and participating in its Buddhist rituals.

The book includes some 40 photographs of the “Omizutori (*2)” ritual of Todaiji’s Nigatsudo Hall, ceremonies of Toshodaiji as well as Gangoji Temple. Interviews with such prominent personages as Kosei Morimoto (Abbot Emeritus of Todaiji Temple) and Akio Okamoto (head priest of Kasuga-taisha Shrine) are also introduced.

She is planning to publish her second book related to Nara and stated that she “wants to tackle this as her life’s work since the spiritual culture in Nara is the common heritage of all peoples.” (by Yasuo Hayakawa, The Yomiuri Shimbun)

Translator’s note:

*1) Random House Kodansha is now known as Takeda Random House since April 2010.

*2) The formal name of “Omizutori” is Shunie (February Ritual).