Vol.22
Forest of Thought
Tsuwano Kokugaku as a Source of Modern Shinto｜Koremi Kamei, Takamasa Okuni, and Kumaomi Oka
In the Tsuwano Domain of Shimane lies a decisive site where the foundations of modern Shinto were laid. The lord Koremi Kamei and the Kokugaku scholar Kumaomi Oka formed the source of "Tsuwano Kokugaku," and Takamasa Okuni sublimated its base. Japanese history always begins in small places, never in the capital.
Kunitsukami Project
The Gateway into Izumo Province｜The Town of Isotake and the Karakami Shiragi Shrine in Iwami
In Isotake Town, Oda City, Shimane Prefecture, stands Karakami Shiragi Shrine, which enshrines the deity Karakami. Climb the cape and the Shimane Peninsula, where Izumo Taisha rests, spreads out, and it is clear that this was the gateway into Izumo Province. The gateway from Silla to the Japanese archipelago may have been the Izumo to Iwami region, not northern Kyushu.
KINEMA 2400
The Mu Carved on Yasujiro Ozu's Grave Was Something He Found on the Battlefield
On Yasujiro Ozu's gravestone at Engakuji in Kita-Kamakura is carved a single character, "Mu" (nothingness). The "mu" on the stone was not a beautiful conclusion reached in his later years but something he gained on the battlefield. Ozu made no war film for the next seventeen years and went on filming what remains after people are gone.