中之条ビエンナーレ20252025.913（sat）～10.13（mon）六合エリア 野反ライン山口「山の神食堂～山犬軒にようこそ～」 In English

The First Plate (First Room) "Song of the Divine Insects"

In mountainous areas where records are scarce, sericulture is a valuable source of income. Not only in Kuni, but everywhere in the country, silkworms, which bring wealth to the people living in the mountains, are not just insects but are revered and called "Osansama" (Lord Silkworms).

In exchange for being fed to their heart's content with mulberry leaves, silkworms give up their lives. To humans, they are truly "divine insects" that have continued to provide the blessings of nature.

Like the bird and animal memorial tower at the entrance to the Yamaguchi section of the Nozori Line, there are many Tensan shrines throughout Japan. Before silk weaving technology was introduced to Japan, silk clothing, which connected China and Europe, has also been excavated from Roman ruins.

In Japan, as recorded in the Kojiki,(Japanese mythology) after Susanoo killed the princess Ouketuhime, silkworms sprouted from her head, along with the five grains of rice, millet, red beans, wheat, and soybeans, from her body. Isn't this appropriate to call them "divine insects"?

In this first plate (room), I tried to compare the fate of silkworms with that of humans. Silk has been a symbol of wealth since ancient times. This nested chain of what is taken and what takes has become even more pronounced since the advent of mechanized civilization. Gunma Prefecture is home to the Tomioka Silk Mill, a World Heritage Site.

As price competition intensified after the first mechanized silk mills, the value of both the insects and the women who worked there began to be underestimated. Lamentations by women working in silk mills began to be heard all over Japan. Women working all over Japan were forced to endure harsh labor.

The relationship between insects and humans is similar to that between people. In Japan, silk-related work has traditionally been carried out by women. This is why the poem, written from the perspective of the silkworm, uses the word "she."Second Plate

(Second Room) "Interaction with the Forest"

In this region, mountain gods are called "Junisama." Belief in mountain gods is found all over Japan, where there is little flat land and mountainous areas known as satoyama （Satoyama is a place where people's lives are closely intertwined with the surrounding mountains.）intersect with human activities. There are various theories about the origin of the name "Junisama," and their true identities include goddesses, monkeys, and one-eyed, one-legged gods, but just as mountains have many different personalities, there are also many different ways to interact with mountain gods.On the other hand, there seem to be many common taboos regarding mountains and mountain life.

For the second plate (room) of this project, I used the image of "Yama no Kamioroshi," a ritual performed in Niigata Prefecture. "Yama no Kamioroshi" is a ritual in which a blindfolded child around the age of 10 summons a mountain god to answer questions about good and bad fortune and troubles in mountain life.In modern times, the animals of the mountains and the humans of the villages have become more disconnected than before, and are now enemies fighting over territory. There are no longer any miko to act as intermediaries between the mountain gods and humans. Even human beings are still engaged in tragic territorial disputes.

In this region, it is said that the mountain wolf is one of the twelve angels. We hope that viewers will also feel the twelve messages that are usually inaudible, surrounded by the silhouettes of wolves (mountain dogs) slowly circling the perimeter of the room.

The Third Plate (Third Room) "The Table of the Gods"

This third plate (room) is my personal interpretation of the "Twelve Gods" of Mysticism. The people and animals of the mountains once had an extremely close relationship of "eater," "eaten," "killer," and "killed." In my personal belief in the mountain gods, 12 gods with animal heads sit around the dining table in this place, which was formerly a wild game restaurant.The waiters are Yamainu, one of the twelve angels. Incidentally, Yamainu waiters also stand at the entrances to the second and third rooms to guide you. The 12 animals represent 11 species that were once hunted in this region: deer, serow, fox, raccoon dog, rabbit, weasel, bear, monkey, pheasant, pheasant, and wild boar, plus silkworms.On the dining table were the remains of a dismembered ball-jointed doll, which to me is an item that symbolizes a "controlled human."

The inspiration for the title of this work comes from Miyazawa Kenji's children's story "The Restaurant of Many Orders," a tale of reckless modern people who get lost in the mountains and suffer the consequences, but we who live in modern times and show no respect for the taboos of the mountains also feel the same way. When you enter this room, it would be my pleasure if you felt the discomfort of having wandered into a place that doesn't belong, or the creepy feeling of someone's eyes staring at you from the two ventilation fans.