I visited Mashiko-machi Tochigi Prefecture with my family for the first time in a while.
The purpose was to enjoy the Hijisai (Festival) but above all, to see a piece of work of my friend, Masaya Hashimoto, which was displayed at Yamamoto Hachimangu shrine.
I am not going into details as the exhibition is still under way but Masaya-san told me that his work “Fumon/Suikyo” (Wind-wrought pattern/Water-mirror) was inspired by his experience.
When he was walking in a mountain in Tochigi for a research, there was a mountain stream dried up with just a small puddle in a hollow of a rock. As it became dark, the little puddle started to reflect the light of the sky and he realized that the water was a mirror to project the sky. He mentioned that the experience led him to create the work in the more concrete way.
When we arrived at the shrine, one of the locals taught us that the object of worship enshrined here was said to be a ”Mirror” that had been “disappeared”.
It was also said that the Chozubachi (a washbowl) that could be found near the entrance, was not for cleansing your hands and mouth but for cleansing yourself by reflecting yourself in its filled water.
Masaya-san did not know about these stories when he was walking in the mountain for the research.
May be, it was a turn of fate that the power of “Mirror” brought.
When I look into his work placed in the shrine where the light in the morning shines dimly, I see my shadow.
The more I approach to see the work, the more I see my shadow in the mirror of the water. What a contradiction.
Once I left the shrine, I felt myself cleansed and I thought it was probably a gift conferred by Masaya-san’s encounter with the land.
Reference: “Hijisai 2018” (Official guide book)/The Hijisai Office