[Special Version] "Kami-mukae"

The images are printed on handmade sun-dried Sekishu washi paper by Seigi Nishita, the 7th generation owner of Nishida Washi Kobo (Hamada City, Shimane Prefecture).

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《Product Overview》
Length 350mm x Width 230mm x thickness 25mm
Cover: Walnut cover, fully pasted with drained Sekishu kozo paper
Text: Concert fold binding, 22 pages
Original illustration: Sekishu kozo paper, mineral pigments Vermilion/ink
Painting: Sekishu kozo paper
Wasozuri -和奏刷- :Sekishu kozo paper 
Paste/Crest: Black foil embossed
Text: Silk printed 
Washi paper Thread: Sekishu mulberry paper, madder dyed
Box: Made of paulownia
Wrapping: Crepe furoshiki with crest

Includes English translation

[Package contents]
■[Special Edition] "Kami-mukae" - Oki Island/Takuhi Shrine 

■ Custom-made paulownia box
Delivered in a custom-made paulownia box. Paulownia has the property of expanding when humidity increases, increasing its airtightness and preventing moisture from entering the interior, and shrinking and releasing its own moisture when dry. You can keep it in beautiful condition for a long time.
Manufactured by Hakoyoshi Kiri Bakoten, founded in 1868(the first year of the Meiji era).

■ Ryusei Mizuno's original painting
This is a work depicting a shrine priest dancing Kagura in vermilion and ink on Sekishu board dried Japanese paper.
There are many kinds like the dance is performed with a bell in the left hand and a bell in the right, the figure of a shrine maiden dancing while holding a baby born that year, Sarutahiko and Kenrai no Kami, the god of war, appear to the beat of up-tempo music and so on..
All 50 paintings are different and with serial number.

■ Furoshiki wrapping with crest
Delivered wrapped in a crested chirimen furoshiki custom-made from Yamato in Yosano Town, Kyoto.

■ Wasozuri -和奏刷-
Printed Ryusei Mizuno’s picture on Sekishu Washi paper.
Recommend to be framed.

■ Leaflet
A leaflet with explanations about "Kami-mukae" and messages from project members.
You can learn more about the background.

[About delivery/office pickup]
Regarding delivery, we have general delivery delivered to your designated address.
Or you can choose to pick it up at Ichirindo office in Hase, Kamakura.

If you would like to pick up your order at the office, please select "Pick up in store" on the screen at the time of purchase.

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<Background of Production >
Produced under the concept of "writing and drawing the stories of Japanese gods on Japanese paper".
The first book is set at Takuhi Shrine in Nishinoshima, Oki Islands, Shimane Prefecture.
"Oki-Dozen Kagura" was dedicated at the annual festival on July 23, 2022.
We tried to express the world of it.

The gorgeous and rhythmic sounds of drums and gongs, the mysterious moments when gods and humans play together.
We would be happy if you could feel it.
The story is based on Kagura songs that have been sung for generations.

This "Special version" is made with the strong feelings of the production members, without any compromise.

Ryusei Mizuno's ink paintings are printed on Sekishu mulberry paper, handmade and sun-dried by Seigi Nishita, the 7th generation owner of Nishida Washi Kobo.
The original drawings (all 50 designs are different) are also included on the end of the page.
In addition, each original painting is made using madder-dyed washi thread made from Sekishu mulberry paper.
It is fastened by hand.

Mayumi Inagaki's text, based on Kagura songs, is screen printed in black.
Tatsumi Shiei's calligraphy and the crest on the back are stamped with black foil.

The binding is designed so that you can feel the toughness and suppleness of washi paper.
Everything is finished by hand.
In particular, the cover is entirely hand-covered with Sekishu mulberry paper.
Moreover, by dampening a part of the mulberry paper with water and running it through it, it became soft.
A traditional technique (mizukiri) in which the parts are gently torn apart creates a line that looks like a ray of light,
It is designed to look like a torii gate.
This is an art book that combines the latest printing technology and traditional crafts.

In addition, we put in a custom-made paulownia box made by Hakoyoshi paulownia box store, founded in 1868.
And wrapped in a crepe furoshiki with a crest, made by Yamafuji(furoshiki-manufacturer) in Kyoto.
We wrap and ship it with them.

[Special supervision: Takuhi Shrine 21st Chief Priest Michihito Matsuura]
The same goes for Kagura and festivals, but in everyday life the gods take on bodies that are not permanently stationed at shrines.
This is because the festival is repeated several times annually at the shrine, and the gods descends at that time.
Regular festivals at shrines are called regular festivals, and other festivals are called extraordinary festivals.
Also, in that sense, Kagura has always been an extraordinary festival.
Extraordinary festivals are not that rare, such as groundbreaking ceremonies and completion ceremonies.
In a sense, it is also a common event.
At that time, the place where the god descends is sealed off with a shimenawa rope and the place is purified before welcoming the god.
In this sense, temporary festivals are considered to represent the most primitive form of shrine worship.
Kagura is an easy-to-understand way to perform this through dramatic music and dance.
However, even though this is the principle, there are many different ways of expressing it depending on the place and the era.
As a result of its refinement, it has now become established as the Kagura culture of each region.

[Oki-Dozen Kagura]
"Kandomai" is a dance performed by a man holding a sakaki tree in his left hand and a fan in his right hand, without wearing a mask.
The Kagura song says,  "This place where the "nusa(staff with plaited paper streamers)"
stand is also Takamagahara, so
come and gather around, gods here and there."
They purge the place and invite gods together by dancing.

Then, around the time when Sarutahiko no Okami welcomes his descendants, the music gradually becomes faster and faster.
The atmosphere of the place changes drastically.
The "Zuishin" is a battle between a white-faced good god and a black-faced evil god, which is about promoting good and punishing evil, and has a lot of movement.
Laughter and applause naturally erupted in the scene where the evil god was banished.

And there is a shrine maiden dance called “Maiko”.
A shrine maiden (miko) dances holding a baby born that year under the age of one.
The dance prays for the new life to grow healthily, creates dense space-time by the power and virtue of gods.

The most distinctive feature of Oki Island Kagura is the up-tempo rhythm of three four time, played by hand-held gongs. and shime-daiko drums.
Go with the bright sound and rhythm and say"Yahaa, Yahaa, Yahahaa-ha".
Ryusei Mizuno depicts the moment people have a strange feeling, as if they are spending time with gods.

Currently, Oki-Dozen Kagura has been handed down by volunteers from all over the island as the Dozen Kagura Preservation Society.
Until around 1965, Kagura called Shake was not organized as a preservation society.
It had been handed down as a family secret by a special family that specializes in it.
Today, only one Ishizuka family remains.

[Kagura]
"Kagura" is a type of Shinto ritual ceremonial dance. The term is a contraction of the phrase "Kami no Kura" ("seat of god"), indicating the presence of gods (kami) in the practice. As darkness falls in the cedar grove of Takuhi Shrine, drums and songs praising the gods can be heard. The story starts from here.

People dancing and playing together, with a sense of the divine around them, looks truly joyful and seems to be the true expression of the spirituality within us. The biggest event at the Takuhi Shrine, "Reitaisai" (the Annual Festival), is held every two years. We invite you to enter the world of "Oki Dozen Kagura", which is performed here.

[Takuhi Shrine]
Takuhi Shrine is located halfway up Takuhi-Yama mountain, the highest mountain in Nishinojima, Oki County, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. It was built between the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century. It is believed that the shrine was founded one New Year's Eve when three sparks flew out of the sea and entered between the rocks where the present shrine building is located. Even today, people pray to the god of the Takuhi-jinja shrine to bring them to safety when the sea rages . The god of the Takuhi Shrine is revered as the guardian of maritime safety. This historical shrine was the subject of a waka poem by the 12th-century Emperor Go-Toba. Furthermore, it is also famous for being portrayed in Ukiyo- e paintings by Hiroshige and Hokusai.