Japanese Traditional Culture

Traditional Culture and Me (Shirasu Shinya)

Vice Chairperson of  Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association
Shinya Shirasu

Vice Chairperson of  Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association, Shinya Shirasu / Photo: Mika Kitamura

My name is Shinya Shirasu, and I have been appointed as vice chairperson of Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association. I look forward to working with you.

When I think of “Traditional Culture and Me”, The first thing that comes to mind is the journey of Prince Shotoku, which began with a casual conversation with my grandmother, Shirasu Masako, during the winter break of my fifth year of elementary school. I accompanied her on a reporting trip from Mt. Miwa to Horyuji Temple and Prince Shotoku's tomb on the other side of Mt. Nijo, and I majored in archaeology as a student. It was also when I entered university and started living with my grandparents that I learned that the dirty dishes I use every day and the objects that were enshrined in good places in my house belonged to the category of “Antiques". I'm not one to be “The soul of three children", but the experience I gained in my youth is the foundation of who I am today, and that experience has continued to be my livelihood to this day.

If I were to roughly describe our traditional culture in one word, I think we are geniuses who have found “Beauty" in “Transience". In contrast to the “Eternal Beauty" of stone and marble as typified by Greek temples, our culture is patched up without resisting the flow of time, and we express the “Pathy of things" that appear and disappear in a variety of ways, such as the fleeting cherry blossoms that bloom in spring and the waxing and waning of the moon, and we express a single ingredient as “Early, in season, and late". I have tried to write about how unique our culture is in the world, but I think that now is the last chance to connect our traditional culture.

Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has turned its eyes to the world, and since the defeat in the war, the country has opened its doors to the world at an accelerating pace, with the Tokyo Olympics being held in the following years during the period of high economic growth, but to put it another way, I think that Japan has achieved economic growth by discarding the “Traditions" of the past that are right under its feet. Traditional culture is something that “Circulates" without being consumed, and the genre of “Antique Art" that I love is a prime example of this, and it (should) play the role of passing the baton to the next generation as a “Temporary Custodian" of things that have been passed down through the generations. I sincerely hope that this attempt will help in that regard, but first of all, it would be ideal if people could deepen their individual interests by learning widely, and I would like to use this as an opportunity to come into contact with cultures that I am unfamiliar with.

Writer, Art Producer