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The future that fascinated me
has become a ruin.
People believed in the beauty of technological progress.
It carried the expectations of the era, the nation and so on.
It represented primitive human nature.
The tower was right in the center of the huge Expo site,
Like a god of the festival.
It was made in 1970 when Expo "70-Osaka was held.
. There you saw things you had never seen before,
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator going on and on.
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator It was like a futuristic city with many pavilions.
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
That image struck me vividly.
People in Japan were blown away.
Kids were still playing with tops.
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director Kids were still playing with tops.
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director We poor kids suddenly saw
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director
spaceships, robots, computers, laser beams, moving sidewalks,
and dome screen movies, with their own eyes.
Those things belonged to the TV world. It was Sci-Fi.
In the 21st century, technology would progress,
Art Critic In the 21st century, technology would progress,
Art Critic
Art Critic and all problems of the 20th century, like poverty and wars,
and all problems of the 20th century, like poverty and wars,
would be perfectly solved by technology.
People said that the entrance to this new century
would be Expo “To.
I was a kid, purely and innocently astonished, but
I'm sure that even adults were quite amazed.
An adult man asked a foreigner who just happened to walk by
for an autograph.
Foreign countries existed only on TV.
That's why 64 million Japanese visited the event.
Japan held the Expo to jump ahead of the world.
The time of technology and space was coming.
In other words, old was bad and new was good.
To represent the concept, they needed not “established art',
but "never-seen art”.
You had to show art that didn't exist in Europe.
The only choice was avant-garde.
For example, Tadanori Yokoo produced the Textiles Pavilion
and Katsuhiro Yamaguchi produced the Mitsui Group Pavilion.
All the pavilions were so extraordinary that they didn't look like buildings.
It was still the Cold War era.
The USSR made the tallest pavilion, at 109 meters.
On the contrary, the USA made
a very flat pavilion with an air-inflated structure.
The theme of both was space development.
The USA focused on the Apollo Program, exhibiting a moon rock.
That was an icon of the Expo.
The USSR showed a bunch of spaceships hung in a huge room.
The fight for dominance between the two countries
took the form of Expo exhibitions.
Expo was a place to show how modern civilization had
Anthropologist Expo was a place to show how modern civilization had
Anthropologist
invented wonderful things one after another.
It was like a trade show for industrial technology,
but the visitors were the general public.
Previous Expos made villages and put indigenous people there.
Visitors watched them Like a safari tour.
People also saw educated indigenous people,
wearing uniforms and working.
They were showcased next to naked people with spears.
As a result of modern education,
savage people became semi-civilized. Before and after.
Industrialization and technical progress were
the best way for human beings to be happy.
To make the general public understand this
was the big hidden purpose of Expo.
So "Progress and evolution are virtue and justice
was the concept.
New development will start in the 21st century.
We must build our high-standard culture and ideal lifestyle.
In the urban areas, Skyscrapers will rise up,
and completely overwhelm the old century's cityscape.
. The theme of Expo '70 was Progress and Harmony for Mankind.
It suggested that we think about the subject together.
Art Historian
Art Historian Taro Okamoto rebelled against it.
Art Historian
Progress functions backwards. We are losing our real lives,
the integrity of our lives, our bodies and physicality.
I myself have deep doubts about progress.
You say Apollo ls progress. Progress to what?
- There are many bad effects, Like pollution, caused by progress,
but Taro thought the theme ignored them.
They said “harmony” but ignored civil wars and ethnic conflicts.
Harmony in Japan had also been made with compromises.
Everyone compromised for superficial harmony.
Taro didn't reject the theme, but used it ironically.
Mankind hadn't achieved progress or harmony -
Taro used that as his theme.
There was no harmony at that time.
Values were overturned in the midst of turbulent times.
Many things in society were upset.
Scholar of Japanese Fine Arts
Optimistic futurism.
The cult of technology.
The only thing that completely opposed
those ideas in the history of Expo was the Tower of the Sun.
The only one.
The incongruity of the Tower of the Sun
is overwhelming. It's still standing out there,
Social Designer
Social Designer and families have picnics around that strange tower.
Social Designer
I first thought "What the heck is it?”
Indescribable.
I couldn't tell if it was sculpture, architecture or art.
A strange mixture, like future and ancient times colliding.
Absolutely useless.
It's not symmetrical, it's kind of twisted.
Explorer
Somehow it looks joyful.
Explorer
The arms are like this, welcoming something.
Dancer The arms are like this, welcoming something.
Dancer
The arms go...
Dancer
Dancer , Upward. That's why it gives a good aura.
, Upward. That's why it gives a good aura.
If they were I inward, the aura would be negative.
Like this, you know.
It's alright!
It stands majestically.
It's always looking at me.
Some kids are scared to go in.
A mom? A dad? Maybe I'm thinking too much.
The curved lips are a bit funny.
It looks like it's sulking.
Maybe because it's alone now.
The Tower of the Sun was the pavilion
which hosted the main exhibition of Expo '70.
Taro was appointed to create
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator Taro was appointed to create
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator the facility for the theme exhibition.
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
I read a book about how Taro was appointed for the role.
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun I read a book about how Taro was appointed for the role.
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
The Ministries didn't avoid choosing him,
daring to take a risk.
Maybe, society itself was young and vital in a way.
Ordinary ways wouldn't catch the West.
They chose Taro, not based on solid reasoning,
but more like a gamble, I guess.
What Taro actually did was
Professor of French Philosophy What Taro actually did was
Professor of French Philosophy
Professor of French Philosophy far beyond the bureaucrats' intentions.
Far beyond the bureaucrats' intentions.
As an avant-garde artist, he had stood against
, power and authority. so I'm sure he felt conflicted to work
for the state.
Everyone around him tried to dissuade him.
I assume he thought it over and over,
and decided to go one step further.
He thought he could make a myth strong enough
to control scientific/technological civilization.
That was his aim, I think.
To surpass the progress of science and technology,
imagination or vision
can be created only by artists.
This incredible idea came to Taro's mind.
The Tower of the Sun is 70 meters high,
so it's a huge structure, not just an art piece.
The architect in charge was...
Sub-Producer for Expo 70 Theme Exhibition The architect in charge was...
Sub-Producer for Expo 70 Theme Exhibition
Sub-Producer for Expo 70 Theme Exhibition a fairly meticulous person.
A fairly meticulous person.
I received, at the office,
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun I received, at the office,
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun a 1/100th scale model of the tower.
A 1/100th scale model of the tower.
How should I make blueprints?
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun I made a replica,
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun and had a model maker slice It IN one—-centimeter Increments.
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
I made a cast of the shape,
to outline the tower.
This curve was different from one familiar to the Japanese.
For example, the curve of temple roofs
is dynamically natural, but the tower wasn't typical.
It wasn't structurally beautiful at all in the drawing.
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun It wasn't structurally beautiful at all in the drawing.
Design Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
I thought the form wasn't beautiful,
Shotcrete Engineer for the Tower of the Sun I thought the form wasn't beautiful,
Shotcrete Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
Shotcrete Engineer for the Tower of the Sun but quite grotesque.
Shotcrete Engineer for the Tower of the Sun
Back then, Kisho Kurokawa and Arata Isozaki were in their 30s.
They were talented emerging architects.
Their assistants were mostly mid and late 20s.
So, there was an energetic mood among US.
A “we were selected” kind of atmosphere
filled the office at that time.
We were inspired by each other and went full throttle.
The entire society was full of energy.
Taro wanted the surface bumpy.
Like you threw some mud balls at the surface.
Not an industrial surface, but a more natural texture
was what he pursued.
It was huge. Massive.
I realized that we were making something extraordinary.
Even then, it was a special feeling.
When I looked up at it on the site,
the perspective was very close.
The 20-meter body and the 12. 5-meter face looked
enormously huge, but the top
looked extremely small.
It was like an unknown monster.
Taro proposed the Tower of the Sun,
which punched a hole in Kenzo Tange's Big Roof.
Big Roof was a prototype of a mid-air city
Architect/ Expo " 70-Osaka General Producer Big Roof was a prototype of a mid-air city
Architect/ Expo '70-Osaka General Producer
Architect/ Expo '70-Osaka General Producer created by Tange's imagination.
Architect/ Expo '70-Osaka General Producer
It was made using a new structure called “space frame.
With that technique, you could extend the roof
as far as you wanted.
A new city could be born in mid-air.
The abstract urbanization idea showcased at Expo 70 was
from the architectural movement cal led Metabolism.
As Japan is an island nation,
unlike Europe, China and the USA,
it's impossible to develop a city Just as you draw it up.
The architects thought of making a space.
Making artificial flat land in the air would
make pure urban planning possible.
Big Roof is the apotheosis of the Metabolist movement,
and the Tower of the Sun penetrated the roof.
It was like a "polaristic" explosion.
It's very meaningful to make a hole.
Because a hole connects the top and the bottom.
I think it means that values are overturned.
Taro won when the hole was made, because there was no top or bottom.
Three levels: underground, surface and mid-air.
Underground was the past world.
Surface was the present.
Big Roof in the air was the future.
The theme zone was divided into these three worlds.
First you went underground and saw the birth of life.
The first one was life. Substances making life.
Taro first showed substances in blood, and
the moment when life is born.
He began the story of the theme from there.
Next was...
the zone of humans.
Human beings lived their proud lives in harmony with nature.
The exhibition captured a moment of those lives in
the time of hunting and gathering.
The third area was about prayer.
Things Taro collected from all over the world,
like masks and statues of gods, were hanging
in the air.
The main mask in the center was the Underground Sun,
but it had no nose or mouth, just eyes.
Passing it, you went into the tower.
There was the "Tree of Life”, a 45-meter tree-shape object,
with creatures, from ameba to human, describing the evolution of life.
292 creatures were attached to the tree.
Sub-Producer for Expo 70 Theme Exhibition
Sub-Producer for Expo '7O Theme Exhibition Taro drew the I image of the "Tree of Life" on a big canvas,
Taro drew the image of the "Tree of Life on a big canvas,
and told us to glue images of creatures.
So everyone cut images from magazines or posters.
An elephant, or others. And the entire work was made.
He often said, like he was talking to himself:
"This is a tree, but the shape is the same as blood vessels.'
I learned that the entire tower was life.
The tree was veins, arteries and lymph glands.
The red folds were like a brain, called "intellectual folds”.
Artist/Fashion Designer
For Taro, red symbolized blood.
Artist/Fashion Designer
Especially, he meant bright red blood.
The impression from it is like fresh blood, right?
The symbol of life.
You look down from the top,
and you see various creatures memorized in your blood,
reaching to a single cell. It's all one line.
All lives are connected, deriving from one root.
All is one.
Actually the amebas were huge, but human was like this.
- Human was the smallest, which represented Taro's view.
He said, "Look at ameba".
"They stretch and shrink.”
“Unite and separate. They can move so freely.
"Don't you envy them?”
Humans are unhappy, dirty and poor because of self-consciousness.
If you reduce yourself to a single-celled creature,
you'll feel that your life is fulfilled.
You up the escalator, looking at the Tree of Life.
You go through the arms, and get to Big Roof.
In Big Roof, there was a future city.
It was the future, but had the “Wall of Contradiction”.
A collage of various contradictions, ugliness like wars was displayed there.
A piece about a nuclear bomb, too. After seeing those works,
a photo exhibition was on the ground.
It was titled "The Common Man - Mainstay of Today's World”.
Nameless common citizens supported society and the human world.
Taro said this, I heard. What he created was
the complete opposite of the idea and values of Expo.
"You have to expose the desires and aesthetics...”
“That humans originally have in themselves."
"Otherwise, there's no progress or harmony, he often said.
Taro said,
"If we can't complete the Tower of the Sun,”
"I will stand and open my arms out there.'
He actually said that.
Scholar of Japanese Fine Arts
The Tower of the Sun is interesting.
I don't know...
What does the tower mean to us?
Giving up flesh and blood, you are a slave to machines.
Harmony ls a collision. . You need to throw in something opposite.
That's why I created it. I don't mind if people hate it
If people are not happy with it. That's fine.
His father, Ippei, was a cartoonist.
His mother, Kanoko, was a poet and novelist.
Taro was born into an artistic family.
This is a well-known story: When Kanoko did her work,
in order to focus, she tied Taro to a pillar with her belt.
Of course, Taro cried.
No matter how much he cried, Kanoko didn't look back.
And Taro, being left alone,
kept staring at his mother's back.
Later Taro said he understood his mother even when he was little.
The way artists create their work, and their devotion.
He learned this from his mother.
Toshiko, who was Taro's partner, was my aunt.
So, I've known Taro and Toshiko since I was little.
Toshiko often said that Taro's parents did not
treat Taro as a small child.
They treated him as an individual.
Before Taro moved to Paris, Ippei went to London for work.
Kanoko went with him.
Taro entered university Just six months before,
but he left Japan with his parents, but not for a trip.
He was going to live in Paris, using that opportunity.
He decided that.
In Paris, he looked around museums and studied painting.
He was shocked when he saw Picasso's work.
He was shocked when he saw Artist Picasso's work.
Artist
In abstract art, it doesn't matter if you are from Japan,
or what style you have done previously.
Then, he was in.
Paris led the established Western world,
Professor of French Philosophy Paris led the established Western world,
Professor of French Philosophy
which led the whole planet.
But the World War was about to begin, and society was in chaos.
It was a time of extreme pressure in society
when Taro joined the edgiest group of artists,
avant-garde artists.
But he reached an impasse soon.
Finally, when he was 25, he couldn't hold back from
painting "Wounded Arm”.
It wasn't categorized as an abstract work.
But when Andre Breton looked at it,
he suggested Taro show it at a Surrealist exhibition.
He suggested Taro show it Poet/Author at a Surrealist exhibition.
Poet/Author
Breton was the leader of Poet/Author the movement.
Poet/Author
The Surrealist artists
invited him to join them.
But he didn't join.
Abstraction and Surrealism, both were fine,
but after all, they were in a world of art and artists.
It was not important to pick your group, left or right.
Meanwhile, he realized that
he had to study not only technique but human existence.
He entered the University of Paris.
He happened to see some old folkloric artifacts.
He was shocked.
It was not high art, but used for daily life.
Something created not by artists, but by people living there.
It caught his eye very strongly,
and he entered the Institute of Ethnology in the university.
The famous professors included Marcel Mauss.
Anthropologist The famous professors included Marcel Mauss.
Anthropologist
Mauss is interesting because he was good at discovering
Mauss is interesting because I I he was good at discovering Sociologist
Sociologist
cultures and thoughts passed on from ancient Celtic and Paleolithic Eras, Sociologist
cultures and thoughts passed on from ancient Celtic and Paleolithic Eras,
in our modern lives. They have survived and
appear in different shapes.
Ethnologist
Ethnologist Mauss is known for his theory of "The Gift”.
Mauss is known for his theory of "The Gift”.
A mask from an “uncivilized” society, for example.
When you see it, the mask
reflects the maker's view of the world,
and his/her inner spirit.
Therefore, if you learn the method of interpretation,
Ethnologist Therefore, if you learn the method of interpretation,
Ethnologist
you will be able to interpret it.
You will be able to interpret it.
Mauss first advocated this.
You have a goal you are aiming at, and visvalize it,
and project it toward the future, which is called “vision”.
Myths embrace the power of vision.
That is Marcel Mauss's theory.
Taro had a similar idea
to what Mauss said. I mean,
he also believed in the power of myths.
Being an artist is not just being someone who paints.
Artists need to live as integrated and free beings.
So, we must know everything that happens in the world.
That is why Marcel Mauss's ethnology fascinates me.
The person who influenced Taro the most,
or for whom he had a sympathy was Georges Bataille.
I think that's wild.
Bataille, at that time, said
Bataille, at that time, said Philosopher
Philosopher
we should destroy all systems and established aesthetics, Philosopher
Philosopher
10 release our senses for new creation.
He said "Beauty is shit.”
“If you can't say shit is beautiful, you are trapped by old aesthetics.
This is called "Base Materialism”.
Ideologies are useless. Actual things.
Living things, which can rot.
And they are not sophisticated. No theory.
"This stinky rotten thing” IS what we need.
So, Bataille
horrified all his fellow philosophers.
Actually, they hated him.
But in fact, his idea can
go beyond the modern era.
The clue is that you shouldn't have anthropocentric ideas.
Literary Critic The clue is that you shouldn't have anthropocentric ideas.
Literary Critic
Bataille obviously thought that
Literary Critic
Literary Critic the humans who made cave paintings lived on in himself.
The humans who made cave paintings lived on in himself.
The motifs were animals.
Mixtures of humans and animals were also found.
It can be human and animal at the same time.
In nature, humans are not a special existence,
they are a part of nature.
Taro followed Bataille,
and he even joined a kind of secret society.
It was like Taro's destiny, I guess.
From that point, he was not a mere painter.
Not only as a painter, but
not ordinary as a person.
Taro was Japanese.
As the war escalated, Taro returned to Japan.
He came back, but Japan still had old rules from the 19th century,
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director He came back, but Japan still had old rules from the 19th century,
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director and the art world carried this old mentality.
Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Director
If you turned away even a little, you'd be ignored.
When Taro realized,
I'm sure it was a big shock for him.
“Is my country like this?”
After returning to Japan,
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator After returning to Japan,
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator Taro wondered what real art Is. And he tried to
provoke that question in Japan.
What we had thought was art might be not art.
Across the Japanese islands,
Taro visited many places.
He visited Tohoku in the north and Okinawa in the south, where
they still have cultures passed on from the Jomon era.
He encountered them, and explored where
he was standing.
In his words at that time,
"We must be covered in the mud of Japan.”
“We Japanese can't go to the world without the mud of Japan.
"Otherwise we can't face the latest ideas and art.”
He strongly felt that.
So, my roots.
Where are they? What is the origin of Japan?
Where Is the real Japan? He began to look for it.
It was in 1952.
Archaeologist Taro saw Jomon pottery at the National Museum in Ueno.
Archaeologist
When he saw it, he shouted “What is it?”
What were the makers thinking?
What did they imply with it?
Taro was attracted by those ideas.
- The Jomon era was a hunting and gathering society.
They didn't adopt mass agriculture.
It is clear if you compare Jomon and Yayoi pottery.
Yayoi pottery has no features.
With no decoration, it was purely practical.
Taro saw “Kaen-doki”, the flame-rimmed earthen vessel.
It was a big extraordinary vessel.
Like “What is it?”
The spirit of the Jomon people was reflected in it.
Especially, it expresses their state of mind while hunting.
When hunting, you hide yourself, holding a spear.
You jump out and Kill when the opportunity comes.
The process, how they felt: their excitement,
or their calmness. This was all described in the Jomon curves.
Taro remembered what he learned from Marcel Mauss.
Those various magical things from an "uncivilized" world,
including masks and tools. I'm sure he remembered it all.
"Wabi sabi” in Japan,
was characteristic in art from the Yayoi era.
It was simple and functionally neat,
but it doesn't seem to have an explosive power,
which may destroy even itself.
I think Japanese people have the spirit of the primitive
somewhere deep within us.
Taro was aware of this. He wanted to bring it out.
He wanted to disturb the pre-established harmony
found in the quiet and motionless Japanese culture.
I think he believed that would be possible
if he awakened and brought out our inner primitivity.
Archaeologist
Archaeologist Yayoi is the culture of the Chinese continent.
Archaeologist
The Japanized continental culture.
Archaeologist
When Yayoi came to Japan, the Jomon culture was subdued.
Completely conquered, culturally.
The Yayoi culture brought rice farming and iron.
These were new techniques.
Agrarian civilization and techniques dominated
all of Japan, and that made what we are now.
As Taro wrote in his thesis,
from the time humanity emerged, cognition has been unchanged.
It's not true that primitives or children are inferior.
It's a fantasy to think science helps us understand the world better.
Even before physics or math was established, human beings
recognized the world as we do.
From Yayoi, bureaucracy and hierarchy were established.
People live routinely,
and hoard their gains.
In the pet it bourgeois society, people lose the purpose of life,
and become like machines.
This has lasted for 2000 years.
The Jomon era lasted over ten thousand years.
It was an alternative to capitalist society.
A hunting society seems competitive, but it is not.
Explorer A hunting society seems competitive, but it is not.
Explorer
They never brag when they kill.
It is an equal society.
Things are hand-made with natural materials, all freely available.
No inequality on a material level.
If you are given something from others, you owe them, right?
But a hunting society avoids this.
One binge eats while the other goes hungry.
In their society, even a child knows this is wrong.
They try to be equal on both material and ethical levels.
The population of hunter-gatherers is now almost zero.
In the world we are in, there are eight rich people,
who have the same amount of money that 3.8 billion people have.
This insane society is what we have got.
Farming has been industrialized.
The owners hire farmers, and become rich.
Someone who has never touched soil
- hires many people to do farming efficiently., which Is wrong.
People should own their land,
and grow what they eat themselves.
I believe that is an ideal society.
After the Jomon era ended,
People from the continent arrived in the southwest, and moved north.
They pushed the Jomon people to the north and south,
probably interacting, but forcefully, to the outskirts.
That's why it's said Ainu and Okinawans are alike.
On the periphery of Japan, not the center,
Art Historian On the periphery of Japan, not the center,
Art Historian
Art Historian Taro hoped to find the remnants of Jomon culture.
Art Historian
So, he explored Tohoku and Okinawa.
Ainu Vocal Group
Jomon culture's front line was east Japan,
although Taro didn't know.
Ancient Emishi or Ezo people, and the Ainu,
those people might be connected with the Jomon culture.
Taro was certain of this.
Iwate Traditional Dance Deer Dance
Iwate Traditional Dance Deer Dance Taro began photographing old people in rural Tohoku,
Taro began photographing old people in rural Tohoku,
as well as the old rituals and festivals.
What he felt about modern Japanese society was...
economic development was worshipped as an idol,
which destroyed old things, made roads and buildings.
Taro was repulsed by that. So,
when he found Tohoku and Okinawa,
he was completely absorbed.
He wanted to look into what remained there.
In contrast with a hot society with energetic progress,
Taro tried to find what human beings had thought, hoped and dreamed,
in a context of a cold static society.
Taro watched the traditional deer dance,
Ethnologist Taro watched the traditional deer dance,
Ethnologist
in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture.
Ethnologist
Local farmers were disguised as deer.
Taro joined them dancing, and took great photos.
When the deer dance was born,
people faced animals one on one,
one kills and the other is killed - they meet with their [lives.
That memory is included in the dance.
Taro always photographed the dancers faces,
after taking off their masks.
The dancers showed their relaxed faces.
Human beings transform themselves into animals,
and back to humans again. He captured that moment.
This dynamism or transformation
is an indicator of shamanism.
I think Taro thought that way.
In relation to the deer dance,
Ainu in Hokkaido have a ritual cal led lomante.
When they kill a bear which has a cub,
the women in the village raise the cub for a year or two.
Then later, they sacrifice the cub.
Iomante literally means "to send something off".
When Taro learned about this lomante ritual, he saw
a similarity with the deer dance.
The direct relationships between humans and animals or wildlife,
and their interactions.
Living with wild animals
right next to you, you naturally have the skills
to kill bears or deer, and to dismember them.
They are arts of living.
Killing, eating, skinning and tanning animals are
just natural acts.
In western Japan, people who skin dead horses or cows have been
historically discriminated against.
But it's not true in Tohoku.
The human-animal relationships based on the hunting culture from Jomon
has affected this.
Ainu in Hokkaido have tattoos on our hands and mouths.
MAREWREW Vocalist Ainu in Hokkaido have tattoos on our hands and mouths.
MAREWREW Vocalist
MAREWREW Vocalist In Okinawa, they also have the tattoo tradition called Hajichi,
In Okinawa, they also have the tattoo tradition called Hajichi,
in which women's hands are tattooed, like Ainu.
So that, at least, can be said to be similar.
Many people have a fascination for Jomon culture,
and they say it was passed on to Ainu culture.
It's partly correct. For example, the respect for animals.
They had rituals after they ate animals.
If you dig into it, everything must be connected,
so I don't think you should stick only to Jomon.
Taro went
to Okinawa around 1960.
Professor of French Philosophy to Okinawa around 1960.
Professor of French Philosophy
Professor of French Philosophy There he responded deeply 10 old folkways and such.
Professor of French Philosophy
One island, or one human society
is woven into people's lives. There was an actual example.
He intuitively sensed it.
Things, which for people in Okinawa, Japan,
are not meant for show, were interesting to Taro.
He dug up some old festivals and other customs.
You're not supposed 10 take photos of the rituals in Okinawa,
because they are solemn and ephemeral.
Photographing can be a kind of violent act.
But Taro still decided to take photos.
The way of living itself is expression.
The appearances of old women, and how they walked are
art, as we call it now.
When a group of people performed something,
Taro found some fundamental similarities of expression.
As found many times in his book,
what the occupation by the US army meant.
Was a topic that he clearly understood.
I think it is very important.
What he wrote was not how wonderful Okinawa is.
He didn't merely write about that.
He knew of the situation in Okinawa,
and how severe it had been.
Understanding that, he wrote about Okinawa.
Although we don't doubt that Okinawa is part of Japan,
it's not true.
Taro had empathy for people in Okinawa,
and embraced their issues.
In the same way that he felt for Okinawa,
Taro had a strong sympathy for
oppressed people. On the other hand,
he didn't like that some oppressed people have
allowed themselves 10 be spiritually castrated over time.
He strongly criticized that.
I think it was his love. With his deep love and sympathy,
he didn't want to see a castrated way of being.
In our times,
“voluntary servitude” is becoming a key word.
And that's exactly what Taro pointed out.
With anger,
he wanted to provoke the question.
I think Tohoku has been a colony for 1000 years,
over these 1000 years, people have been castrated and
have forgotten that they are colonized. To them,
Taro didn't say . Hey, it's voluntary servitude.
Without those words, he just encouraged people.
“Create a more intense, more lively culture.
"Now and here.”
"If you don't do that, you will be fake.”
Incitingly but encouragingly.
. There is a phrase voluntary servitude.
Taro had uncomfortable feelings about Japanese society,
which I think were rooted in this idea.
In 16th-century France, it was posited by Etienne de La Boetie.
Humanist In 16th-century France, it was posited by Etienne de La Boetie.
Humanist
Humanist He died early. He wrote this when he was still young.
Humanist
The ordinary idea is like this: there is a tyrant.
He asserts power, and his people have 10
obey in servitude.
So, there is power and the oppressed people.
This was the basic structure of society from the modern era.
But La Boetie said no.
A tyrant has great power.
Some people offer to serve him, acting as his surrogates,
and use his power instead of him.
There are four or five people like that
around a tyrant.
When they function, they use his power.
And then, under those people,
four or five people come to each one of them,
and they act as surrogates.
Many of these structures are connected
to form a large system.
La Boetie said this was the mechanism of power and domination.
He revealed the secret of power, different from previous ideas.
So, what if you want to escape from it?
Each person becomes free.
Like, "I don't want this anymore.”
As soon as someone says this, it will end.
The system of power will collapse.
It is said that pressure for consensus is strong in Japan,
and it is because people themselves surrogate each other,
and can't move freely in this structure.
For example, after the Second World War, there has been one system.
- Post-war Japan approached America to act as surrogate for them,
because Japan lost the war. The behavior of Japan was
voluntary servitude to America. Because of that,
we want to say that Japan is one of the most advanced nations.
These words are backed up by the relationship.
This can be found in many aspects of the Japanese society.
Probably, if Taro read
"Discourse on Voluntary Servitude”,
he would say “Wow!”
“This is what I think.” I'm quite sure.
Control systems have become much tighter than before.
They are reinforced by "morality” and " justice”.
So, they can't be criticized. One example is corporate compliance.
What is called justice
secretly connects with current society's control systems.
The Japanese mentality - why don't the Japanese argue?
Social Designer The Japanese mentality - why don't the Japanese argue?
Social Designer
Social Designer Why do the Japanese avoid arguments?
Why do the Japanese avoid arguments?
After Japan lost the war,
Japan was supposed to reassess the wartime experience,
and try to create a new identity and philosophy for the future,
overcoming the wartime trauma. It was supposed to be essential.
However, Japan had such a rapid economic boom,
we didn't have to look back on our miserable experiences.
But now, it has plateaued. When we look back at our own path,
the reassessment is missing.
The nation has always shown constant growth
of the economy for the people.
- But now, people, , especially the young generation,
don't want anything anymore.
I see this.
Every desire has been
popularized in a way.
If you go over there, you will get better food,
cooler things, more fun and more pleasure.
This kind of framework doesn't work anymore in this society.
The social foundation that has been built up,
some call it social common capital,
Is being destroyed now. I have this feeling.
It's a dead end.
We should reassess and reform society, focusing not on
economic growth, . but try to create a mature society.
If we don't do that, when young people like you
become old,
society will be a mess.
We must avoid this.
My grandchildren may say that
we messed up the entire society, and made their lives harder.
I don't want them to say that.
I want to leave something solid for them.
What can I do?
I think...
The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11.
I experienced a deep helplessness in a single moment.
The images showed that tsunami was so powerful and massive.
Artist Group The images showed that tsunami was so powerful and massive.
Artist Group
We saw it was really destroying everything,
and we were just speechless.
It changed my sense of values. Plus, we had Fukushima.
With the Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Daigo Fukuryu Maru cases,
why did Japan have this nuclear accident?
The atomic bombs traumatized the Japanese people,
and we have a horrible fear of nuclear power.
But we made nuclear power plants.
We haven't sincerely faced
this contradiction at all.
We have...
left things ambiguous.
We went to Fukushima 10 create some art pieces.
Back in Tokyo, we talked about Fukushima.
It was in Shibuya, I remember.
While talking, Taro's mural in Shibuya came to our minds.
Then, we went to see the "Myth of Tomorrow”.
While I looked at the painting,
whose theme is nuclear power and horrible disasters,
tens of thousands of people passed by. but no one looked at it.
At that time,
the entire Shibuya area was dim in order to save electricity.
The city looked different, due to nuclear power,
but people just ignored it. It seemed that way to us.
The "Myth of Tomorrow” was made
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator The "Myth of Tomorrow” was made
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator for the lobby of the hotel e Mexico Olympics.
for the lobby of the hotel built for the Mexico Olympics.
People from all over the world would go there.
So, Taro decided to choose
a symbolic image of Japan for the motif.
What was it?
Taro had been exploring what Japan is, and what the Japanese have
in the core of their minds.
Then, Taro, as a Japanese person, came to the idea that
he must tackle the atomic issue.
Who else could?
One of the most important themes of Taro's art, including
the Tower of the Sun, was nuclear power.
I felt that people didn't notice that.
So, in the chronicle of nuclear disasters that Taro made,
adding the new incident in Taro's style
seemed like a natural act for us.
A baton from Taro
is relayed to us. We had that kind of feeling.
We thought "Myth of Tomorrow” was still ongoing.
That's why we took action.
Nuclear image added”
Mural vandalized”
"Art group claims responsibility”
"Myth of Tomorrow”
Art Historian had been long missing.
Art Historian
Art Historian Taro's long-time partner Toshiko searched for it in Mexico.
Taro's long-time partner Toshiko searched for it in Mexico.
Toshiko told me the "Myth of Tomorrow” was in Mexico.
Copywriter Toshiko told me the "Myth of Tomorrow” was in Mexico.
Copywriter
I said, "That's big news!”
Copywriter
She absorbed everything and gained more and more energy.,
and worked faithfully like a martyr.
Toshiko met Taro at the beginning of his career,
and they started working together.
After that, she was his personal and professional partner
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator After that. she was his personal and professional partner
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator throughout her life.
Taro Okamoto Museum of ART Curator
Then, finally the mural was found,
and when it was about to be returned to Japan,
Toshiko passed away. It was really meaningful timing.
My first time.
No one is looking.
I don't know...
It's dancing, really.
The "Myth of Tomorrow” and the “Tower of the Sun” were concurrent works.
Art Critic The "Myth of Tomorrow” and the “Tower of the Sun” were concurrent works.
Art Critic
In the mid-air exhibition at the tower,
There was a section of mushroom cloud from the beginning.
So, the Tower of the Sun is clearly related to the atomic cloud.
The "Tower of the Sun” and the "Myth of Tomorrow” -
We can see them as a set.
The works themselves are the questions given by Taro.
That's all I can say.
The tower has several faces, including the front sun.
"The Black Sun” on the back is the sun, scientifically analyzed by humans.
It symbolizes nuclear energy.
It's cool that he made the face on the back.
We were told that
Nuclear power generation meant that human beings
gained an artificial sun. It was a man-made sun.
With this artificial sun, we could freely modify nature.
We could make anything possible.
The scientists stated their dreams.
That was a human-made
artificial sun.
The power of nature can be
good or evil, creation or destruction.
Literary Critic good or evil, creation or destruction.
Literary Critic
Genuine artists have to acknowledge and embrace dichotomy.
Probably Taro kept trying to see the origin of life.
So he couldn't avoid dealing with the issue of nuclear energy.
Taking his proposal positively or negatively is a question
that he left to us.
Scholar of Japanese Fine Arts
Progress in science and technology doesn't care about ideology.
Anthropologist Progress in science and technology doesn't care about ideology.
Anthropologist
Separate from values or ideology,
It progresses and changes people.
In fact, miniaturized computers have changed us
on every level of our lives, communication and relationships.
Things are altered, impossible to undo.
Science and technology are driven to progress by something
inherent in human brains, so it just goes on.
But a bigger principle which can enfold science
might be found in and taken from myth.
I think Taro envisioned that.
He wanted to settle the contradiction,
the contradiction that he had wrestled with,
and created the Tower of the Sun as the result.
The world and human beings never progress.
Ethnologist The world and human beings never progress.
Ethnologist
I'm sure Taro sensed that.
Ethnologist
So he was driven to express it.
I think people at that time didn't understand what the tower meant.
And when it comes to us today,
I think we don't understand, either.
"Progress and Harmony of Mankind”
was the theme of Expo '70-Osaka.
The theme sounded mundane.
Artist Group The theme sounded mundane.
Artist Group
Artist Group It sounded too straight, almost like a joke.
Artist Group
But now,
Artist Group
the world situation has become worse since then, so...
Progress and harmony?
Obviously, “harmony” sounds like... you know.
It sounds like an easy excuse that you shouldn't even use,
at least for me.
Nuclear Energy for a Bright Future”
The freedoms of speech and expression have become more restricted.
Public I institutions require us to not use certain terms:
Nuclear energy, radiation, Fukushima,
Korea, North Korea and wartime comfort women.
They say that artwork using those key words won't be subsidized.
I feel that mainstream contemporary art in Japan
is facing a very serious situation.
The principles which this society is based on
contain many contradictions,
but we are not allowed to think about it.
That's what society demands.
So, media, education and such things force us to
not think. If they see people thinking, they give us
TV comedies, and we laugh.
Celebrity commentators who pretend to think appear on TV,
and people just swallow their “opinions”.
I don't reject our time now, but I don't understand this...
this emptiness of reality. And people like that.
I think it's weird.
For 3.11, however, it didn't work. People couldn't escape from thinking.
About energy. About agriculture.
Also about human relationships. Are these okay as they are?
But after a few years, we regress We don't have to think critically.
The message that we can't live without nuclear energy
is constantly delivered to us.
So we have stopped thinking again.
Somehow, we regressed and forgot.
Why we forgot is partly because we were forced to do so.
The Fukushima nuclear plant was said
to be 200 percent safe.
We were persuaded so.
But the people in charge of controlling the plants
did not take safety measures
to protect people.
They said it would cost billions of yen for safety measures.
It's nothing, isn't it?
I think many things were exposed at that time.
One of them is that
we Japanese are not qualified 10 possess nuclear power plants.
Morally, technically,
and on a societal level.
We are not qualified to handle such huge things
that we can't even control.
They dropped water from a helicopter like pissing.
We witnessed, with our own eyes
an unbelievable catastrophe.
But we are
not able to take responsibility.
We don't have the fortitude to take responsibility.
So we want to pretend as if it didn't happen.
To make that possible, everybody tried to
hide, lie and cover up the facts.
I think a huge moral hazard was created.
Difficult-to-return zone ahead. Detour here.
"Local nuclear emergency response headquarters, Futaba Town"
It reminds me that
the Soviet Union imploded six years after the Chernobyl accident.
Chernobyl was one of the causes.
The nuclear power plant accidents
left a massive negative legacy for us.
It's impossible to run away,
but we are trying to run away and to erase what happened.
When you see a building knocked over by tsunami,
They are making a big coastal barrier. It is really huge.
Stunningly huge. That thing
will really save the coastal towns and villages?
When the next disaster happens, that concrete wall will fall apart.
We don't have enough financial power
to maintain the wall.
It will not protect the future of towns and villages in the region.
Everybody knows that.
I like Taro's saying Art is an explosion!
Now, maybe our society is exploding.
Humankind hasn't progressed at all, but is losing humanity.
There is no human who lives like a human today.
With your entire body, even shedding blood,.
Your life energy blasts off into the world,
like a soundless explosion. Grabbing the moment is
how you live as a human. That's what I think.
A mountain of problems is right in front of us.
Social Designer A mountain of problems is right in front of us.
Social Designer
Social Designer We need to figure out how our society will deal with it.
We need to figure out how our society will deal with it.
Under these circumstances, what art can do as a social message
is really significant. But,
so far,
historically, we haven't faced our own problems.
We are not used to dealing with them.
Everyone restrained themselves after the disaster.
They couldn't do what they really want to do.
But we wanted to say, even when times are like that,
you can create and do what you want.
Art has a kind of mysterious feeling,
TV Producer/Film Director Art has a kind of mysterious feeling,
TV Producer/Film Director
which allures people.
TV Producer/Film Director
TV Producer/Film Director The "Myth of Tomorrow” inspired ChimlPom to take action.
The "Myth of Tomorrow” inspired ChimlPom to take action.
I think it's because art is living.
The existence of the mural in that place
definitely stimulates us.
After 3.11, money was not the standard of value.
That standard was pushed aside.
What people do in the situation is...
For example, a cardboard company suddenly began cardboard art.
People do whatever they want to do. Usually,
they get feedback like it be profitable?”
That makes them hesitate immediately.
But at that time, everyone was like, "Great!” "I like it!”
"Life is great!” Positive feedback made everybody happy.
So, many people began their own activities, which are
art activities, in a real sense.
I always say that you should do something absolutely useless,
or something absolutely unimportant.
Whether it's useful or not,
just do what you really want to do.
I think art is something that
doesn't fill your stomach, but fulfills your spirit.
Taro said that art was determination.
Art Historian Taro said that art was determination.
Art Historian
Art Historian When you are determined, art is born.
Art Historian
Art Historian It may be embarrassing to show your drawing to someone,
It may be embarrassing to show your drawing to someone,
but the determination to show It Is art, according to Taro.
You will change a bit when you are determined.
As a performing artist,
Dancer As a performing artist,
Dancer
let's say in front of me
Dancer
IS a picture.
Thinking about it,
I express it as dance right here now.
That's art. That and this, both.
There is no correct answer for “what is art?
But, something reaches me,
and I can convey it. Like...
I can have the same emotion that the picture has.
Feeling the same as a performer,
and intercommunicating is art, I think.
Artist/Fashion Designer
Artist/Fashion Designer Making things for me IS communication.
Artist/Fashion Designer
Artist/Fashion Designer It needs other people to receive it.
It needs other people to receive it.
I, as a creator, need someone who sees or has it.
Without those people, even if I make something,
I can't call it my work.
Drawing a picture, or
Professor of French Philosophy Drawing a picture, or
Professor of French Philosophy
Professor of French Philosophy making a sculpture or other thing.
Professor of French Philosophy
Professor of French Philosophy Is it really the creator's personal work?
Is it really the creator's personal work?
Thinking more widely,
when did human beings become human beings?
It is when human beings began drawing.
You can't find any drawings in monkey caves.
Human beings began with drawing.
Of course, they spoke. Words existed.
With words and images,
human beings built connections with the world,
designed and realized their lives.
Humans, of course, exist plurally.
And humans sustain the species by giving birth.
The process of sustaining the species includes drawing.
So the whole act of drawing is
not a personal act at all.
Taro believed,
Like economics by Marx or biology by Darwin,
art can have a strong equivalent vision.
I think.
- We have this current science and technology, and
we also need a myth to enfold it,
and to guide it to a vision for the future.
Taro thought we needed to create that myth.
Actually, computer engineers and scientists
are well aware of this.
That's what we need for the future.
Quantum theory and super string theory
Literary Critic Quantum theory and super string theory
Literary Critic
Literary Critic are methods for recognizing the world.
Literary Critic
Even before physics or mathematics were developed,
I assume humans viewed the world in such ways.
As Daisetsu Suzuki said, people tend to think dualistically.
Buddhist Philosopher As Daisetsu Suzuki said, people tend to think dualistically.
Buddhist Philosopher
Buddhist Philosopher Like mind and material, because it's easier to understand.
Buddhist Philosopher
Buddhist Philosopher But it is very different from what you experience
Buddhist Philosopher
in your real life.
Taro tried to not separate mind from material,
and to manifest the idea in a concrete form.
And that was the same with
Daisetsu Suzuki and Kumagusu Minakata.
It's not easy to profile Minakata briefly.
Naturalist/Biologist/Ethnologist It's not easy to profile Minakata briefly.
Naturalist/Biologist/Ethnologist
Naturalist/Biologist/Ethnologist He was called “the ultimate potential of the Japanese”.
Naturalist/Biologist/Ethnologist
Natural historian. Ethnologist.
Buddhism Researcher Natural historian. Ethnologist.
Buddhism Researcher
Also a slime mold expert.
Buddhism Researcher
I think he was an artist in a way.
Taro and Kumagusu.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism Taro and Kumagusu.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism When it comes to what they found from their experiences in the West,
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
there might be some similarities.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
They both went overseas from their early 20s until their 30s.
Taro lived in Paris, and Kumagusu in the US and Britain.
With the knowledge and techniques they gained,
they looked into themselves after they returned to Japan.
They found something missing.
They decided to restart from their origins, their roots.
Maybe that's something in common for them.
Slime mold for Kumagusu.
The more you look into primitive life forms,
the more you'll find something new.
Maybe both Kumagusu and Taro knew it.
How you view the world,
and the universe.
They tried to see them in an Asian way, I think.
Kumagusu, a scientist, took a scientific approach.
He said that he can see beyond the macrocosm with a microscope.
Buddhism Researcher He said that he can see beyond the macrocosm with a microscope.
Buddhism Researcher
Buddhism Researcher He saw the macrocosm in slime mold.
Buddhism Researcher
Buddhism Researcher He was able to find macro in micro.
He was able to find macro in micro.
Time, for instance.
It's said that there are past, present and future,
but Kumagusu thought everything is in the present.
This interpretation can never be possible in three dimensions.
He thought the world must be higher-dimensional.
Three dimensions and the Arrow of Time.
Kumagusu always tried to see the world as a higher-dimensional time-space.
His perspective went further.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism His perspective went further.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism He had great expectations for Buddnism, and believed
He had great expectations for Buddhism, and believed
it was capable of developing a larger academic system,
more inclusive than the Western one. He saw the potential in Buddhism,
and tried to dig it out.
His idea was expressed in the Minakata Mandala.
Mandala is sort of a description of the universe.
Scholar of Tibetan Philology Mandala is sort of a description of the universe.
Scholar of Tibetan Philology
Scholar of Tibetan Philology The universe in three dimensions.
That is mandala. When you look at it from the top,
and draw it on the flat surface, that is the mandala chart.
It's an expression of the world,
or a view of the universe. That is mandala.
Minakata Mandala expresses everything connecting,
and interweaving in the world.
Not merely in a linear manner, but flexibly and freely,
things interfuse with each other in Minakata Mandala.
Taro often wrote that the Tower of the Sun was a mandala,
at the beginning of the project.
Taro's view of the universe was expressed in the tower.
Past, present and future.
The tower embraces them all.
He saw a mandala while writing Mysterious Japan,
and said that the concept of mandala was important.
It's the idea of dependent origination.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism lt's the idea of dependent origination.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism Nothing exists independently.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism Everything exists in dependence on others.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism This, basically, is dependent origination.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
All nature is mutually related,
Things are different, but that makes them the same.
The simplest idea may be "Muge" in Japanese,
meaning "freedom".
It means "no obstacles”, no barrier.
Everything interfuses and connects freely.
Breaking a wall, or
- removing a wall is probably the key for
Eastern philosophy, I believe.
It is important to make walls to categorize and analyze things,
but that idea is facing a dead end.
Breaking those walls,
making them permeable,
and connecting things freely are truly Eastern ways of thinking.
It can be said to be the Kumagusu-ish way.
When you make the walls permeable,
you'll have a different a speculative system.
You can obtain a new view of the world.
Kumagusu and Taro were sending a message
to us living today.
The concept of mandala is
closely related to the view of the Avatamsaka Sutra.
The Avatamsaka Sutra has its core idea, which was born in India.
Buddha is ubiquitous across the whole universe.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism Buddha is ubiquitous across the whole universe.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism It exists in everything in the universe.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
At the same time, the universe
exists in Buddha. Even each pore embraces
the whole universe.
This grand ontology was developed in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Where was the Avatamsaka Sutra developed?
A place where various ethnicities, languages, and
people interacted, to the west of China,
so it probably developed in Central Asia.
People in Tibet didn't think about farming,
Scholar of Tibetan Philology
Scholar of Tibetan Philology incereasing harvests and selling The extra produce to earn money.
Scholar of Tibetan Philology
The fundamental conditions of feudalism didn't exist.
They lived well enough by hunting and gathering.
Uneven distribution of wealth
seldom happened there.
In an area like that, people had to think about how to coexist
with other people.
That led to the birth of the idea of mandala.
The mandala-esque way of thinking was a view of the universe,
born in Asia where various cultures mingled.
Kumagusu Minakata found mandala,
a living mandala, in slime mold.
Taro displayed ameba-shaped objects at the base of the Tower of the Sun,
which made me think that Taro had the same vision as Kumagusu.
The Tower of the Sun had to be a tower, a tree of life,
and a mandala all in one.
All nature Is blended Into one.
A human becomes an animal, plant or mineral.
A human can be a sacred tree itself,
to connect heaven and earth.
I think Taro lived with
this sense in himself.
"Torma" is an offering to the Gods.
The Tower of the Sun has a torma shape.
The concept of Torma isn't from Buddhism.
It originated in the Neolithic Age or earlier.
It was originally an offering to the God of the Sun.
There are various stories. Originally they offered lives,
sacrificing humans or living animals.
In northern Tibet, for instance, sacrificing animals
was quite common. They still do this at times.
Was quite common. They still do this at times.
Scholar of Tibetan Philology
When Buddhism came in, unnecessary killings were banned,
including sacrifice.
When they stopped sacrificing,
they used barley flour to make conical cakes,
and offered them to the gods instead of sacrifices.
It's like "Yorishiro", a residence for spirits.
It is said that mandala is a sanctuary and torma is a god.
Bon Monk It is said that mandala is a sanctuary and torma is a god.
Bon Monk
Taro wanted to make a mandala and made the tower with that in mind.
Tibetan Buddhist Monk Taro wanted to make a mandala and made the tower with that in mind.
Tibetan Buddhist Monk
It's very interesting.
Tibetan Buddhist Monk
If he created the tower like that without a knowledge of torma,
we can say he was an excellent craftsman.
It's incredible.
He created the torma-like tower unintentionally, I assume,
because the archetype was deep in his consciousness.
Torma is an offering for Buddhas.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism Torma is an offering for Buddhas.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism If the Tower of the Sun has the same purpose, It's very interesting.
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism
Scholar of Tibetan Buddhism I really would like to know
what it was for and who it was offered to.
Buddhism Researcher
Is the Tower of the Sun an offering?
Buddhism Researcher
I think it may be so.
Buddhism Researcher
And who is it offered to?
I think it was to humanity.
- Our ancestors, and we living In the present time,
and our descendants who will live in the future.
The tower was
an offering to humanity across all time.
This is my opinion.
So what is the tower?
If other pavilions at Expo '70 had remained,
they would have all aged, but the Tower of the Sun remained,
and never changed or aged.
The tower is philosophically strong SO its messages endure.
It's not a sculpture of anger. It's not about love.
It is beyond words.
Japan, or all human beings who created civilization:
The tower looks so determined to carry their history,
and just keep standing there.
I feel like the tower can see everything.
Those eyes.
Like, the words and excuses that we make just to...
to justify what we want to do are not overlooked.
Taro wouldn't overlook those things.
They couldn't tear down the tower.
Everything else on the huge site was torn down,
but they couldn't tear down the Tower of the Sun.
Maybe they were scared of that unknown thing.
That...
chaotic thing. You can't really interpret
the meaning of it, can you?
Japanese society couldn't understand and accept it,
and began to reject Taro.
But still, they couldn't tear down the Tower of the Sun.
The tower keeps testing us,
or keeps doubting us.
The tower stands there for that purpose.
I live my life earnestly today for tomorrow.
And next day I'll think anew. Every moment is
simply wonderful.
That I'm living today.
Are you, or is the present society okay as is?
What is important for humanity?
What is the essence of humanity?
It's nothing but an infinite question. So,
what the Tower of the Sun meant in 1970, and
what it means today are
completely different.
As long as the tower stands there, the meaning changes,
although it doesn't change physically.
I feel...
the meaning will change a lot in the future.
Now, it stands in the Expo 70 Commemorative Park,
and it was made for Expo '70-Osaka in 1970,
and is preserved after the Expo. We know the background.
But someday, the facts will be forgotten,
maybe due to a huge war or disaster.
Or by an unpredictable incident.
I all background information is untraceable,
if everything including the nation of Japan doesn't exist, but
If the Tower of the Sun still stands there,
the meaning will be different from how we now perceive it.
It represents human thoughts before the agrarian revolution.
Way before the Industrial Revolution.
The thoughts have still survived,
and are in us today.
When they want to come out, and you try to express them,
you'll be obstructed.
The tower encourages you to express, beyond those obstructions.
An expression can take shape beyond the creator's intention.
If Taro was an outstanding artist,
it's true because his expression went beyond Taro himself.
He took the contemporary circumstances into himself,
and output the core of those circumstances.
That resulted in that monument with that shape.
The word "gift” is becoming
a really important theme for today.
You give something as a gift
10 someone.
You don't require a reward for it.
People who can give something 10 someone without any return
can be an important factor for society.
Like a detonator for revolution and transformation.
I think the Tower of the Sun was a gift.
We are given that strange overwhelming gift.
I think Taro wanted
to strip individuality away and just move forward.
He really wanted to do that and he did.
By doing that,
he tried to have his expression close 10
the expression of the human world.
And that's exactly what he did.
Artists can't help doing that.
What drives them to do so is
a call from something beyond themselves.
It's not an external call, Like the voice of God in religion,
- but is an internal, instinctual human impulse.
So, expressing it is a kind of obligation
for artists.
I think Taro had a sense of duty as artist
10 society.
So, he was not Taro Okamoto.
No one but someone.
It called to Taro, and he responded, running forward.
When I'm in front of the tower, I feel like I'm being asked a question,
and I think about what the question is, then, something new emerges.
That cycle goes on forever.
Perhaps when people 1000 years from now see this strange tower,
and feel like it is asking questions.
They may notice what they must do, or what they have missed.
I think
that is the role of the Tower of the Sun.
Presented by PARCO CO., LTD. SPOON I NC. Taro Okamoto Memorial Foundation NHK EDUCATIONAL CORPORATION
Directed by
-2018 “TONER OF THE SUN” Film Partners English subtitles by Ayako Kawakita and Tim Olive