[Circular Economy Project Dialogue Vol. 1] The First Step Toward a Circular Society. ASNOVA’s Vision for a Sustainable Growth Curve
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SOCIETY
Young monks take on an unprecedented challenge: "Container temple"
In October 2019, the Co-Creation Autonomous District CONCON (hereinafter referred to as CONCON) opened in Shikiamicho, southeast of Nijo Castle in Kyoto. It combines three old Kyoto townhouses with 19 containers. Three monks have also moved into this place where creators gather. They have launched an unprecedented project called Konkonsan Nanamanji, which aims to create a "temporary temple" out of containers.
Text: Kyoko Sugimoto
Photo: Itsumi Okayasu
INDEX
PROIFILE
- Hiroyoshi Kanno
- He is the deputy chief priest of Kakuenji Temple of the Jodo Shinshu Honganji sect. Since his university days, he has been involved in suicide prevention activities at the NPO Kyoto Suicide Counseling Center Sotto, where he serves as its secretary general. He also launched a new socially good power company, TERA Energy Co., Ltd., and serves as Director. He organizes events such as the LifeWalk, a religious march that remembers life, and the Death Cafe with Wakazo, an interdenominational group of young monks. He is a part-time lecturer at Soai University.
- Shaku Daichi
- He is the deputy chief priest of Nyorai-ji Temple of the Jodo Shinshu Hongan-ji school in Ikeda City, Osaka Prefecture. He is involved in the management of "Mutsumian," a group home for elderly people with dementia, and "Renshin-an," a modern version of a temple school. He has completed his doctoral studies at Ryukoku University, where he is currently a research student, focusing on Shinran's thought. His field of expertise is Shinshu studies, but he is also interested in ethics, philosophy, and the social practices of religious people.
- Zuiki Inada
- A Buddhist monk. Born in 1992 at a temple in Kyoto, he is the deputy chief priest, but does not stay at the temple and is currently active as a creator of worldly desires, planning projects that are full of worldly desires. In addition to his writing career, which includes serializing columns, he also plans real events such as the temple musical film festival "Ter La Land" and the heartbreak cleansing bar "Shitsuren Kuyo". Editor-in-chief of the Freestyle Monks website. https://twitter.com/andymizuki
- Kyoko Sugimoto
- A freelance writer born in Osaka and currently living in Kyoto. Since 2010, he has been writing and giving lectures on the themes of the role of monks and the potential of temples in the modern age, starting with the serial interviews with monks called "Bouzu Mekuri" on the internet temple site "Higanji." He is currently writing a serial column titled "Social Design of Temples" for the general Buddhist magazine "Daihorin."
If we were to build a temple from scratch,
CONCON is a mysterious space made up of connected containers used for cargo transport that surround an old Kyoto townhouse.
The three young monks are staying in a container that is about 13.77㎡ in size and the rent is 71,500 yen per month (tax included). The name "Konkonzan Shichimanji" is actually taken from the "70,000 yen" that is the rent.
Sugimoto: First, please tell us how you came to create a "temporary temple" at CONCON.
Kurono: I have a acquaintance with Matsukura Hayase of Nue Co., Ltd., which is a tenant in CONCON, and I had the opportunity to visit CONCON when it was built.
When I said, "That's so cool! I wonder if we can do something here too," Hayaboshi replied, "Let's make the smallest temple closest to us, with CONCON." I was excited to think about what kind of chemical reaction would occur if we joined this place where unique creators gather as monks.
Shaku: After hearing about CONCON from Mr. Kano, I thought, "I'd like to join for now." I approached Mr. Inada, saying, "I want to have members who are close to our generation and who can think about how to present and communicate with ideas and skills that we don't have."
Inada: At that time, I was living the life of a runaway, leaving my home (temple) and staying in other people's homes.
Six months later, when I was wondering how to end my running away from home, I suddenly got a phone call. In running away from home, I was experimenting with the question, "What is a monk?", but at the same time, the question, "So, what is a temple?" was also born.
When I was invited to try an experiment to build a temple from scratch, I thought, "Oh, that's something I've always wanted to do!"
Sugimoto: A temple that has hundreds of years of history cannot start from scratch, and it has a strong sense of permanence that is deeply rooted in the community. That's why the experiment of "building a temporary temple and thinking from scratch" is so interesting.
Shaku: Moreover, all three of us are deputy chief priests, and we plan to take over the temple and become chief priests in the future. As a deputy chief priest, I'm allowed to try and fail on my own until I become the chief priest.
There may be a sense of hypotheticalness in us ourselves right now.
The deputy chief priest is in a position where he is allowed to continue trial and error until he becomes the chief priest. There may be a sense of "temporary" in us right now.
Shaku
The perfect place for creators and monks to collaborate
Many Japanese temples are run by a membership system called "danka." The head priest of such a temple begins to shape his own era by inheriting the temple, a place that has been passed down for generations, and the parishioner community that is linked to it.
In other words, most chief priests do not have the opportunity to experience the process of "building a new temple from scratch."
Sugimoto: Is there anything that has become apparent through this experiment of "building a temple from scratch"?
Shaku: Building a temple from scratch also means creating a new community for ourselves. It's something I've always wanted to try, so I'm looking forward to it.
Kurono: Up until now, I have helped out with events such as "7 days to clear up your worries about job hunting and work: Harebare at the Temple!", which was held by the NPO HELLOlife at a temple in Osaka, and the "Monk Cafe" at Lucua Osaka.
I want to experience what would happen if we brought all the Buddhist content that has been available in the town here at once, and what kind of needs there are. This is truly a place for experimentation.
Inada: However, even though I was excited to be able to create something from scratch, once I was at zero I was really worried about what to do. In the end, I came back to the story of this land.
Sugimoto: Is this the story of Shikiamicho, where CONCON is located?
Shaku: The town name comes from the medieval "Shikiami Dojo," a training hall of the Jishu sect. Sarugaku Noh performers Kan'ami and Ze'ami are well known, but the Jishu sect also had a group of entertainers called the "Ami-shu"*. This area has a historical background of collaboration between Jishu monks and entertainers. CONCON was the perfect place for us monks to collaborate with creators.
*Ji-shu is a sect of Pure Land Buddhism founded by Ippen in the mid-Kamakura period. It is also called "Ji-shu" and was a group of people who excelled in the arts, so from the Muromachi period onwards, the people who worked alongside the shogun in the arts were called "Ami-shu."
Kanno: To begin with, a temple is not a place maintained by monks alone, but is run together with people who think that "this place is great."
I would like to try co-creation, which is the theme of CONCON, in various ways.
Inada: It's interesting that, while it's zero, it will never reach zero.
This goes back to the very foundations of Buddhism, which holds that we exist within dependent origination and cannot exist independently.
This brings us back to the roots of Buddhism, that we are in a state of dependent origination and cannot exist independently.
Inada
A place to think about humans from the perspective of “weakness”
Currently, the container only houses a statue of Amida Nyorai (hereafter referred to as Amida-san) with a gentle face, but there is a mysterious sense of peace inside.
However, even though it is just the Amida Buddha, it somehow feels very temple-like. "Right? The feeling when they put the Amida Buddha here was amazing," says Kanno excitedly.
Sugimoto: Could you please explain in more detail the "awesome feeling" you had when Amida Buddha was laid to rest?
Kanno: The containers here are discarded, like garbage.
On the other hand, the principal image of a temple is usually properly decorated and placed on a platform called a 'Sumidan.' I wondered, "What would happen if Amida were placed in this scrappy setting?"
Inada: It felt really right and was really good!
While thinking about how to best express this quality, the concept of "Lotus in the Mud" was born.
In Buddhism, mud is said to symbolize worldly desires, and lotus flowers symbolize enlightenment. I would like to express the relationship between the scrappy feel of the container and Amida Buddha in an installation as "worldly desires are the opportunity for enlightenment"*.
*Both Bodhi (enlightenment) and the earthly desires (delusions) that hinder it are part of human nature, and it is believed that the existence of earthly desires provides an opportunity to seek enlightenment.
Shaku: Once I tried combining discarded home appliances with Amida Buddha, but it didn't work.
When I was talking to an architect I know, he advised me, "Wouldn't it be better to use actual mud?"
We are currently discussing the possibility of traveling around the country collecting mud.
Kanno: It's not quite finished yet! I guess everyone will be able to see it from spring onwards...
What would happen if Amida Buddha were enshrined within this scrappy space?
Huo
A guide to life
Sugimoto: It's a huge project! Finally, please tell us what you want to convey through the "Konkonzan Shichimanji" project.
Inada: I think that these days there are a lot of people who are suffering because they are swayed by one set of values.
I believe that through us monks, who live with Buddhism as our operating system, people will be able to reconsider their own values.
Kanno: That's right.
I believe that humans are naturally weak, and that it is precisely because we are weak that we are easily swayed by a single set of values, and that it is precisely because we are weak that we need something to guide our lives.
We use Buddhism as a guide to our lives, but I think there are people who would say, "That line from that anime became my guide."
I would like this to be a place where people can encounter "the truth" and return to it when they are unsure of what to do.
Shaku: One of the teachings of Buddhism is to be aware of one's own biases.
I would like people to live their lives based on Buddhism, but first I would like to send out the message that "Take a look at what you yourself are living by."
Sugimoto: Thank you very much! I look forward to seeing what happens next at Konkonzan Shichimanji.
| What is "POP UP SOCIETY"? | "POP UP SOCIETY" is an irregularly published magazine that ASNOVA ran from March 2020 to March 2022 with the aim of getting the general public interested in the industry and contributing to the mid-to-long term shortage of young talent in the temporary construction industry. It introduces unique and experimental initiatives from Japan and abroad through interviews with people and companies, experience reports, and more, focusing on temporary construction. |
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