Nakatsukuni lycuem

1.

If something attractive that exists here and now has been born, nurtured, and finally achieved, we might call the place where it was born and raised its "hometown."

If the charm and value of "things" were inherent and naturally manifested, the word "hometown" would be unnecessary.

The word "hometown" is cherished because it's believed that the charm and value of something can only be created and exist if it's recognized as important, nurtured, protected, and passed down so that its appeal doesn't disappear.

This is culture. Culture isn't nature itself, but the formation of a unique environment, including nature, where the value of "things" within it is recognized, nurtured, and mutually supported.

This unique (i.e., original) environment is called culture, and if we use the word "hometown," it could be said that it's the "hometown" for the things and living beings made possible within that culture.

Not only humans have a "hometown," but all things created there, the nature living there, all need each other, support each other, create each other, nurture and inherit each other. We propose that an environment that can continue this reproduction is what can be called a true "hometown."

2.

When measuring the value of things, economic value has always been prioritized. For example, the question "Why are works of art valued?" is often asked. This is frequently oversimplified to "Why does this work cost this much?" and understood in terms of "Because it's popular."

In other words, it's thought that the value of "things" increases because they're popular, and people want these "things" because they have value, meaning they're popular. If so, the logic becomes circular: "People desire popular things, therefore their value increases, and they become even more popular." This means that if something popular is one day deemed unpopular, its popularity and value would rapidly decline and be lost. This is the result of thinking primarily in terms of market principles where value is determined solely by popularity (demand).

However, if we return to where culture is created, we see this isn't the case. It takes time to create "things." They aren't made because they're popular. Regardless of others, they are born, created, and nurtured because they are concretely necessary, and there is a way of life that can't exist or continue without them. Even works of art are needed because there are activities and lives that would lose their meaning of existence without them. In other words, they are needed because they are irreplaceable "things" for those activities and lives.

There are activities that can only exist because of these "things," and there are "things" that are created because of these activities.

As long as this is true, these "things" won't lose their value. No matter how unpopular they become, they will never be abandoned by the people and things that need them, and these works will always be maintained economically. They are necessities like water, air, or food. They are irreplaceable existences like family.

In other words, this irreplaceability isn't for many people. It's for people and things that have a very special relationship with these "things." They're necessary because they've learned from and been nurtured by these "things." The reason is the fact that without these "things," their work couldn't exist or continue.

Popularity can't explain why "things" were created or why they exist. Certainly, when it's understood that something is valuable, it might become popular. But the logic of popularity can never understand why it became possible for these valuable "things" to be created. Popularity always arrives late.

Without Josetsu's paintings, neither Sesshu's nor Hasegawa Tohaku's work would have been born. Even if Josetsu was unknown to many, Sesshu and Tohaku would have protected Josetsu's paintings. This is because the stimulus given by Josetsu's work demanded that Sesshu and Tohaku's works be created. Without Josetsu's work, much of the reason (and secret) why Sesshu and Tohaku's works had to be created would be lost. These "things" are treasures because there's a culture that can't exist without them, no different from a family of storks continuing for generations. This is the meaning and condition of the existence of an irreplaceable culture.

What ultimately supports culture (and economy) is the connection of people and things that believe it's necessary. Culture exists as this kind of environmental system (network).

Culture is thus supported and exists as a connection of humans, living beings, and things that mutually recognize each other as irreplaceable "things." It's not needed by a majority of people, but by the individual members and things with unique characteristics that form this connection. Each one, each individual has its own value, supporting and protecting each other. This is what we consider a "hometown."

No matter how the world changes, this cultural "hometown" will continue to support, protect, enhance the charm, and daily train and nurture its members (down to the smallest things and creatures) who are involved, live, and grow there, so they can live strongly.

3.

Nakatsukuni Lykeion inherits the environmental cultural sphere movement that was born in the early 1990s in the areas of Soryocho, Mirasaka-cho, and Kisa-cho in Hiroshima Prefecture. This movement, initially called "Haizuka Earthwork," was renamed "Nakatsukuni Environmental Cultural Sphere" among the main members involved, inspired by the fact that "Middle-earth," the setting of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," was translated as "Nakatsukuni" in Japanese mythology. In 2005, this led to the development of "Nakatsukuni Park" in the Inakusa area of Soryocho.

Nearly 30 years have passed since the start of the movement, but the ideas that the participating members actively discussed have never faded. Rather, their necessity and importance have become increasingly recognized.

What creates culture is an environment where people understand its importance and irreplaceability, need each other, and support each other. In this environment, both the things created and the people who create them must be encouraged, taught, and have their value enhanced daily. In this sense, there's no end to study and training for those involved in culture. This is because studying means relearning and reliving anew every day. The name Lykeion was chosen to include the idea that this environment itself is a school = life, a place to constantly reproduce and relearn the environment.

Nakatsukuni Lykeion views this entire mechanism of maintaining culture as one cultural environment = ecosystem.

The connection of "things" that we humans (along with other living beings and nature) need to live = "things" that give meaning and value to our activities and lives. What we should learn, research, apply to our activities, and connect across space and time is this connection created by various things, living beings, non-living things, various substances and activities. This supports human activities and the irreplaceability of things.

The word "live" is not enough. More actively, the environment and life can only be preserved, protected, and sustained by always relearning and using them anew, that is, by always living them anew. The environment, culture, and hometown must always be newly discovered, newly used, and so to speak, lived in daily life. In other words, what Nakatsukuni Lykeion aims for (what should certainly be there) is the hometown of art as a lived environment. There are lived education, lived workshops, lived museums, lived libraries. There, there are always shining days like summer vacation (that's why we call it "Nakatsukuni"). As long as we live, by returning there, we can live again.