Living Funeral of the Place
場の生前葬

The terraced rice paddies that spread across the land took many forms, but the traces of time were clearly marked, and like people, I was fascinated by the process from birth to death

Mourning the Place

In Japan, I see more and more places that were once lively but are now abandoned. Whenever I see such abandoned scenes, I have wondered why, when we hold celebrations, prayers and other rituals at the beginning of something, there is no time for something to disappear. People have funerals, but not lands and towns, but every time people look at the old lands, the act of remembrance is in fact essentially close to prayer. So what would it be like if something existed to pray for the death of a place?

Location

Matsunoyama Area, Tokamachi, Echigo

Tokamachi City in Niigata Prefecture is a thriving agricultural community, but due to the aging and depopulation of the farming population, the number of farmers is decreasing. While the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale may attract people and the economy as a way to revitalize the area, it is hardly the mainstay of supporting the community. As with other regions in Japan, the loss of some places is inevitable

The Passing of Place

In the Matsuyama area of Tokamachi City, too, due to the decline in the total population and farming population, vast areas of cultivated land were discarded and gradually became overgrown and natural ruins due to the lack of human intervention. But because it died as a place for human beings, in the silence, the power of nature's growth and the spirit of the earth can now be felt. Ruins, it is a kind of beyond shore.

Rebirth of Place

Existing Paths
Methods for Reviving Abandoned Farmland

Conserve the gently sloping parts of terraced fields as low-stemmed grasslands such as mugwort. The presence of ecotones at the forest edge should be taken into account when mowing the Azumanezasa community, which is surrounded by woodland. 　Such conservation practices bring the site back into the cycle of reincarnation, and draw out a story about prayer with a number of monumental structures to commemorate the past life of the site

Viewpoint Field and Visual Object

The structures on the site and the town can be seen from each other due to the difference in elevation of the topography, forming a relationship between a number of visual objects and viewpoints. The Old Warehouse and the Folklore Museum are the town as the viewpoint, and the Shoinji Temple is the viewpoint of the forest on the western side of the site. The old warehouse, located in the northwestern part of the site, was converted into a Buddhist altar for worshipping the town and mountains as a superior viewpoint.

Plan

The Gate

The right-angled frame, which wants to exist naturally, draws the boundary between this shore and the other shore, and the rough terraced rice fields and the mountains in the background are seen through the door, making the viewer aware of the landscape by including something other than the landscape itself.

Path of Worship

The winding pier path symbolizes the bridge over the Sanzu River and controls the main flow lines of the site, as well as setting up the various viewpoints of the site as a path for worship

The concrete base is covered with wooden planks and lowered from a height of 1100 mm to 150 mm above ground level, allowing people to walk along a sequential

The original terraced stone masonry is basically left on hold, except for some rebuilding of collapsed masonry to prevent damage to jetties and other structures caused by falling earth and sand

Altar Stone Lotus

There is a Buddhist altar converted from an old warehouse at the end of the path of worship, and the place of prayer with a change of perspective overlooking the terraced rice fields and the town makes people feel the circle of life and death on the earth, and remembers the daily life of the town as an object.

The altar was reconstructed by preserving the warehouse foundation. The duality of the altar allows the visitor to take in two views: looking toward the mountains in front of the altar, and sitting on the terrace or on the altar facing the town.

People will stand and sit in front of the altar, and both locals and tourists will feel a strong impact from the ruins to the everyday, from there to there. They will then think about the story of this town and this land, remembering the past of the land and praying for the future.

Worship Stone

With the intention of revisiting the values of nature and nature worship, a terrace for worshipping the stone and the stone of worship was installed. The terrace is located in front of the sanzon-ishi stone and is an important viewing point where one can see a panoramic view of the place, overlap with the town and the stone of worship, and see through the white stone frame.

Model

Scale: 1/200
Size: 680mm × 680mm × 275mm
Materials: Styrene paper, clay, gesso, mineral pigments, Japanese paper

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