ONLINE MUSEUM

On the premises of Munakata Taisha, a compound consisting of three Shinto shrines, there is a museum—the Shinpokan—displaying about 80,000 shinpo excavated in Okinoshima island that date back to between the 4th and 9th centuries. Each shinpo is a certified national treasure that was offered to the enshrined goddesses by successive emperors over 1,000 years ago. Time, however, has not diminished their glow.

In academia, shinpo are categorized as archeological artifacts and are mainly researched for their historical value. Despite having been crafted using the most advanced technologies of the time, these treasures have never been fully appreciated as works of art or craft. This is a shame, as these items possess a timeless beauty.

Beauty is a quality that defines all shinpo, irrespective of the era or location in which they were created. So, too, are the genuine passion and cutting-edge technologies that went into making them. Understanding shinpo requires more than historical knowledge; it also requires an artistic sensibility. This is why I decided to produce this book.

Yamamura Zentaro, who I commissioned to take the pictures in this book, has long had a fascination with the animism associated with giant rock formations and trees on shrine premises that predate the shrines themselves. His work demonstrates a pursuit of artistic beauty in nature—a quality that I believed was essential for this project.

The ancient praying grounds of Okinoshima were discovered in an area within a primeval forest that is full of giant rock formations. Artifacts dating back to the Jomon period (14,000 – 300 BC) have been uncovered here, suggesting the presence of human activity for over two thousand years. Although a small shrine was built on the island in the 17th century, researchers believe Shinto priests previously used the rock formations as a makeshift temple. This is why the artifacts uncovered here in the 1954 excavation were miraculously well-preserved, completely defying expectations that centuries of wind and rain would have severely damaged the artifacts. The ornamental items, in particular, were far more beautiful than the excavators had imagined. These treasures now lie exactly as they were found in the Shinpokan, untouched by human hand.

I would like to finish by thanking Mr. Yamamura from the bottom of my heart for the many trips he took to Munakata to photograph over one hundred shinpo preserved at Munakata Taisha. I hope this book fully conveys the level of passion and craftsmanship that went into ever y detail of these items— exemplary treasures crafted by our ancestors for the sole purpose of demonstrating their love for the gods they worshipped.

Munakata Taisha