The title of this work “Shigan-Higan” has a Buddhist meaning. The Sanskrit word “PARAMITA” was transmitted to China and translated as “reaching the other shore” and in Japan it was abbreviated to “Higan”. PARAMITA means “reaching the other shore” which originally meant completing Buddhist training and attaining nirvana, the state of enlightenment. This state of nirvana was likened to a place, and became “Higan”, or “the other shore.” The opposite of Higan is “Shigan,” which means “this shore,” the world we live in here and now.
The scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism state that there is a Buddhist paradise called the “JODO” to the west from this shore. The JODO is the world where the Buddha resides. At this time, when the sun sets due west, it is said that we feel as if the world of Buddha is close by.
In the work “Shigan-Higan” produced in 2019, you can see photographs of sunlight taken in Noto and Toyama during the spring and autumn equinoxes of 2019, along with photographs taken by photographer Ishiguro Kenji in the 2010s in various parts of the world, including London, Paris, Tokyo, Milan, Nanjing, Warsaw, Okinawa, and the Gold Coast.
Kyosyuji Temple’s resident minister, Kawakami Hougu, combined these photographs with words and a soundtrack to create a single work. The soundtrack for this work was created by editing together the sound from three works: “WHITE NIGHT/RICHARD LAINHART (ExOvo 1974),” “EXPE/TEERA (NUEXPE 2006),” and “Sympathy/YUME (Yasuhiro Minamiza 2008).”
