Recently I’ve been researching Japan’s sixteen World Heritage Sites. One of them is the mountainous forest range in northern Honshu known as Shirakami-Sanchi. it has one of the largest primeval beech forests in the world, and reading about it led me to an official proclamation issued by the Aomori and Akita Prefectures.
Here in the three simple points of the proclamation are summed up what lies (or should lie) at the heart of Shinto – nature as the source of spirituality. In the gift of water, the blessings of woodland, the sheer wonder of the universe is cause for contemplation and appreciation. “Let nature be your teacher,” as Wordsworth had it.
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1) The Shirakami-Sanchi is the nucleus of a natural world in which forests, rivers and the sea sprea in variegated circles of life. We will never cease to admire the wonders of Nature that originate here.
2) The Shirakami-Sanchi is a place for meditation. By allowing the peace of the natural beech forest to sink into us, we will be moved by new emotions and think more deeply about ourselves.
3) The Shirakami-Sanchi is a natural museum. filled with gratitude that these venerable woods have been passed down to us, each of us will follow the rules so the beauty of the natural beech forest may be preserved.
7 October, 2001
Aomori and Akita Prefectures, Japan
Photo courtesy of Travel.Wallpapers.tc
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