Local traditions and cultures are the result of the region’s origins, development, and coexistence with the natural environment. Unknown shrines are not necessarily valued solely as religious facilities. Rather, they often embodi other values. Understanding these values ​​leads to a deeper understanding of the region. (Kei Kitajima)

Professor Shimada is currently focusing on research into springs, primarily in Okinawa.
For the people of Okinawa, springs were once an essential part of life, a place where they would quietly pray. In other words, springs and sacred places are one and the same. However, after Okinawa’s return to Japan after the war, dams were built and the water supply system was improved, causing people to stop using springs. While they did stop using them, they maintained the springs and continued to worship.
As is well known, climate change has been drastic in recent years. Typhoons in Okinawa have decreased, resulting in droughts not seen in recent years. As a result, a new reevaluation has begun, including a revival of efforts to utilize spring water again.
Professor Shimada has made this series of events his research theme.
“I also worked in Miyazaki Prefecture for a long time,” he recalls.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) established the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2002 and began work to certify agricultural practices that should be preserved for future generations. It targets regions where traditional agriculture, forestry, and fisheries are practiced (agricultural, forestry, and fisheries systems).
The mountainous integrated agriculture and forestry system in Miyazaki Prefecture’s Takachiho-go and Shiibayama regions (Takachiho Town, Hinokage Town, Gokase Town, Morotsuka Village, and Shiiba Village) has also been recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System. The system utilizes coniferous timber production and broadleaf trees in this mountainous region, where flat land is scarce, to combine shiitake mushroom cultivation, Wagyu beef and tea production, and slash-and-burn agriculture. It also recognizes the region’s traditional culture and the ritual dance of “kagura,” a Shinto dance that prays for a bountiful harvest.
“I spent a long time in Miyazaki, working on regional revitalization programs that made use of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems and their application in education,” says Professor Shimada.
Looking at springs, agriculture, shrines, and other things alone, it seems strange how they could all be related, but in fact they all arose as a result of the origins and formation of the region, and coexistence with the natural environment.
“I call shedding light on the activities of the people who live in such regions area studies,” says Professor Shimada.

The small, obscure shrines dotted around the Azumigawa River basin do not necessarily have value solely as religious facilities. In fact, they often take on other values, such as being used to indicate the reach of the tsunami, or as landmarks where people gather.
Understanding these values ​​and messages makes it clear that even if they are not preserved as shrines, it is important to preserve their value and messages in some way, such as by planting memorial trees.
Professor Shimada says, “I would like the local community to discuss the future of shrines. This is because discussion will foster the idea that demolishing shrines and clearing the land is not the only option, but that people should try to preserve the places to the extent that they can. I believe that communities that are able to establish their own way of preserving them will become the next regional model.”

Professor Shimada is currently planning a digital museum to preserve the memory of sacred sites.
“The people I meet in the community are genuinely worried about what to do with their shrines. Preserving traces of the area in digital form is significant in order to alleviate this pain, even if only a little.”
For example, all it would take is to set up a camera in the shrine plaza and record and save the scenery from morning to night. That way, even if the area is cleared, people who lived there will be able to retrace their memories through the footage.
Such footage of the shrine may not resonate with people with no connection to the area. However, for those who live in the area and have memories of the shrine, it represents a cherished landscape and an irreplaceable asset.
However, the practical problem is cost. Due to server costs and other expenses, it is difficult for financially limited local organizations to maintain video archives. In fact, there are countless examples of accumulated archives being lost as soon as the server usage period expired.
“It’s extremely unfortunate that even valuable materials can be lost. It would be great if prefectures and other local governments would maintain servers as ‘digital storehouses’, in the interest of revitalizing local communities,” says Professor Shimada.

Professor Shimada made an impressive remark, saying, “Sometimes people I meet in the community say to me, ‘You’re a down-to-earth patriot,'” he said.
If the population continues to decline and concentrate in cities, communities will disappear, and ultimately Japan itself will disappear. Researching local communities and working to revitalize them to prevent this from happening is certainly down-to-earth patriotism. And I believe that many people living in this country are, in fact, down-to-earth patriots. Even if their positions and opinions differ, they all share the trait of being down-to-earth patriots. This is especially apparent when I travel around the country. That aside, my teacher gave me an assignment. He said that calling a small, unknown shrine a “sacred place” would be an exaggeration, so he asked me to find an appropriate expression.
Shrines are special places where people gather, and are part of the foundation of a community, so words like “pillar” and “origin” came to mind, but somehow they didn’t quite fit. After thinking about it, I decided that, well, since it’s a place where people gather and interact, I would simply go with the words “place of connection” or “place of connection.” What do you think?

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