– Entering Japan’s World of Yokai and Memory –
Introduction
Between Journeys and Myths is a personal record of places
where landscapes, buildings, and objects quietly preserve
fragments of Japan’s mythological imagination.
This journey begins in Miyoshi, a town known for its deep connection
to yokai folklore and local legends, where a museum stands
at the intersection of history, memory, and imagination.
Stepping through its gates is not simply entering an exhibition space,
but crossing into a world where stories once believed
still linger in form, image, and presence.
Mythical beings depicted in Japanese maki-e style, moving freely between sky and earth.
In traditional Japanese art, mythical beings are rarely fixed in one realm.
They appear in motion, crossing boundaries between the human world, nature,
and the unseen domains of gods and spirits.
Scenes like this do not merely illustrate stories, but visualize a worldview
in which myths are lived, remembered, and continually reimagined.
A contemporary reconstruction of a yokai figure, giving physical form to myth.
While myths are often encountered through stories and images,
they also take shape as objects.
Models like this transform intangible beings into something tangible —
not as definitive representations, but as interpretations shaped
by memory, imagination, and modern sensibilities.
Standing before such figures, one is reminded that yokai are not relics
of the past, but living concepts that continue to change
as long as they are seen, told, and reimagined.
Closing / Transition Text
These objects do not offer clear answers.
Instead, they invite quiet attention —
to what remains unseen, unnamed, and half-remembered.
Beyond this space lie other places, other forms,
where myths continue to surface through land, artifacts,
and the stories people choose to carry forward.
The journey between journeys and myths continues.
