To help transition Japan to a peace promoting post-carbon country while enjoying every step of the process. 僕のビジョンは、祖国日本で、平和文化を育みポストカーボン（Post-Carbon) 社会を促進してゆく事です。 化石燃料や原子力に頼らず、他国の資源を取らない、自給自足な国へのトランジションを実現させてゆきたいです。
Showing posts with label Peace and Permaculture Dojo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peace and Permaculture Dojo. Show all posts
Below is a video of life at the Peace and Permaculture Dojo (the Dojo)
道場 (dojo) means a place (場）of/for the path (道）also known to the West as "dao". The Dojo is in the early stages of development as a place of practice, and a place of nonviolent/peace activists to gather near Tokyo, but just far enough to be surrounded by rice paddies and the ocean.
In 2018, we experimented with our first residential internship program for Japanese. We had three spots that were filled up with nine people, including a family of five (and two goats). As everything is quite unstructured and organic at the Dojo, it was quite a challenging experiment for all of us, but the learning and growth was priceless.
Things we explored (a sample)
simple living e.g. building your own dwelling, cooking with fire and sun, washing by hand (including cloth diapers for two), eating almost completely locally, etc
community dynamics and nonviolent communication: how to be authentic, empathetic, and live harmoniously with those who have different perspectives (vegan/non-vegan, toddler/children/20s/30s/40s, single/family, urban/rural, etc)
systems thinking and design: community is a system and operates differently than individuals
permaculture, natural farming, and ecological regeneration: how to heal the land (and ourselves) and live as part of the ecosystem
mindfulness: living in the present moment, engaging with the internal landscape
gift economy: living in service, being in alignment with the ecosystem, and having awareness of when things are not a "gift" (like feeling we are pressured to give). Exploring the difference with capitalism through our head, heart, and hands
social change: our relationship to the larger society and our cultural inheritance, roles, and possible contributions in a time of instability
It was an extremely challenging process, especially in the realm of emotions, but I feel such experiences are invaluable and help us grow in ways that modern society rarely offer. AND extremely rewarding (although its not for the rewards that we do this work).
This year (2019) we are doing a five month internship with four residents.
We also have more and more people moving to the area (Isumi, Chiba) involved in running the Dojo and using the Dojo.
Slowly, we will grow our capacity to support more people in their practice.
Its been a while since I wrote an update in English!
Cherry blossoms are starting here, and the frogs are singing with energy.
I've been quite busy learning how to be a dad, contemplating about life, and chopping wood to keep my wife warm.
I've
also been busy growing the Peace and Permaculture Dojo with an amazing group of people. The DOjo is inspired by the
most inspiring communities I've experienced, places practicing peace and sustainability from
around the world.
This project is still in its infancy but its an
interesting experiment and I'm learning so much! I think of it as "peace infrastructure", where
we incubate a more resilient and powerful movement for peace and
sustainable living.
Here are some articles from last year (haven't had time to update)
1.
3 month training program where people start by building their house,
planting their food, learning facilitation and community living skills,
and experimenting with culture and ecology. We're aiming for it to be a
model for holistic education exploring the 3 S's (Soil, Soul, Society)
through the 3 H's (Head, Heart, Hands).
This will be
our first year and we have 4 people in their 20s, and a family of 5 with
two goats. A small but big experiment in peace and sustainable living.
2. Hosting regular lectures and workshops by leading thinkers, designers, and social change-makers, all gift economy based
3.
6 day nonviolence retreat - through Nonviolent Communication we attempt
to move from power-over dynamics to power-with dynamics, and work on
inner transformation as well as understanding fundamentals to integral
nonviolence (both principled nonviolence and strategic nonviolence), and
structural oppression and change.
We've had quite a
diversity of attendees such as activists, community organizers, teachers,
a political strategist, a politician, a lawyer, an executive consultant for a
major bank.
4. Sudberry School, a school where children practice direct democracy, and adults treat children as equals.
5. Earth regeneration technique called daichino saisei, a movement growing in popularity in permaculture circles here. Basically about getting air and water to move underground, which will develop a healthier microbial ecosystem, which will restore the ecological vigor of the land.
6. Natural rice farming. And with that, koji-making, miso making, and soy sauce making.
A lot more is happening but its hard to write it all. If you read Japanese you can follow us on my Japanese blog Tokyo Urban Permaculture or look up パーマカルチャーと平和道場。
We are a bit over-capacity so we're still not ready to take on most people wanting to get a tour or wanting to stay (e.g. WWOOFing). We don't have anybody consistent able to receive and respond to emails or messages at the moment (my email box is at 12,000 unopened emails!). Its also particularly hard to host visitors who can't speak Japanese. But, if you have something to offer and the timing is right, it sometimes works out.
Hopefully in the future, we can make it more accessible to non-Japanese speakers but it takes time to grow roots and that is where our energy is focused. Roots before Branches.
We’ve been working on designing and redesigning (its always dynamic) the human ecology of the Dojo project and Tokyo Urban Permaculture, so the physical progress has been limited as planned. The social permaculture aspect of this project is really quite fascinating, and that is my particular interest, but I won’t get into that right now.
We are now working on the earthen walls tsuchikabe. We’re also trying to figure out where to put showers and the grey water system, and I’m super slowly working on another compost toilet.
Below is a bilingual video of our first tsuchikabe workshop facilitated by Kyle who is super awesome and thorough. My explanation on the other hand is not perfect/accurate, but I think you’ll get the gist of it. My aim is to get 60% of what I say right!
Also, below that is a wonderful write up by one of the participants Max Durayappah-Harrison, who is a PhD student in anthropology studying about Japanese agriculture. Copied from Isumi Life Style Laboratory
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Since late last year there has been much activity taking place in one particular corner of Chōjamachi, Isumi.
Renovations were begun on a kominka (a traditional-style, wooden-built Japanese home), with the plan to eventually make it the center of a retreat at which peace activists can explore permaculture and other practices aimed at achieving positive change in the world.
One of the core objectives of the project is the building of community through working with and for the benefit of others.
The process of repairing and reconstructing the Permaculture and Peace Dōjo (as the kominka is known) therefore incorporates events at which members of the general public are able to participate in the renovation, learn about the project and meet others.
In early May, I was lucky enough to be a part of the earthen plaster workshop held at the Dōjo. In this post, I’d like to explain just a little about what we got up to.
The day began at 10am under brilliant sunshine with participants making their way down the tree-lined path that leads to the secluded Dōjo, entering the building and seating themselves on the newly-laid wooden floor that provides an inviting meeting and greeting place.
The coordinators of the Permaculture and Peace Dōjo project, Kai and Nao, had invited Kyle Holzhueter, a ‘straw bale builder’ and earthen plasterer, to lead the day’s activities.
Kyle began things with a short lecture on the history and intricacies of plastering in Japan. This included an account of how many of the motivations for particular design choices in Japanese building are founded in the nation’s geology (the prevalence of earthquakes necessitating ease of repair, for example) and culture.
He also introduced us to some of the properties of the material that make it practical and efficient as a resource in construction. This was brought home to me particularly clearly when he revealed that the plaster we would be using had as a primary constituent the decades-old plaster that had been stripped from the very walls that surrounded us.
Kyle, delivering his lecture
Once the mini-lecture was concluded we then set to work on the various tasks necessary to prepare for the application of earthenware plaster. These included:
•Removing loose and damaged plaster from the walls. Dusty work!
•Breaking down the old plaster and mixing it with fresh soil sourced from nearby.
•Adding water and straw to the mixture in order to bring it to the correct consistency that would allow it to bind when applied to the wall.
While all of these tasks were in themselves interesting, perhaps the most fun was had in mixing together the various ingredients of the plaster.
In order to do this on a large scale, a tarp was laid out and four walls created so that we could step inside and stamp, walk and dance it smooth.
And it is no exaggeration to say that the plaster was danced smooth, as there was an impromptu Bon Odori performance that took place, complete with music!
Breaking down soil and recycled plaster for the mix
The mixing station/stage (sans dancers)
It was around midday when we all broke for lunch. As is normally the
case at events held at the dōjo, in order to encourage sharing and
foster a sense of comradery everyone brought with them one item of food
to distribute amongst the whole group – potluck style.
This resulted in a great array of foodstuffs, many of which were
handmade by those that brought them. From organic onigiri to homemade
bread, and pickled vegetables to fruit salad, it was a veritable feast!
Lunch also gave everyone the opportunity to chat and get to know each
other a little better, as well as grill Kyle further on the art of
earthen plastering. I wouldn’t say I was uneager to get back to work but
it was certainly difficult to pull myself up and away from the
delicious food and banter.
Healthy food and hungry workers
Once the afternoon arrived, it was time to start applying the first
base-coat of plaster to the walls. Carried out either by hand or with
the aid of a trowel, Kyle showed us how to work the dark, coarse, muddy
mixture against the bamboo slats that lend the walls structure.
This was perhaps the most satisfying and yet difficult part of the job,
as for every handful of plaster I managed to attach to the wall, another
handful seemed to fall to the floor.
It appears to me at least, that it is one of those tasks that can look
incredibly easy but in fact requires hours of practice in order to get
the angle of your hand or the trowel just right and the pressure against
the slats correct.
Nevertheless, with a little instruction we managed to complete an amount we could all be proud of.
Kyle applying the plaster to the bamboo slats of the wall
So, with mucky hands and some tired muscles, I left the Permaculture
and Peace Dōjo with a greater understanding of a little of the work that
goes into renovating a kominka and the satisfaction that can be had in
working with others outdoors.
I’m happy that living in Isumi will give me a chance to hopefully meet
many of the friends I made that day again, while also seeing the dōjo
project develop and grow over the coming months.
It’s incredible learning of the resources that surround us, and how sharing time and knowledge can build something amazing.
Come join me on a tour of the sprouting Peace and Permaculture Dojo!
This is where we are at six months into the project (here is the first English article about the Dojo). I just got back from a three month Asia and Australia tour so my friends have been moving things along. We have had an amazing daiku (carpenter) who has been intensely building a relationship with the kominka (old Japanese house). The 100 year-old wooden house is tilted, so everything that he fixed is fixed to the angle of the tilt. WOW! The building rests on stones as a foundation, and after so many years, some of the stones have sank, and the wooden building has tilted.
What we are growing here is peace culture. Japan is rapidly shifting from a pacifist country toward a more robust aggressive military power. US pressure on Japan to increase military capacity has been increasing and the Japanese military industries have probably been lobbying pretty hard for revamping their industry. This is a historic shift since the Japanese Military Empire was A-bombed by the US Military Empire. Our hope is that, like Gandhi's ashrams, the Possibility Alliance in Missouri, Casa De Paz in California, Plum Village, and many other places to practice peace, this can be part of the global peace infrastructure during the Great Turning.
Even without that, we are facing consistent high rates of suicide, school/business bullying, sexual harassment, depression, apathy, depopulation of rural areas (ghost-towning of Japanese villages), exponential growth of national debt, an unprecedented nuclear meltdown and growing hibakusha population, super-aging society, and loss of traditional skills and wisdom to name some of the big ones. Not a very hopeful time to be born in Japan....or the world. So, we're here to change that. I mean come on, is this the best we can do after thousands of years of human evolution?!!
It's also important for us to remember and renew interest in Japanese wisdom and design. There is something quite strange about spreading permaculture in a country that has had thousands of years of practicing it. At the same time, I can get more young people excited about self-sufficient (village
-scale) ecological living if I call it permaculture than if I call it "traditional Japanese living." There are lots of other reasons for calling what we do permaculture, but I won't go into that for now. What I will say is that, we are developing a culture that is strongly influenced by the values and worldviews of the liberal West Coast (USA), and the beautiful relationship-based culture of rural Japan.
Below is a video of the traditional community dance ritual called bon odori practice session we did at the Dojo. A group from the "Bay Area of Japan" (shonan, Kanagawa prefecture) reclaimed this tradition, made original music and movements based on peace and ecology, and have been spreading it throughout Japan. The group is called imajin bonbu (Imagine Dance Group ← Imagine is from John Lennon). We just finished the floors of the Dojo, so as a celebration event, we had a bon odori practice session and the founding of a local bon odori dance group.
*the video is in Japanese but toward the middle you can watch people practice/dance. The dance is not a performance dance, so practicing and dancing is pretty much the same. Anyone can join and leave at any time, and some communities will continue dancing for days. I heard that people go into a trance.
Here are some pictures from the DOJO
bon odori
potlucking
the sign was made by two girls and it says 平和 (peace)
what era is this?!!
(the typhoon felled the Sugi tree)
the TUP cameragirls Jun Jun and Nana
Browns Field macrobiotic living center staff are in the back
We have an amazing crew of people renewing Japanese culture
VISITING / HELPING
We're still no ready to officially receive guests, but if you have time and skills that we need, and we happen to be able to respond to your email/message, then something could happen. All we have right now is a roof and floor, compost toilet is almost done, and a rocket stove. Unfortunately, we don't have enough committed people on the ground to receive guests at the moment, and nobody lives at the Dojo yet. I want to say YES to everyone but we don't have the capacity to comfortably host yet....and every once in a while things work out so its not a definite NO either. I guess its always a MAYBE.
The IDEAL characteristics of a volunteer at the moment are
can speak basic Japanese: most of my team and the locals can only speak Japanese
patient: our response time is slow, and we aren't always able to respond (feel free to remind us)
self-sufficient: can take initiative and do a project, we also can't feed people yet like a WWOOF host, and it's basically like camping.
friendly: as in likes people, because we have lots of people coming through!
low or no expectations: the key to happiness
can stay about a week: it takes energy and time to orient people so realistically, a week is about how much time it takes for someone to "help" us. If you can commit for months that would be amazing, and if you can commit for life.....now we're talking!
Next year (2018), we will hopefully have more structure (social and physical), and be able to host people!
Love you all, may we all embody peace in every aspect of our lives
For most recent events and picture check out the Dojo FB page
