Why a Japanese Thatcher Is Writing About Civilization

There are many artisans in the world, yet most of them do not speak very much.

This is because they understand the limits of language.

The world they explore is one that cannot easily be expressed in words.

Because of this, they often feel the difficulty of trying to describe it with language.

Jesus Christ and the Buddha did not write books.

The Bible and the sutras were written by their disciples.

Perhaps the Buddha and Jesus Christ also understood the limits of language.

Words try to fix things in place.

Yet both the world we perceive and we ourselves are impermanent and constantly changing.

Even so, I will attempt to speak to you, through words, about Japanese thatching.

But even if I were to write tens of thousands of pages, it would still be difficult to fully convey it to you.

In the end, I will probably feel frustrated that I could not fully express it.

Yet if something in these words allows you to feel even a small part of that world, it means that a vast realm exists beyond them.

From that point on, you can only understand it through your five senses — and perhaps what could be called a sixth sense.

And when that moment comes, you may feel that this is something worth being born to discover.

Why did the Japanese people once build so many beautiful thatched houses?

My long journey of exploration began with that single question.

The more I learn, the more my heart becomes filled with excitement.

What an extraordinary history we possess.

What remarkable ideas our ancestors lived by and left for us, their descendants.

All I can do is help guide you toward that world.

And if you find that you cannot understand my writing at all, please do not be discouraged.

It is not because there is something wrong with you.

It is because I am attempting to express with words something that cannot truly be expressed in words.