“We have a traditional dance called ‘Mina Hito-odori’ in Chiburijima Island, but if there’s anyone to ask, that would be Mr. Ijiri.”

As a village office staff introduced the island to us, we passed another car. The staff gripped the steering wheel and said,

“Ah! The one we just passed was him!”

This was not a one-time phenomenon. This sort of thing happened three times in succession (no joke). Perhaps this is a part of the intimacy between people on the island.

Our first impression of Chiburijima Island was that it was a bit cramped.

We stayed for about a week in Chiburijima, and the children made our final impression.
“Man, I’m jealous of the kids on this island,”
was how we felt in the end. Just as we introduced in the section “Mr. Ijiri of Mina Hito-odori,” the children in Chiburijima are the leaders of a traditional performance art. I was able to witness their practice, and the rhythm was beyond my comprehension. Even if I started practicing now, I’m sure it would take me a year to master it. Yet, the junior high school students of the island master it in the matter of a few days.

Their skill is something they were born with. No, perhaps it is something that goes beyond the womb even—back to the DNA of their faraway ancestors. The yearly festivals have engraved it into them. The rhythm of the taiko drums and song is surely stored in their subconscious.

“So, this is it. This is what a traditional performance art is like,” I thought.

There are no such things as festivals in the big city that raised me. This is why I was so envious of these children. It was not just Mina Hito-odori either. The children also learn about kabuki and kagura, and if they are raised in a fishing family, they are bound to learn how to fish too. In this dense society, they might better understand the distance between them and adults. Even though I admit it to be an irresponsible sort of admiration, I envied them nevertheless.

I think the most interesting part of this guide are the interviews. Mrs. Nakano, Mrs. Nanke, Mr. Tokuda, Mr. Ijiri, and Mr. Nishitani—all of whom are without renown. Still, people always love a good story. Through these interviews, their stories found a living voice, which was truly enjoyable. Their stories cannot be found in Chiburijima history books. Stories found in history books are already immortalized; there is little value in rewriting them. What we listened to were perhaps stories that, without the writing of this guide, would have one day disappeared from the face of the earth. “So, this is it. This is what fieldwork is like,” I thought.

There is a famous folklorist named Miyamoto Tsuneichi (1907-1981), a renowned man known as the “Giant of Traveling” who left famous works, such as “The Forgotten Japanese.” Through his fieldwork, he was able to provide sketches of the lives of several Japanese people. In the present day, his work is of immeasurable value for recalling people who might have otherwise been forgotten.

Tsuneichi Miyamoto is a hero to me, and I aspire to emulate him with the guides I write. However impudent, this is my ambition. If say in 100 million years all of mankind has vanished from the face of the earth, aliens or human refugees living on some other planet may come visit. In what is then a wasteland, they discover a black box containing a mass of web data that includes our guide. If all this really does happen, we will have revived the lives of the Chiburijima people from a 100 million years prior.

“So, this is it. This is how people of those times experienced history and actually lived their lives,”
they would say.

I will never learn how many people will use this guide. This guide may, perhaps, go on forever unused. Even then, I hope that after listening to my voice and the voice of the people of this island, you can join us by becoming a storyteller yourself. This is my wish.

ON THE TRIP Editorial Staff
Writer: Shiga Akihito
Translation: Rahul Ghosal, Autumn Smith
Photographer: Honma Hiroshi
Voice: Kate Beck

*This guide was created based on documents and interviews and includes some interpretation done by us at ON THE TRIP. Theories differ between experts, so try to find out what really happened on your travels!