Fig. 21 represents schematically in terms of the settlement genesis the 'holy seats' studied. The first settler arrives in an uninhabited, reed covered area, and sets down his marker. Traditionally, this means the establishment of his future settlement. The boundaries of the village are summed up neatly in the marker. Above, on the other side, behind the marker is an undefined part, wild, natural and wooded, inaccessible to human beings, a taboo area, thought to be inhabited by gods and spirits <34>, and below, a flat well-defined, accessible part, the production area for paddy fields and the living area. The peasant builds his house, has children, his descendants, all children of the extended family (ujiko). Later arrivals have no connection with the founderÕs line or the religious group. The founder, as principal landowner, (and his immediate family) has power over the descendants, and later over tenants. An autonomous social hierarchy is created. The ritual renewal of the transitory marker in the centre keeps this system intact over time, and also documents the social hierarchy, whether it be the supremacy of the founderÕs family (kusawake), or of the descendants as a group (ujiko), contrasted with later arrivals unconnected with the resident house and blood lines. The highest family demonstrates the superseding of the 'holy seat' through a more developed wooden shrine (fig.21).
The whole layout of the settlement also appears to be initially determined by this demarcation, in the sense of a polarised system, which we shall call the Ôpath-placeÕ schema <36> (fig.23). It uses human requirements as the basis for interpreting the basic schema (fig.22). The marking gives a fixed point, forms the border of the human domain with the uncultured other side of the forest mountain. The path to this memorial defines the shape of the entire village. Secondary to this, the human domains are subdivided by paired markings (gateways), but these continue to refer back to the most important, primary religious symbol.
The old Japanese Fudoki provide an unusual but undervalued wealth of written material about early Japanese history. They are, in modern parlance, ancient ÒfolkloricÓ investigations, commissioned by the central government in the 8th century into the management of the provinces of the day. Requirements included topographical characteristics, customs, special products of the region, place names, even interviews with village elders.
We can therefore assume that the extract of the Matachi report referred to below is representative. <37>
(1) The spatial element: acculturation (ÔpurificationÕ)
The historical report verifies quite clearly the complex of settlement-genetic functions we are concerned with here (fig.20). It is in the end an elementary example of JapanÕs prehistoric constitution relating to village territory. This piece of evidence also shows how closely the territorial rights, not yet enforced by the State, were linked to what we have described as the aboriginal layer of Shint™.
What we have reconstructed so far provides us with a clear insight into how in prehistoric times the agrarian village living space was protected within the framework of a traditional system. It was done astonishingly peacefully, by means of a strictly stereotypical path-place schema, primarily based around an elementary 'fibro-constructive' marker system which, through the act of marking, defined the entire settlement. <40> This applies not only to the spatial aspect, but also to the religious and social.
As the established memorial represents the territory monopolised for settlement and cultivation, the founding inevitably generates a diachronic social hierarchy <41>. Already with the descendants of the founder, and later with incomers, a process of distribution is initiated which stems from the original demands of the founder or his family: the relevant representative of the family can control the use of the living space in his capacity as priest (kami-nushi, owner of the god), and clan or village chief (uji no kami), ie. determine the division of the land. Seen from this perspective, the functional high regard in which the memorial is held can be understood. There are powerful interests intent on preserving it as a matter of ritual. House (ie, honke, bunke) and family lines (d™zoku) develop with this interest inherent in them, but can also show strong variations. The main point is, however, that, in the periodic renewal of the symbol, the territorial-political rights of the founderÕs family and his descendants are written into the archives.
The religious memorials came to provide an ancient calendar of festivals, where the time when the cult was originally founded is forever forcing its way through into the here and now. We saw how the signs used in worship also mould human behaviour. A traditional ÔmoralityÕ, in terms of the highest concept of values, can be seen. Morphological research has demonstrated, moreover, that conventionally unimportant elementary building technology allows us to accumulate a wealth of cultural heritage from ancient times. The Ôaxis mundiÕ is visible. We can understand its intrinsic value. A specific Ôworld viewÕ, a local ontology, existentially meaningful, becomes apparent. Does the polarised model of harmony perhaps represent at its core the beginnings of a metaphysical element in the origins of settlement? Epistemology, aesthetics, symbolism; are these symbols perhaps a strongly influenced beginning of Japanese culture?
In other words, the sacred space of village Shinto suggests, in settlement-genesis terms, a Japanese village culture which is much more complex than that which is portrayed in the conventional disciplines. But this approach does more than simply reveal a culture which is hardly recognisable today <43>. Using this ethno-historical reconstruction as a starting point, some elements of the great tradition can be rediscovered. Particularly impressive is the way we can still today see the two layered structure of village Shinto in historical and centralised shrine systems. At the principal festival based around the following shrines there appear each time religious constructions in which ancient functionality quite clearly takes precedence both materially and architecturally.
Using BOLLNOWÕs anthropological or settlement-genesis theory of space as a point of departure, we have looked at Ôsacred spaceÕ in Japan . BOLLNOWÕs space argued for casting aside the cell settlement idea together with its sacred space, which we adapted to fit the theoretical conditions, giving it a distinct central value, as Ôlocal ontologyÕ. We presented a layered view of village Shint™, and described by way of example a festival showing sacred topography. Onto this example of a single settlement were projected the results of research in one hundred neighbouring villages.
By placing todayÕs developed village Shint™ shrines in context with regard to an older, explicitly topo-semantic, architecture in the form of the 'holy seats', we have shown a continuity which stretches from prehistoric village cultures, temporary or mysterious in Shint™ in many areas, right through to the present day. In this continuum of highest values, in the sacred space of the settlement, we see that a centrally important element in its origin is the protection of living space.
BOLLNOWÕs theories are thus not only fully corroborated, his theory of space gains a new dimension. Culture moves very close to the anthropological definition of space. The origins of cultures, in the ÔhighÕ sense, can be thought of in settlement-genesis terms in the sacred space of settlement. YANAGITA Kunio once said of Japan: the religious festivals (matsuri) are the gateway into Japanese culture. The same goes for its real beginning. There is no doubt that JapanÕs culture, even today, draws its much admired strength from its Ôhuman cultural spaceÕ, since this Ôhuman spaceÕ also means, as BOLLNOW demonstrates, identification.
To conclude: at the beginning of this essay we indicated that space, along with time, was fundamental in numerous human sciences. Time was again and again reflected intensively. Space on the other hand is usually taken for granted. The fact that western human sciences leave space to physics and mathematics may not be particularly beneficial to man when seen from the viewpoint of JapanÕs Ôspatial humanismÕ.