Second, from a different point of interest, I think that Totoro turns the Ohmono Nushi type of image into a character. In fact, I have actually seen a deity that looks exactly like Tonari no Totoro. There is a famous harvest festival called buru in Iriomotejima in Okinawa. It is performed in the Yaeyama Islands such as Iriomotejima, Aragusukujima and Ishigakijima, and deities called Akamata, Kuromata and Shiromata appear. The bodies of these deities are covered all over by ivy that also appears like hair. The way they bulge out is exactly like Totoro. Their appearance seemed so much like Totoro that I thought, 'Oh, so there is Totoro here' and 'Miyazaki Hayao might have used the deities Akamata and Kuromata as models'.

 I am interested in how to understand the fact that an ancient Japanese deity called Ohmono nushi and deities of Okinawan folk ritual such as Akamata and Kuromata very much resemble Totoro. I think that such mythical characters and ritual characters actually paved the way and formed the base for the world of contemporary characters. If we say that the world of characters developed particularly in Japan, I think it is because a certain kind of foundational culture existed after the Jomon period.

 I think the concept of mitate (comparison) is related to the idea of this character creativity. The word mitate appears in Kojiki (The Records of Ancient Matters) and Nihonshoki (The Chronicles of Japan). At the beginning of the myth, there is a story that Izanagi and Izanami no Mikoto had sex and gave birth to islands of Japan. It is written that before they had sex, when they came down to Takamanohara, they set up a rock called Ame no Mihashira (heavenly pole) and compared it to a pillar, and to a palace and the deities had sex in places near rocks or in a cave and gave birth to islands.

 This mitate is a metaphoric way of seeing things, such as relating and equating certain things to various things and reasoning by analogy. The logic of mitate is found even today in many aspects of Japanese culture, and this becomes a mode of thinking that creates all kinds of things. This involves various symbolic effects such as metaphors and similes, and representing a part for the whole by transferring or condensing certain things. An extension of mitate can also be found in the world view which involves skillfully utilizing the relationship between things that are there and things that are surrounding it, as in the technique of shakkei (borrowing scenery) in the building of Japanese gardens. Let us take the case of miniature Shikoku as an example. It is difficult to actually visit all the eighty-eight pilgrimage centers, so you go around one shrine and touch the places where the sand of the eighty-eight pilgrimage centers are placed. By doing this, it means that you have visited the eighty-eight pilgrimage places. This is also one example of mitate.

 Around Tokyo, there are groups called fujiko which worship Mount Fuji from afar from a small hill modeled as Mount Fuji. Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto has turned all the shrines in Japan mentioned in the Engishiki into a miniature pantheon. In Yoshida Shrine, a Shintoist active during the time of the Onin War called Yoshida Kanetomo, who is said to have revived Yoshida Shinto, built a shrine called Ohmotomiya. He not only wrote works such as Collection of Unified Shinto Teachings and An Outline of Shintoism, but created this Ohmotomiya, made 3132 miniatures of shrines all over the country and worshipped all the gods of Japan. This is rather like a Shinto version of the miniaturized eighty-eight pilgrimage centers of Shikoku and is a Shinto model of a mandala. That is to say, in the Muromachi period, from the late Heian period to the medieval and early modern times, all kinds of religious goods and models emerged among the masses and became very popular during the Edo period.

 Incidentally, the following explanation is given in the web page of Iwami kagura which I mentioned above. 'The material of the story has been taken from Kojiki and Nihonshoki, and there is no need to give a detailed account of its content. It is the conquest of the great snake by Susa no O no Mikoto. The verses are mainly based on the Nihonshoki. "The Great Snake" is performed in Iwami kagura, and this program has become a synonym for Iwami kagura. One finds dances of great snakes in performances apart from Iwami kagura, but there are no dances of great snakes which match the great snake performance of Iwami kagura. It is probably the greatest traditional performing art in Japan, nay in the world. Putting on the costume of the great snake is the most difficult in Iwami kagura. It involves putting on a large dragon's head and carrying a part of the bellow-like body of the snake on the back. The bellow-like body of the snake is easily over twenty meters in length. In 1884, Fujii Soyu established a revised version of the kagura and the bellow-like body was devised taking the idea from a lantern'. In other words, different people in different ages have established committees for the preservation of kagura, and discussed ideas about, devised and created religious goods.

 The explanation continues as follows: 'The body coiled, and confronted Susa no O no Mikoto by displaying movement exactly like a giant serpent. This brought about a great revolution in Iwami kagura. The person playing the role of the giant serpent must put on a heavy snake's head, move energetically by standing up, creeping on his stomach, adroitly handle the long bellow of the body inside the coils of the bellow. Moreover, a skilled performer is considered to be one who does not show his body at all, and captivates the audience by dramatizing the form with considerable physical strength and highly developed technique. Nowadays, eight headed giant serpent has appeared and sometimes a dance of the giant serpent goes on and on to entertain the audience.'

 According to the explanation in the web page of Iwami Kagura Hashi Shachu (Hashi troupe of Iwami kagura), it is 'a traditional performing art thriving even today in Iwami region, western Shimane prefecture'. The origin of this kagura is the dance of Ame no Uzume no Mikoto which I mentioned above. In the explanation for the aim of the kagura, it is written, 'the etymology of kagura is the seat to invite the deity, that is to say, "seat of the deity (kamukura)"', and 'to invite the deity and unite god and man'. The kinds of kagura mentioned are sato (village) kagura, miko (priestess) kagura, Iseryu (Ise-style) kagura, Izumoryu (Izumo-style) kagura, shishi (lion) kagura, Izumo kagura and Iwami kagura.

 Another point is about mono in the name Ohmononushi. Since three years ago I have wanted to set up an academic association for the study of mono. I am planning to apply for research grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology next year, and I have requested Professor Funabiki and Professor Mogi for their participation and cooperation. From now on, I would very much like to establish the study of mono. The ideas that form the backbone of this are questions about what exactly are the mono of mononoke (a supernatural being, mysterious mono), mono no aware (sensitivity to mono), monozukuri (manufacturing, making of mono) and the mono (spirit) in The Tale of Genji. There are said to be five different English translations of mono no aware, but I think the one which fits the best is Donald Keene's translation 'a sensitivity to things'. Others include, for example, 'emotional sensibility', but this becomes restricted to the 'emotional', so I think Donald Keene's translation 'sensitivity' is better as it has a wider sense and broader application.

 I think the term 'sensitivity' is alright, but I am rather reluctant to translate mono as 'things'. From my point of view, I think mono can also be translated as 'spirituality'.

 Mono in monogatari (story, tale of mono) contains a broad range of meaning. One of the agendas of the association of mono studies is to consider in more detail mono which has a range of meaning from spirituality to materiality. Another agenda is how to understand the sense of values such as 'kawaii (cute)', 'kirei (pretty)' and 'kakkoii (smart)'. The two major agendas of the seminars and meetings would be to discuss from the points of view of theories on the sense of values and mono studies.

 Character is one kind of mono making, so I think the issue of making characters which I have been discussing above indeed involves something other than just the material, in other words, the spiritual.

 Let me go back to what I mentioned before. Something had changed in the nine year old girl when she was bringing the toy rabbit character home. A sense of affinity was born between her and her future father through the mediation of this character. Distance between them had disappeared. This means that something happened inside her that took away this distance and made her feel closer to her new father. I think this is because this kind of thing contains mono which includes not just the material, but also mono which is a part of monogatari, mono no aware and mono no ke.

 In the future, I would like to think about these issues from the point of view of mono studies and studies of sense values as an agenda for making characters.

 Thank you very much for your kind attention.