NORIKO  OKAKU
1050×780mm 
Giclee print of original drawing
Edition of 15
 
This is a genealogy of Japanese gods that Noriko created by reading and interpreting Japanese mythology. In this genealogy, she has interwoven fictional gods such as the God of Radiation and the God of Electricity and so on, conceptualized during an artist residency in Katsurao Village, Fukushima Prefecture, where the entire village had to evacuate due to the nuclear reactor accident in 2012. This work is based on the concept of Japanese Shintoism (indigenous Japanese religion). It is the belief that divinity resides within all of nature. 
 
This is a special English edition. The characteristics of the gods considered important in this work are translated into English and marked in red. 
 
The Japanese used here consists of katakana, which consists of 48 syllables. The names of the gods that emerge through combinations are reminiscent of chemical symbols.
 
Japanese mythology shares a similar structure to Greek mythology, beginning with the age of gods (nature), transitioning to the age of demigods (nature and human), and concluding with the age of heroes (human). In the age of gods, many deities resembling nature appear, indicating that humans are also part of nature. This work embraces a holistic approach by considering even human-derived elements such as radiation and electricity as part of nature, as descendants from the natural beings depicted in the mythological genealogy.
 
The original DENKINOKAMISAMA genealogy (1050x780cm) is housed in Katsurao Village, Fukushima Prefecture, along with a VR work. In the VR space, the two deities of electricity and the deity of man-made neutrons featured in this work are enshrined. This VR reflects the irony of Fukushima, where despite everyone knowing about the accident, they avoid visiting it, rendering the place akin to an unseen spirit that is felt but not seen, simultaneously existing and not existing. Additionally, by realizing that electricity is necessary to visit the shrines within the VR, it emphasizes how essential electricity is in our lives and underscores the question of where this energy originates from.
 
Fukushima has spent the past ten years healing from the sorrow of the disaster. Having moved past that period of grief the people of the affected regions are now grappling with how to accept the current situation and coexist with it. The underlying Shinto philosophy of accepting everything and deciding how to move forward is guiding them.
 
https://norikookaku.com/denkinokamisama