Why Walk Tamagawa Josui?
A project that provides people an opportunity to reflect on our life of modern society.
Tamagawa Josui 4.6 Billion Year Walk
Tokyo Biennale 2020 co-sponsored project
4.6 billion years passed since the birth of the earth.
But do you know exactly when humanity was born?
In the last 100 years, we have changed the earth drastically.
Have you ever thought what this 100-year time means compared to endless earth history?
Let’s walk and feel eternity in our bodies.
Tamagawa Josui stretches from west to east in Tokyo.
Let’s walk the 46km long water path, imaging the 46 billion years of earth history.
Feel the long history of the earth and contemplate the ways of modern living.
April 25, 2020 (Sat) 8: 00-20: 00（ postponed, new date is not decided )
Let's walk together!
46km from Hamura Intake Weir to Edo Castle (Imperial Palace)
English contact
if you need contact in English, please send mail to this address
E-mail:satoko.lee(at)gmail.com
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What We Aim For
Walk Tamagawa Josui and enjoy 4.6 billion years of history
Walk Tamagawa Josui and enjoy 4.6 billion years of history
To experience Earth’s history and think about the future
It is said that the more diverse the creature is, the more stable the world is. If people are supported by diverse creatures, then we must support those creatures. That’s our responsibility.
How can we reduce pollution and have sustainable development? By looking back at history, we can see clearly what we’ve done to our precious earth. Without learning from the history, we can’t create a better world.
Tokyo is said to be one of the most biodiverse cities in the world. For the project, we made a special map; 4.6 billion years of Earth’s history using the length of Tamagawa Josui and its bridges for landmarks of earth’s history. With the map in our hands, let’s walk!
Find the unknown value of Tamagawa Josui
Tamagawa Josui is a waterworks constructed by Tamagawa brothers in 1653. It drew water from the Tama River to supply drinking water to the people of Edo. It runs through the Musashino Plateau to Yotsuya Okido. We don’t drink the water anymore, but the area along the stream has become a place for citizens to relax. In the 1960s, the Tokyo government planned to fill in the waterworks and turn it into an expressway. However, the strong opposition of the residents managed to change the plan, and Tamagawa Josui was able to survive.(*Now the expressways run above Tamagawa Josui in some part of Suginami ward. Water flows underground.) People's actions successfully altered the future and have saved the precious green corridor, biodiversity in the center of Tokyo.
4.6 Billion Years of Earth History
The history of the Earth, from its birth to the present, is usually described only in fragments.
For example, many picture books have dinosaurs at the beginning, and their stories continue for many pages.
But what happens if the time ratio of the Earth is correctly put into the page?
The dinosaur era doesn’t start until you turn countless pages of earth’s creation.
Accurately speaking, less than one page is enough for dinosaurs.
Earth history is a repetition of extinction and evolution.
Endless work beyond imagination continues.
How long did it take for humans to appear?
What happened before human history?
I wanted to feel Earth Time with my body.
So, I decided to walk.
4.6 Billion Years of Earth History
Experience the length by walking.
In our human sense, the mass of unit BILLION is hard to imagine. That’s why some physical experience is necessary to feel the interminable workings and changes of the earth in our bodies. This belief led us to the challenge; convert time length to distance, assuming 46km of Tamagawa Josui as 4.6 billion years of our earth’s history. From Hamura Intake (the starting point of Tamagawa Josui) to Yotsuya Okido (the ending point) is 43km. From there to Edo Castle, the distance is 3km. Yes, the sum is exactly 46km!
The history of the human being is 0.2 million years. How far does it stretch in earth’s history if we look back from the goal, the present? How about the Industrial Revolution. It has radically changed the social structure but happened only 300 years ago.
Compare the distance of 46 km to the history of living creatures, and you can experience a very short period of the human era where one million species of organisms have gone extinct.
On April 25th, participants will walk 46km over a day with a chronology map in hands. We use many bridges over the waterworks as the scale of the earth's age. At the goal area, we will set up some artworks to show the history of humanity, which help people understand how much the environment has changed since the appearance of humans.
Tamagawa Josui 4.6 Billion Year Walk Executive Committee
Representative Satoko Lee
Shohei Murai
Secretary General Deguchi Michitaka
Advisor Karoku Kato
Writer Chieko Adachi
Secretariat Kaoru Yamada, Keiko Sumida
Organizer
Tamagawa Josui 4.6 Billion Year Walk Executive Committee
Organized together
General Non-Profit Incorporated Organization Tokyo Biennale
Chimukui (meeting supporting small insects, grass and creatures)
Earth permanent residence plan
Cooperating organizations
Aspen team
Donguri no Kai
Tamagawa Josui Story Tellers
Kodaira Tourism Community Development Association
Special thanks to Lee Wen
Lee Satoko
profile
Born in Kokura City (now Kitakyushu City, Kokura Kita-ku) in 1961. In 1982, moved to Kodaira City,near Tamagawajosui when entering Musashino Art University's Department of Sculpture.
After graduation, jump out of Japan, think about what is really important for people to live in a village without electricity, water and gas in India.
Experienced overseas sculpture symposiums and solo exhibitions in Japan. 26 years as an art teacher in the kindergarten.
Based on Tamagawa Josui, workshops, film screenings, and nature observation meetings on the theme of sustainable, child art, and the global environment.
(I work every day while feeling the life of small insects, grasses, and creatures that live in Tamagawa Josui.)
1978 Study abroad in the United States
1985 Studied under Italian sculptor Fiore in Italy
1986 Graduated from Musashino Art University Sculpture Department
1989 India-Japan Sculpture Symposium in India
1990 Stone carving in the Alps in Australia
1991 Artist in residence in Hawaii
1991-2017 Started painting instructor at Midorigaoka Kindergarten
1992 Solo exhibition “Nurage” at gallery Q
1993 Solo exhibition “Umeboshi Bosatsu” at gallery Q
1995 nature art in Korea
1997 Japan-Mexico Sculpture Symposium in Mexico
2005 Children's Art Project "Human is made of soil" in Okinawa
2008 Children's Art Project "De-de-no-Kiken" Rice in Okinawa
2012 Shadow Painting (A shadow tiger project where a tiger was here before) in Thailand
2013-"Meeting supporting small insects, grasses and creatures" (Representative)
2015-"Global permanent residence plan" (deputy representative)
2019 ~ Mural production of Tamagawa Josui at Shirahume Kindergarten
<Plan management>
2006 to 9 years "A meeting to hear the names of wildflowers"
2006 Lecture on Swedish Environment Activists peo ekberg
2008 Movie "Inconvenient Truth" Screening
2012 Hayashi no Nushi Shadow Screening
"Youkai Forest with Sound"
"Tamagawa Josui Norimen Maymei Tour"
2013 Symposium "Exploring the Possibility of Tamagawa Josui Ramsar Convention Registration"
2014 Ikimono Dimension Art Project
2004 Sustainable Tokyo Momijima (Project Leader)
2015 "Kimikimizukikin" Art Project
2016 Shadow Painting "Adventure of Black-faced spoonbill" Collaboration between Chosen University and Musashino Art University
2017 Shadow art `` Tamagawa Josui Expedition Corps '' microorganism shadow art collaboration between Chosen University and Musashino Art University
"Let's draw dinosaurs with sand paint" Collaboration with Studio Liberation Zone
2018 `` Tamagawa Josui's Past and Future ''
"Let's look for deformed bacteria in Tamagawa Josui"
"Tamagawa Water Biology"
"From Darwin to Peaton"
"Rough in the irrigation canal"
In addition, there are many achievements in planning and operation, such as children's workshops, movie screenings, nature observation meetings.