teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live | teamLab

This work is a projection onto the surface of Mifuneyama Rakuen Pond. Using sensors, the water’s surface has become interactive, and the koi, that are projected onto the surface, interact with the small boats that float on the pond. The koi do not have a predetermined action, each koi reacts in relation to the behavior of the koi that are close by to it, and each koi swims independent of the others. The koi gather around small boats that gently float on the water, when the boat moves, the koi disperse. The koi swim according to the behavior of the boats, and the influence of the other koi. The movement of the koi leaves trails that draw the artwork.

The large sacred rock (about 3m in height, 4.5m in width) of Inari Daimyojin shrine of Mifuneyama Park, was reproduced in a virtual three-dimensional space, and a waterfall was simulated to fall onto it. The waterfall was then projection mapped onto the rock in the actual Inari Daimyojin shrine.

The water is expressed as a continuum of numerous water particles and the interaction between the particles is calculated. Lines are drawn according to the behavior of the water particles. The cumulation of lines that represent the waterfall are then “flattened” in line with what teamLab considers to be ultrasubjective space.

Each of the lamps on the water’s surface floats autonomously. When a person pushes or stands still near a lamp, or when the wind blows a lamp, it shines brightly and emits a sound. The light of that lamp is transmitted to nearby lamps one by one, as the sound is continuously emitted. The transmitted light always travels through each of the lamps only once, shining brightly, as it propagates through all of the lamps. People become aware of the presence of others in the same space.

The light is transmitted in such a way that the total distance it travels as short as possible. In other words, the light travels in a single stroke along the shortest route through all of the lamps only once.

The resonating lamps on the water’s surface change location moment by moment.
Because the total distance covered by the propagating light is the shortest possible, even if the same lamp starts to shine, the path of light changes every moment.

When the wind is not blowing and people are not nearby, the lamps begin to blink slowly.

When the transmitted light meets with a light originating from a different starting point, the lamp where the two lights meet shines brightly for longer. People will surely feel the presence of others in the same space.

*The lamps are made of Murano glass (Venetian glass).

This artwork makes use of a large rock (2.4m in height, 4.7m in width) that has been split by a maple tree growing from it. The light that draws the calligraphy is black, meaning there is no light, thus making it indistinguishable from the shadows of the maple breaking the rock. The calligraphy and the shadows become one, drawing the Enso.
Enso is the Zen practice of drawing a circle with a single brush stroke. This artwork depicts an enso drawn as Spatial Calligraphy. The brush stroke is suspended in space but the viewpoint changes to reveal the circle enso. In Zen, enso is a circle that has since ancient times been written with canes or sticks in midair. It is said to represent enlightenment, truth, the entirety of the universe, and equality. The circle also reflects the hearts and minds of those who view it, with its interpretation left to the individual. 
Spatial Calligraphy is calligraphy drawn in space, a form of calligraphy that teamLab has been exploring since it was founded. The artwork reconstructs calligraphy in three dimensional space to express the depth, speed and power of the brush stroke, and that calligraphy is then flattened using the logical structure teamLab calls Ultrasubjective Space. The calligraphy shifts between two and three dimensions.

All the various creatures drawn by visitors live in the ruins of the bathhouse in Mifuneyama Park.  Color in a creature on the paper provided, and see the picture you have drawn come to life and move in front of you.
Living things eat and are eaten by other living things in one shared ecosystem.The creatures you draw will multiply if they eat other living things, but they will die and disappear if they do not eat enough, or if they are eaten by other creatures. The salamanders eat the snakes, the snakes eat the lizards, the lizards eat the frogs, and the frogs eat the butterflies, each one propagating as they consume. Likewise, the butterflies multiply in places where flowers grow.Although flowers will bloom if people stay still, their petals will scatter if people walk around and step on them. Salamanders will die if people step on them too much.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List is a database of the conservation status of biological species. Wildlife assessed in the Red List, including threatened and endangered species, appear in this work.

The cherry blossoms and maple forest of Mifuneyama Rakuen shine brightly. Each tree’s light is autonomous, shining brightly and then fading as if it’s breathing.

As people pass nearby, the light of the trees changes color, and a tone specific to that color resonates out. The light of an individual tree spreads radially to the neighboring trees. In the same way that the light is transmitted between trees, the tone also propagates through each tree, spreading continuously.

If a wave of light comes from the other side, it signifies the presence of people there. People gain a heightened sense of awareness of the existence of other people in the same space.

This Hanamidai (flower viewing platform) is about 30m above the ground, beyond the Memory of Continuous Life. When people pass by the trees in the Resonating Forest - Cherry Blossoms and Maple that spread out below, new colored light is born, and that light spreads to the surrounding trees along with a sound tone specific to that color. The light created by people walking in the forest can be seen spreading through the trees of Mifuneyama Rakuen.

When a cup of tea is made, flowers bloom inside the teacup. When the teacup is lifted, the flower petals scatter and spread outside of the cup. Flowers bloom infinitely as long as there is tea. The tea in the teacup becomes an infinite world in which the flowers continue to bloom. Drink in the infinitely expanding world.
Tea is a transformative entity, and the size of the flowers that bloom will change depending on the amount of tea. The artwork is born only when there is tea. Once the tea is drunk, the work no longer exists.
The flowers blooming in the teacup change with the passage of real time.
The artwork is forever changing and the picture at this moment can never be seen again.

Before the modern era in Japan, Kasane no Irome (nuances of layered colors) were seasonal colors created in silk. The complicated colors were the result of a combination of front and back colors (silk at the time was so thin that the liner was transparent, creating more nuanced colors), overlapping color gradations, complex weave colors, and combinations of warp and weft.
When a person stands still close to a lamp, it shines brightly and emits a color that resonates out. The light of this lamp becomes the starting point, and it spreads to the two nearest lamps. The light from the two nearest lamps transmits the same color to other lamps, one after another, spreading out continuously. The light transmitted from the lamp always resonates out as a bright light once, passing to close lamps, until all of the lamps have shone brightly once, and then returns to the first lamp. The light of the lamp in response to human interaction, divides in two, becomes one optical line through all of the lamps respectively, before finally, returning to the first lamp that was the starting point. People become aware of the presence of others in the same space.
All the lamps, seemingly scattered randomly, have a single connecting line (unicursal) that can be drawn. When drawing a line, the stroke (the same starting and ending points) is drawn from a lamp to the lamp that is the closest in distance in three-dimensions. By arranging the lamps in this way, the light of the lamp corresponding to the person is always propagated to the nearest lamp, and must always pass through all the lamps in the space in a single stroke, before finally returning to the first lamp that was its origin.
The arrangement of the lamps is mathematically determined to satisfy a number of restrictions outlined below. A large number of solutions were evaluated that take into account the variation and distribution in the height, the direction of the lamps, and the smoothness of the three-dimensional path (light trajectory).
The hanging lamps are arranged uniformly, in such a way that they form an orderly grid. This is the first constraint. The second constraint is that of the boundaries of the physical space: the distance between the floor and the ceiling, and the height and the width of the passages through which people can move. And the third constraint is that when a line is drawn from any lamp to another lamp in three dimensions, the starting point and the ending point must be connected as a single line (unicursal).
Since the arrangement of the lamps born from such a process seems to be random at first sight, the trajectory of the resonating light cannot be predicted: the light continues to the lamp that is physically closest, thus giving a natural feeling - like a fire burning. And since the light trajectory of the lamps is connected by a single line, the light born from any particular lamp and the light born from any other lamp will always cross each other.
The arrangement of the lamps is not only beautiful in a static way, but also in a dynamic way when activated by people in the space. It demonstrates the space of a new era that can be designed freely and change itself through digital technology, a space that adapts and changes due to the movement of the people in it. 
※The lamp are made of Murano glass (Venetian glass).

Location: Inside Mifuneyama Rakuen Garden
Hours: Can be viewed during Mifuneyama Rakuen opening hours

This enormous megalith, almost supernatural in its formation, is an iwakura (an ancient form of nature worship in Japan known as animism), within which a hokora (small shrine) has been preserved.

Location: Inside Mifuneyama Rakuen Garden
* Only available to guests of Mifuneyama Rakuen Hotel or Onyado Chikurintei

In the late Edo period when Mifuneyama Rakuen was built (1845 CE), the Hagino Ochaya Tea House was constructed with a thatched roof on the shores of a pond as the public villa of Nabeshima Shigeyoshi Nabeshima, the 28th generation lord of Takeo. This venue is open to the public in spring and fall.

Location: Inside Mifuneyama Rakuen Garden
Hours: Can be viewed during Mifuneyama Rakuen opening hours

It is said that the origin of "Mifuneyama" can be traced to Empress Jingu being named "Mifune" on her journey back from the ancient kingdom of Shilla on the Korean peninsula (around 200 CE).

Location: Outside Mifuneyama Rakuen Garden
Hours: On view 24 hours a day

Tsukazaki Castle is also known as Mifuneyama Castle.This castle is said to have been built by the second generation lord of Takeo, Sukeshige Goto, in the period around 1118-1120 CE.In the early Edo period (the first half of the 17th century), the Goto family received the surname of Nabeshima from the lord of Saga, Katsushige Nabeshima, and the Goto family name then became Takeo Nabeshima.Under the "One Castle per Province" law (1615 CE) of the Edo Shogunate, Tsukazaki Castle was eventually abandoned, but it survived to the present as a residence of the Takeo Nabeshima family through the Edo period.
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The private farm of EN TEA, from which the tea used at EN TEA HOUSE is sourced, is located around a 20-minute drive from Mifuneyama Rakuen in the woodlands of Kyushu's Ureshino, which lies along the borders of Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. This is the region where green tea was believed to have been produced in Japan for the very first time. Research on tea production methods is being conducted here, alongside the cultivation of tea in this small company farm where roaming goats eat the weeds growing in the tea fields.

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