Arms & Shells
Director Jiyoung Kim, Sumimura Ninagawa
Countries Japan, Korea, Republic of
Duration 73 min
Synopsis
Here is a desperate man. He is an ascetic of Japanese ancient religion, called Shugendo. When the Western transferred a Matchlock gun to Japan 500 years ago, the real meaning underneath was collision of Japanese all social system. And the collision procedure, or ‘invasion’ he would call it, was earnestly carried out by Christian missionaries, step by step. Here is another invasion. People say Japan invaded Korea 500 years ago. However, what happened was not a ‘war’, but something different. He calls it ‘slave hunt’ At those days, Europe had found a big source of treasure, called ‘silver mine’ in the South America. And they desperately need a huge amount of manpower, or slaves, to dig them out. Some may recall here that the name of the President of Ecuador is Rafael ‘Correa’. And more importantly, some may even recall that many Japanese lords who participated in the Japanese invasion to Korea were Christian. Here’s an ancient shell instrument. It is called ‘Horagai’ in Japan, ‘Nagak’ in Korea. He’s making a trip to seek those instruments believing, that he will encounter a truth, underneath Japan, Korea, and Christianity. Yes. All the taboos started with arms and shells.
Here is a desperate man. He is an ascetic of Japanese ancient religion, called Shugendo. When the Western transferred a Matchlock gun to Japan 500 years ago, the real meaning underneath was collision of Japanese all social system. And the collision procedure, or ‘invasion’ he would call it, was earnestly carried out by Christian missionaries, step by step. Here is another invasion. People say Japan invaded Korea 500 years ago. However, what happened was not a ‘war’, but something different. He calls it ‘slave hunt’ At those days, Europe had found a big source of treasure, called ‘silver mine’ in the South America. And they desperately need a huge amount of manpower, or slaves, to dig them out. Some may recall here that the name of the President of Ecuador is Rafael ‘Correa’. And more importantly, some may even recall that many Japanese lords who participated in the Japanese invasion to Korea were Christian. Here’s an ancient shell instrument. It is called ‘Horagai’ in Japan, ‘Nagak’ in Korea. He’s making a trip to seek those instruments believing, that he will encounter a truth, underneath Japan, Korea, and Christianity. Yes. All the taboos started with arms and shells.