Ship on the mountain, 2006

I dreamed of a ship on a mountain. Well, that’s actually not quite correct. There is a ship on a mountain. It’s part of a project of PH Studio, a collective of people who do pretty interesting things, even though they haven't been doing much at all recently. Here’s the plot:

Due to a newly constructed dam, about 200 hectares of forest were flooded, and 300,000-400,000 trees had to be cut down. To relocate those trees (=the entire forest) was the central idea of this project. First of all, a 60-meter-long, raft style ship was built from the logged trees. That could of course not be moved with human power. Once the dam was completed, there was a flooding test (flooding the dam up to the highest possible mark, and then lowering the water down to the regular level), and this occasion was used to bring the ship right above the then flooded mountain. Then they just had to wait until the water level declined and the ship crash-landed on the mountain top.

"Ship-building 1999: Collecting Wood"

First drafts of the project were unveiled in 1994 by three towns in the northeast of Hiroshima Prefecture on the invitation of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. It was then refined in 1996, and finally launched as an original project in 1998. Sponsored by the Japan Arts Fund, Asahi Breweries and Shiseido, and supported by the government, local citizens and the above-mentioned Ministry, the project continued until its completion in 2006. Although the plot is quite simple, the sheer scale of it made it a difficult one to realize. The next idea was to have annual "stories" that sum up the respective year’s work, a bit like in the "Moomin" series: "Shipbuilding 1998", "Shipbuilding 1999: Collecting Wood", "Shipbuilding 2000: A House on the Ship", "Shipbuilding 2001: Building the Ship", "Shipbuilding 2002: Building the Ship pt. 2", Shipbuilding 2003: Waiting…", "Shipbuilding 2004: On the Water", "Shipbuilding 2005: The Ship Rides on the Mountain". As these titles suggest, the group spent year by year in the village that was later flooded, and continued to spin their tale.

"Shipbuilding 2002: Building the Ship pt. 2"

It’s a long-term project of twelve years, so there’s an endless lot to talk about. At this occasion, let me just tell you two particular episodes. The first is from 1998, when the project turned into PH Studio’s own original thing. They displayed plans in the village, but nobody came to have a look, so they ended up making flyers and going from door to door to introduce the project. But still, only a few interested people show up to take a closer look. Around the time they were about to take down the displays, one of the flyers appeared in the local community center: "Shipbuilding Nabe Party". Finally, the group was invited to participate in a monthly citizens' meeting. Another one. When all the trees were cut down, only one of them was left untouched. It was a very old one they call "Emiki no ki". An estimated 400 years old, the tree is something like a symbol of the area, and as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was not going to cover the 30 million yen for relocating this special tree (with a chance of survival of only 10%), the citizens began to give up hope. But then those who had been supporting PH Studio came up with the idea to consult "Grandfather Emiki" and launch a fund-raising campaign, and eventually the citizens managed to relocate the tree with their own hands.

"Shipbuilding 2002: Building the Ship pt. 2"

Documentary filmmaker Honda Takayoshi then made an 80-minute-long movie about PH Studio’s project and the citizens' "Grandfather Emiki Project". The film is called "The ship rides on the mountain". The entire truth about the project and PH Studio’s idea behind it will be revealed in screenings that will take place at Shibuya’s Eurospace.

The members usually avoid giving clear answers, but in one interview they explained, "We wanted to communicate exactly what we had seen. The construction of a dam is not only an issue that concerns the Ministry and a certain region. We neither want to affirm nor oppose. It’s a problem all of the people living in the concerned area share. We wanted to keep showing this through the continued work and daily routine during the period of this project."

At present, the ship sits enshrined on the top of the mountain, next to the "Nozomigaoka" plot of redeveloped land by the lake. According to a deal with the Ministry, the ship has to be dismantled, but the local people requested to leave it where it is. If it falls apart and turns to soil for new trees, that’s real relocation of a forest," they say. What a pleasant dream indeed…