Tokowaka in Memoir
The Shinto Concept of Renewal
Tokowaka is a Japanese concept originating in the Shinto belief system that to remain eternal and fresh, and to maintain divinity, an object needs to go through a regular process of renewal. It technically means “always young”, but what westerners would consider eternal youth entirely fails to convey the complexity of the idea of tokowaka.
When Japanese people think about what to them embodies the concept of tokowaka, the usual example is the Jingu shrine in Ise. This shrine undergoes a tokowaka renewal process every twenty years called Shikinen Sengu. Shikinen Sengu is not the cosmetic facelift you might think, however. It is rather the process of completely destroying the sacred shrine and rebuilding it in its entirety in an alternate site using new materials.
How can something be considered eternal if it only exists for twenty years? is a question I asked myself when I first visited Ise in the summer of 2008. I lived in Japan during a semester of law school, and as part of my final trek around Honshu (the large island of Japan that includes Tokyo), my partner and I visited Jingu shrine. My partner was fascinated by the fact that it is one of the most sacred places in all of Japan, and we were both intrigued by the fact that one of the most sacred places in Japan was routinely destroyed and rebuilt for purposes not apparent to a couple of foreigners.
I didn’t really come to appreciate the nuances of tokowaka until 16 years later while in the process of writing my recent memoir about my time in Japan. I began to research Jingu shrine as part of that project. With tokowaka, the idea is that an object can be preserved in its spirit through total change. The renewal is not superficial. It is new again in the most literal sense. Although the shrine itself is fresh built from the ground up, it is also eternal because every twenty years over a lengthy eight-year period, it is reconstructed using the exact same processes and rituals used to build the original shrine over a thousand years ago. How to build the shrine is never forgotten. It becomes eternal in its spirit, through the actions required to continuously renew it.
I'm by no means a religious or spiritual person, but I believe tokowaka has some applicability to me personally. I don’t mean the continuous process of cellular renewal, although that fundamental process could certainly be analogized to tokowaka. I mean that I revisit times in my life, like I did in writing my memoir about Japan, and I rebuild these memories in my mind, reconstruct them with additional context. I keep them fresh and use them to reflect and grow as a person.
Our personal histories will always to a certain extent inform who we evolve into as we age. Whether transcendent, traumatic, mundane, or shattering, each human is a delicately composed symphony of experiences. It's not equal, and it's most definitely not fair, but it's always an opportunity to review, rebuild, and grow. Even the universe has a projected end date, so maybe nothing is ever really eternal. But that doesn't mean we can't benefit from mental renewal sporadically.
I didn't think too much about tokowaka when I was in Ise or when I returned to the United States shortly after, but it seeded there and spread tendrils gently over 16 years. The process of documenting my experiences, engaging in active renewal of old, cherished stories, memorializing the original spirit of the adventure into a fresh new outlet that crystalized for me the true value of tokowaka. I have come to believe since finishing Geri o Shimasu that all acts of memoir are tokowaka in some respect. They aren't planned and executed with rigor like the craftsmanship required for the Jingu Shrine, as fresh to as it was 1300 years ago, but as an act of renewing the spirit of me as an individual. As I prepare to enter yet another phase of my life, I know that I have rebuilt my own spirit and will be forever grateful that I have such experiences to look back on, dust off, and ultimately grow from.
Image Caption: I took this photograph at Ise Jingu at the Naiku site, where the next renewal of the Inner Shrine was going to be completed in 2012.
For my fiction readers…
Update on Ocularum
For those of you just here to know what’s going on with my Artifacts of Lumin series, I’m preparing to send Ocularum to edits with a new editor later this month. I anticipate that this process, including revisions, may take a few months. As part of this initiative, I’m doing the following in anticipation of general release:
Taking Compendium Wide - Previously, Compendium was only available on Amazon and Audible in ebook and audiobook formats. I have already broken exclusivity with Audible, and Compendium has started to appear on additional audiobook sites: Everand (formerly Scribd), Spotify, RakutenKobo, Barnes & Noble Audiobooks, storytel, Google Play, and Libro.fm. It’s still available at Audible and Apple Books as well, but also look for it to becoming to Chirp, TuneIn, Libby, and elsewhere as it gets pushed to all audiobook distributors. KDP exclusivity for the ebook ends in June, and at that time, I will be doing the same with the ebook. After that point, it will no longer be available in Kindle Unlimited, but you will be able to find it on many other platforms. If you’re looking to refresh with Compendium before Ocularum, there are lots of platforms to choose from, some of which you may already subscribe to, but be aware of the ebook changes happening in June.
Refreshing Covers - As much as I love my covers, I’ve made the decision to refresh them now with Compendium and Ocularum and going forward, because the artist, Day, is no longer working as an artist, and I don’t have final designs for Clavis and Shillelagh (the last two installments of the series). For everyone who preordered the book bundle, you will be getting books with updated covers. If you already have Compendium in physical format and you want a version that matches the new Ocularum, reach out to me, and we will work something out! If you absolutely love the original Compendium cover, I still have copies and will keep them on my site as a classic version until they run out. I will be doing cover reveals once they are available to show people.
Preorder Priority - For everyone who already preordered Ocularum in the original preorder campaign, you will be receiving your books in advance of the general public. As soon as I have copies in my hands in the final format, I will be mailing them out to you. That could be in July. It could be in November. I’m not sure. I will be initiating another general preorder campaign later this year, but if you already ordered, you will not be waiting through another preorder campaign to get your books. I will be reaching out individually to confirm rewards and mailing addresses when I have a firm date for fulfillment. If you have not yet preordered Ocularum, I will be opening up preorders again later this year for a probably final launch date early next year. ARC opportunities will be available, so if you haven’t pre-ordered but want to join the ARC campaign, I’ll be setting up a way to do that in the future as well.
I know this is a lot of information, but I hope it provides some transparency into next steps for Ocularum, which is now a George R.R. Martin/Patrick Rothfuss/Scott Lynch level of delayed. I appreciate the patience you’ve shown me immensely!