Itagenemimetics the science and the art of learning from indigenous and ancestral peoples

Luiz Pagano presenting Cauim at Bar Convent in São Paulo - June / 2019 

Recently I've been dedicating my activities to the functions of artist and scientist, mainly with regard to CAUIM, fermented alcoholic beverage of mandioca (kind of Brazilian cassava), consumed by more than 270 Brazilian indigenous ethnicities, which I'm willing to bring to the general public in the form of a drink industrial, (with beautiful bottle and everything else..) produced using a sophisticated processes, with great similarities to one used to produce sake. This initiative has the great purpose of making us proud to be Brazilians of Tupi origin - I dream about the day when all of us, Brazilians or not, will be able to eat the sophisticated dishes of Alex Atala or Tiago Castanho, harmonized with Cauim dos Yekuanas or Waurás, packaged in 'Tupi Pop Culture'.

This work made me research the life and ways of our ancestral peoples in a unique way, I saw different possibilities of a prosperous culture, good nature, happy and completely friendly with nature and the planet.

I may not be able to convey the greatness of what I feel about the subject, but surely that doesn't stop me from trying. 


here it goes...

We are so educated in European culture that we think this is the only "cultural language" in the world, but things are starting to change and the culture of the forest is beginning to prove essential for our survival on the planet.

We are so used to European culture and education, that we think this is the only way to look towards reality and to assess and understand our world, but things are starting to change and forest culture begins to unfold essential to our survival in this planet.

leia esta matéria em Português

Recently David Kopenawa of the Yanomami ethnic group, which has been called the 'Dalai Lama of the Forest', accompanied by Fiona Watson, Director of Research of the NGO Survival International, and world expert on uncontacted tribes were talking to the American media and giving some lectures in and around San Francisco, talking about the tireless work to protect the land of his tribe in the Amazon rainforest, and how this experience can be applied to the rest of world.

The Amazon rainforest has long been recognized as a repository of ecological services not only for local tribes and communities, but also for the rest of the world. It is also the biggest rainforest that we have left in terms of size and diversity.

But as forests burns and global warming worsens, the impact of Amazon deforestation continues to gradually damage the fragile ecological processes that have been refined over millions of years of evolution.

The solution to the question of how to find the balance necessary for the survival of the forest and at the same time makiing the world a prosperous place to live, can not be found in science itself, but in science combined with philosophical issues of local people, such as the Yanomami.

The Yanomami world is divided into two groups of individuals, to the YANOMAMI THËPË (human beings, people) and the NAPË (us, white men, the the 'fierce' enemies)

The Yanomami have been taken as a 'fierce' people in sensationalist and outdated work Yanomamö: The Fierce People, by American anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, describing them as "sly, aggressive and intimidating”. This book is considered the bible of the newly formed anthropologist, keeping bringing to the world highly prejudiced ideas.

The good thing is that this has been changing over time, and we began to hear more and more the wisdom of the forest people - the Yanomami point of view the world is divided into two groups of individuals, to the YANOMAMI THËPË (human beings, people) and the NAPË (us, white men, the  'feroucious' enemies).

The forest does not burn and do not pollute the its rivers by itself, the NAPË is the one who does it.

The pollution of rivers is the result an active attitude of NAPË, if we fail to throw pollutants in Tiete and Pinheiros rivers in the Sao Paulo urban area, for example, we would have clean rivers in a matter of weeks. In fact, we the NAPË are proactive in polluting and devastating, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously.

If you ask a Yanomami Indian, what he thinks of the white man - the NAPË, we'll probably end up ashamed whith his response.

Swimming in the vastness of the Amazon and Tocantins rivers put me in spiritual contact with the YANOMAMI THËPË culture. The white man considers themselves unique, and different from other beings around them - The NAPË lives under the concept of ‘The eternal silence of these infinite spaces - Blaise Pascal’ we are alone, in a monologue. The Yanomamies are different; they are able to love and to dialogue with everything and everyone around them.

According to the Yanomami, the NAPË, don't care about everybody else, they don't love the land and the forest, they have an egoistic, reckless and short-term vision about such things. The concepts of Yanomami appear to be much higher and very often is difficult for us to conceive, so lets classify it in groups:

The concept of 'living being'

The 'living beings' according to the Yanomamies are the 'people' at large, refered to as YANOMAMI THËPË.

The NAPË (white man) seems to care only about himself and in a secondary level, with their immediate family. This feeling tends to decrease with regard to their remote neighbors and other family relativies, and they feel almost no love for the other people in the world.  But thereis still hope, the positive side of the NAPÉ is that they have pets, it seems to be a small flame of love to other 'living beings' that does not belong to the Homo sapiens classification.

The Yanomami are able to love and dialogue with everything and everyone around them.

It is very common to see Brazilian natives breastfeeding her baby on one breast and a monkey or other animal in the other, a scene that causes incomprehension and disgust to the white man who witnesses it first time. To them these animals are also 'people' and are entitled to breast milk, which - by the way, does not belongs to the woman, but to nature itself.

The white man consider himself unique and different from other beings around him - The NAPË living under the concept of ‘The eternal silence of these infinite spaces - Blaise Pascal’ we are alone, in a monologue. The Yanomami are different; they are able to love and to dialogue with everything and everyone around them.

For them, everything is deemed to be 'living being' or 'people' - the animals, the plants and even the rocks are deemed as ‘people’,  even some artifacts are also considered as 'people'. Make sure to never annoy all those 'people', plants, animals and even some artifacts should never be disturbed.

It is very common to see lady Brazilian natives breastfeeding her baby on one breast and a monkey or other animal in the other, a scene that causes incomprehension and disgust to the white man who witnesses it first time. To them these animals are also 'people' and are entitled to breast milk, which - by the way, does not belongs to the woman, but to nature itself.

For the Yanomami, nobody likes to be offended and each time this happens, the offended ‘people’ strikes back.

Thus, there are always consequences:

- What happens if we kill an animal to eat? - Killing a living being is a very serious offense, even having the title of YARO (game animals) it is a bad deed, and they are aware that they will have future consequences.

"When someone kills these beings, he must wait for the reaction that can manifested itself in many ways, as a little indigestion, or sometimes in the form of the attack of animals, a jaguar may stike a firend, partners of the dead animal could seek revenge.

The concept of 'ownership'

We don't have land; the land that have us. The property of physical assets is intangible since our matter is perishable. All material possessions can lead to suffering (as in Buddhism).

- the knowledge from the people ofAmazon rainforest is very important for from them comes knowledge that we must have to overcome the civilization crisis and environmental degradation.

The concept of 'Evolution'

The NAPË are less developed than the YANOMAMI THËPË (the Yanomami themselves), however there are more evolved beings, such as the YAI, forest being that doesn't require a name.

It is when the reader gets outraged - how could they believe that we are less developed than they?
There are several ways to make us see how little evolved we are in comparison, take the issue of waste for instance.

In nature, the garbage of any living being is incorporated as a utility to another living being (e.g. Mammalian feces are transformed into fertilizer for plants; oxygen purged by the tree becomes the air we breathe, etc.). We NAPË, produce a huge amount of waste that does more harm than good to other living beings.

The relationship between YAI with THËPË YANOMAMI/NAPË is the same of the white men with amoebas.

Men, at large, have four dimensions of perception, ability to reason about events around them, read books, build bridges and to observe the amoeba in a microscope. Amoebas on the other hand live in a much more limited world, has diminished capacity of perception that allow only eat living forms around them, are unable to read or, much less to build bridges.

The YAI observe us in the same way that we observe the amoebas, we haven't the faintest notion of it. They are infinitely superior and transit through different dimensions, inconceivable by us.

The concept of 'URIHI' - Yanomami word for forest ecosystem

The word Yanomami UHIRI designates the forest and all that dwells in it, with endless connections and interrelations, IPA URIHI, "my land" can refer to the region of birth or current place of residence of the enunciator. URIHI can be also refered to the world's name: UHIRI A PREE, "the great land-forest".

We 'the NAPË' are the only species on the planet that produce waste without balance with the ecosystem.

The Amazon rainforest is the largest continued forest region on the planet, cut though nine countries, corresponding to 60% of the Brazilian territory, has nearly 6 million km2. The Amazon River has 4225 miles, 65miles longer than Nile according to the measurements of 2007; it has 20% of the world's fresh water.

Currently 18% of the forest has been devastated, this devastation appears in the form of extensive cattle low intelligence ranching, illegal property, irregular mining.

It may does't seem much but 1% of devastated area, is larger than the state of Rio de Janeiro (approx. 43.000km2).

Brazil can be very bad when it comes to dealing with rivers of its capitals, mainly due to corruption and electioneering reasons, but isolated initiatives in Amazon region draw attention of public opinion for its ingenuity.

The concept of Itagenemimetics or itagenemimicry 

Did you know that Europeans learned the habit of smoking herbs from the American Indians? Perhaps the cigarette industry was the first to use the concept of Itagenemimetics* (the art/science of learning from indigenous peoples and ancestral traditions). It is important to say that the cigarette we know today, which causes deaths and illnesses, has undergone a series of changes for the worse since its initial adoption or better said, it was undoubtedly an adoption of degrading habit from our ancestors. But the vast majority of habits that we acquired from them, however, such as sleeping in a hammock, bathing every day and drinking guarana, have proven to be very healthy.

Biomimetics* along with itagenemimetics** has been the best and most effective learning tools that our civilization can make use of - as for the term Itagenemimética, I believe it was me who invented that word in one of my lectures, but it makes perfect sense (lol).

Civilized man has been increasingly distancing himself from his brothers who live in the tribes, the degrading habits of civilized people seem to be much worse than that of the indigenous people, dispersing plastic on the planet and emitting CO2 are some of them.

The indigenous people I know say that civilized people are very dumb, we do things that no other animal does, we defecate in the water we drink. It is evident that with our current level of cultural development, living in tribes and abandoning the material goods and conquests we had could be seen as an involution, however we pay more and more attention to what they have to say to us.

*Biomimetics or biomimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems (Greek: βίος, life, and μίμησις, imitation, from μιμεῖσθαι, to imitate, from μῖμος, actor).

**Itagenemimetics or itagenemimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements adopted by ancestral communities or indigenous native people for the purpose of solving complex human problems (Greek: ιθαγενείς, itageneis - indigenous people, and μίμησις, imitation, from μιμεῖσθαι, to imitate, from μῖμος, actor).

We cannot put a huge dome over the Amazon

Environmental protection can only happen if it doesn't oppose the huge economic forces, so we have to make the standing forest more valable than the deforested one.

All we have to do is use the YANOMAMI THËPË intelligence to guide us in this field. Sooner or later, very old trees falls naturally as part of the renewal process of the forest. Well monitored, these trees can have its downfalls managed through legal agronomists and the timber can be used more intelligently.

A trunk of a centuries-old Samaumeira (kapok tree) worth just over R$ 10.00 on the black market, while a beautiful handcrafted object with just over 20’ in length from the same tree can reach worth R$ 300.00.

This is a good example of how to turn a NAPË attitude towards YANOMAMI THËPË

Science combined with Yanomami philosophy - A good way to save the planet.
A low-impact vehicle cuts a samaumeira, in a smart renovation process in the Amazon rainforest.

The great culprit for the current problems was the PIN, Programa de Integração Nacional (National Integration Program), a geopolitical nature program created by the Brazilian military government through Nº1106 Decree-Law of July 16, 1970, signed by Brazilian President Medici.

Worried about losing the vast Amazon territory by the difficulty to monitor its borders, the military government has proposed to relocate the victims of non-productivity of the dried Brazilian northeast areas and turn them into labor at prosperous Amazon region, thus occupying the Amazonian demographic emptiness, "integrate in order to not handover" and "land without men to the men without land" were the slogans of that time.

The PIN had the wonderful merit of mobilizing a nationalist sentiment, regardless of political views and promote colonization of the Amazon.

The Trans-Amazon Highway was the tool chosen by the Medici as a gateway to the forest. With 2,624 miles long, connecting the city of Cabedelo – PB (Paraiba) to Labrea – AM (Amazonas), the road cuts seven Brazilian estates: Paraíba, Ceará, Piauí, Maranhão, Tocantins, Pará and the Estate of Amazonas.

In the near future the agroforestry system can count on the help of collectors drones to promote low-impact agriculture. In the agricultural system of today we deforest the woods and then plant, in order to clear the ground and thus facilitate the entry of our antiquated agricultural machinery - with the advent of collectors drones we no longer need to carry out such unintelligent process.

By the side of highway some routes emerged, and from these other small streets, connecting farms, communities and homes – the so-called 'fish bones', are the causes for the irregular occupation and the consequent deforestation.

The man of the northeast region of Brazil, along with others from other regions, who first arrived there, found great facility to have a cattle farm, since in order to obtain ownership of the land they just had to turn 50% of their land into pasture.

An artificial intelligence system evaluates the fruits and vegetables with a far more sophisticated sensors than our eyes, robotic arms collect the fruit and place it in a circular basket, aboard a collector drone.

Today there are 60 million head of cattle in the Amazon, a ratio of three oxen for every inhabitant of the region.

How to change the NAPË philosophy into YANOMAMI THËPË?

We, the NAPË, look at the forest and see just weeds not a farm, if we want to plant something there, we have to deforest it first, and them plant later, but a local group of Japanese immigrants, inspired by local natives create the so-called agroforestry systems.

Hajime Yamada arrived in Tomé-Açu on September 22, 1929, he learned from the indigenous the technology of agroforestry system, “we always look at the forest as weeds, not as a farm” (photo: documentary Eternal Amazon)

This group of Japanese immigrants arrived to the municipality of Tomé-Açu-PA, (Pará), at the end of the 1920s with the proposal of planting of black pepper, In the 70s with falling prices and epidemics in ‘pimentais’ (pepper farms) made them rethink their business.

Based on ancient Indigenous knowledge, they began to cultivate pimenta do reino (black pepper)  in the same space of cocoa and with cupuaçu, papaya, açai, coconut, passion fruit, Brazilian-nut, natural rubber and paricá. The plague of ‘pimentais’ was countered by locals predators, brought by other plants in balance with nature.

Since then, the system has been improved by trial and error in choosing the best species combinations. Today, Tomé-Açu is a reference in this type of planting and the cooperative accumulated several awards related to entrepreneurship and sustainability.

In addition, the CAMTA promotes and guides the adoption of agroforestry systems for family farmers in neighboring municipalities and conducts the commercialization of this production, a project that serves about a thousand families in the region.

Latex extraction robots operate autonomously, supplied with sunlight. The 'estradas de seringa' (the slashes in the bark of the rubber tree) are accurate, as have sophisticated sensors that make precise calculations to take better advantage of extraction.

The basic idea of this agroforestry system is to achieve the integrated planting of different plant species, of different sizes together in the same area, forming several 'floors' - the process just gets its name from agriculture floors.

The agroforestry system, long-known by indigenous peoples, offers a number of advantages such as:

- As it generates large amount of organic matter in soil from various crops, there is less need for fertilizers and pesticides;

- This variety of nutrients generates healthier food;

- The abundant vegetation cover also retains the moisture of the ground, protects the crops from the sun and provides a more pleasant environment to work in the field;

- The planting of several crops at the same time allows continued production and generates income during the whole year.

An important part of the YANOMAMI THËPË philosophy is that 'garbage does not exist', we cannot throw anything away (out of where? The world?). That being said, all devices are 100% recycled to produce new equipment, substances that cannot be used on other equipment are reintegrated into nature by composting. All facilities have huge skylights as 80% of the equipment is solar powered.

After so long catechizing our Indians according to European cultural heritage, now it's time to being catechized by the people of forest, perhaps this way, we can save our souls and our lives.

Faith of Prosperity and a better Brazil

There is this legend, that I’ve heard many times when I as a little kid, about a very advanced culture hidden in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, pretty much like the Black Panther city of Wakanda, which was conceived and built by a very beautiful and intelligent Japanese woman surrounded by wisdom and magic. This legend haunted me for a long time, I even drew it in my first grade school notebook, I remember that when I was doing the drawing, my father was watching a Soccer game of the World Cup, (possibly in the year of 1974), and every year that there are Brazilian games in the cup, this woman come back to my mind together with the whole story.

leia esse artigo em Português

To the left, the drawing I made of Teruko Sato when I was a child - to the right, the drawing I made on the day of Brazil's victory over Mexico - a day of great happiness for Brazilian people

 I don’t know exactly how this all started, as I lived in a house with more than four grandmother’s brothers and sisters, all of them from my paternal side, I never found out exactly who told that story, whether it was true or not. It is a fact that from this point onwards I may have been so interested in Japanese culture and believed that if we used Japanese elements, we might have had a better Brazil ( it is important to mention that here in Brazil we have the second largest colony o Japanese people outside of Japan).

Now, as it is the time of Brazilian games in the World Cup, I decided to put an end to the mystery and I started to investigate this wise Japanese lady in the Amazon Rainforests - I must say that it started as a frustrating investigation, nobody knew about her, not even Google.

I have tried other aproaches in my research, maybe this incident has something to do with the Soccer World Cup. The only thing I found was the incredible story about the death of Chico Xavier (Xavier was a very respected religious leader – read more about this day  ), with Euripides Higino, his adopted son. "Chico Xavier always said he would disincarnate (‘to die’ as regard to Spiritist point of view) on the day that Brazil would partying and that I would not have time to think about his death. " That was exactly what happened, Chico "disembodied" on the very day that Brazil was on the party of the conquest of the fifth WC Championship, on June 30, 2002.

Ok, but what does this have to do with the Japanese Lady from the Amazon Rainforest?

Actually, I do not know, but I like the idea of seeing Brazil as a uniform mass of minds in a single, happy spirit.

If we look at this crowd of happy Brazilians from a kardecist spiritist point of view, this seems to be a good energy, of a great volume - and it was with this thought, that I’ve decided to take a ‘energizing pass’ at a spiritist center, at exactly this time of year, this would make me receive a huge vibratory charge of good energy) - that's where the big coincidence comes in!

Since I had no spiritist center near where I was working and the match of Brazil was about to start, I decided to stop at the Johrei Center in Vila Mariana (a neighborhood in São Paulo) while I was waiting for the pass, or rather to receive Johrei, I heard some ministers talking about one lady named Teruko Sato, the first woman to bring the culture of the Meishu-Sama’s enlightenment to Brazil.

At that time I even shivered with such a coincidence, but the coolest was yet to come. Meishu-Sama believed in the construction of earth paradises, beautiful and inspiring gardens that increase the well being and spiritual energy of humanity - with that, the place chosen for her to start her work... wow! It was in a city called Manacapuru in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

At that time I interrupted the ministers and students who were talking to each other and then told them about the legend I had heard, about the secret civilization in the Amazon rainforest and the coincidence, "there is no such thing as coincidence," said the young man, “as like in spiritism, we believe that all this event had already been architected in more evolved plans, as happened with the passage of Chico Xavier”.

As the explanation went on, he smiled and disappointed me a bit when he said that ther was not a Wakanda-type nation of Messianic church in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, "however, Mokiti Okada (岡田茂吉), the church's founder, who bears the honorific title of Meishu-Sama - 明主様, (Lord of Light), idealized rather a more evolved society, which builds teh so called ‘Holy Grounds’ around the world - beautiful places with nice architecture, clean technology and a great degree of development and harmony with the environment, as if they were islands of happiness and elegance amidst the chaos of the planet. The Mokiti Okada Foundation develops research in agriculture, environmental recovery, healthy and affordable individual agriculture, healing and education and also encompasses the Ikebana Sanguetsu school which teaches the pragmatic principles of Mokiti Okada's philosophy through the ancient art of floral arrangement.

For me, Teruko Sato (佐藤輝子 who adopted the married name of Yoniyama 米山) is a living legend, the little information I had as a child made me create a fantastic story, with miscegenations of Brazilian and Japanese ethnicities, with extraordinary and sustainable technology , which may well have been true, but Teruko Sato's real life, which is also very little known by the IMM's own devotees, has attributes that surpass fantasy.

Sato's story was revealed in an issue of the Japanese newspaper Izunome No. 72, written in Japanese, and I'll post the original text in Japanese and my translation - please feel free to correct me in any translation errors.

南米開拓布教事始め


開移民として新たな人生の船出

前編

私は、瀬戸内海に面した岡山県南部にある小さな町で昭和十一年二月四日に生を享けました。
昭和ニ十年半ば頃、世間で呼ばれていました。その「おひかりさん」と呼ばれていました。その出張所がちょうど私の実家のすぐ向かいにあり、信者さん家族が住んでおりました。その家には、私より一つ年上の友達がおり、よく遊んだり勉強したりと仲良しでした。病弱だった私の母は、真っ先にそこで浄霊を受け始めました。
そして「おひかりさんの先生が知らん話をしてくれる」とその友達が冒うので、私も話を聞きに行くようになりました。
毎月1回ほど岡山から出向される瑞雲教会長の山根幸一先生は、霊界のこと、先祖様のことなど、学校では習わないことをたくさんと教えてくださり、やがて、母に次いで昭和二十七年に私も入信に至りました。

運命の決別

明主様から米国開拓布教を命ぜられた樋口喜代子先生、安食晴彦先生がハワイや米国本土で輝かしい成果をあげられていた昭和二十九年頃は、私の教会でもいつもその話で持ちきりで、月次祭でも山根先生は海外布教ー歩を印された樋口先生の業績を讃えられて

いました。私も知らず知らずのうちに、〃樋口先生のように外国に出て布教したい〃という淡い思いを抱いていました。ちょうどその頃、父からブラジル開拓移民が募集されていること、そして一家で移住する予定であることを聞かされたのです。そのことを山根先生に話すと、先生はすぐ明主様にお尋ねくださいました。すると、明主様即座に「御神体と、「おひかり」を持たせて行かせなさい」とおっしゃったのです。先生はすぐ明主様のその御言葉を租に伝えてくださり、私のブラジル行きが確定したのでした。
しかし、移民手続きの過程で、母が眼の病の治療のため、出発が勢カ月遅れるという事態が発生しました。しかし、父の友人の家族が、f現地で一人でも多くの衛き手が欲しいとのことで、私はその家族の一員として自分の家族よりー船早くブラジルルへ渡ることになったのです。
それが、家族との長い別れになろうとは、神様しか御存知なかったのです。

御光と希望を胸に

昭和二十九年九月二十五日、弱冠十八歳の私は神戸港より大阪商船「アメリカ丸」に乗って、地球の反対側のブラジルへと旅立ちました。明主様のお役に立ちたいという熱い思
いでいっぱいで、父母と別れて淋しいとか、こわいとか、ー人でどうとかいう悲観的な考えは一切浮かんできませんでした 。しかし、船の上から見えるのは毎日海だけ、激しい船酔いのため数日間梅干しとお粥のみで過ごしたこともありました。途中米国ロサンゼルスに寄港して燃料食糧その他を補紿し、南米へ向けて出航。パナマ運河を抜け、一路大西洋へと向かいます。
いよいよ赤道下ブラジル北東部パラ州ベレン港に到着しました。そこで私達ブラジルの船に乗り換え、さらにアマゾン川を上っていきました。

そして、日本を出て実に二カ月ぶりに、アマゾン川河口から千四百キロのところにある目的地、アマゾナス州マナカプル|郡べラ・ビスタ植民地に到着したのです。
配耕される土地へは、そこからさらに半日程歩いて行かなければなりませんでした。着いた所は人がようやく歩けるほどの原生林に覆われたところでした。道の両側には、先に入った十数家族の入植者達の住まいである、伐採した原生林を無造作に組み上げた丸木小屋が数百メ|トルおきにー軒ずつあり、さらにその奥に私達に配耕される土地がありました。家も水も電気も生活必需品は何一つなく、岡山県庁の広報とはまったく逆の現実でした。
さっそく男の人達はジャングルの木々を伐探して小屋造りに追われました。女の人達は食事を作るのに必要なものを集めたり、水をる汲みに行ったり、土を捏ねて釜戸を造ったりという生活から始まりました。熟蒂特有の風土から、小虫や蚊がたくさんいて、昼夜を問わるず、ところかまわず刺されます。
数カ月分の食糧は船を降りたところにある小さな村の売店に預けてあり、一週間分ずつを歩いて取りに行きました。大きな袋を持って一往復するのにー日がかりです。女も子供もみな汗だくになりながら働きました。手には水豆ができて破れ、その上に手ぬぐいを捲いて痛さをこらえながら働きました。夜になると原生林の丸木を並べた上に寝ました。いろんな動物の鳴き声が聞こえ主す。夜通し焚火は絶やせません。
いつどんな動物が出てくるか分からず、緊張の毎日が続きました。

失意のどん底からの脱出

そんな生活の中、みんなが寝静まった夜、私は一人蚊帳の中から星空を見上げ、 "どうしてこんな所に来てしまったのだろう......。

明主様のお役に立とうとやって来たブラジルがこんな原生林の山奥。家も電気も水もない原始的な生活。明主様はもう私を見離されたのかしら。なぜこんなつらい思いを、苦労をさせられるのかしら。
このお月様、お父さん、お母さんは見ているかしら。どうして私ー人で来てしまったのかしら。明主様はこんなところと御存知なかったのかしら……“なと思い巡らしては毎日のように泣いていまた。
しかし、”こんなことばかりしていてはいけない。せめて入植者達に御浄霊を広めねは"と思い直し、風邪を引いた人、皮膚に湿疹のできた人に浄霊の話をしてみることにしました。ところが誰も受けつけてくれませしまいには「手をかざして病気が治るわけがない。
あの娘は親から離れてー人で来もて、もう頭がどうかしているのだ」などと噂されるようになりました。そして、その周囲の視線の冷たさに耐えきれなくなった私は、"もう宗教のことも浄霊の話も口にすまい"と決め、ひたすら働き始めました。
また私はー緒にブラジルに来た家族と別れ、独り立ちすることを決意しました。人の手が足りない家は、私を容易に住み込みで雇ってくれます。あちこち他人の家で草取りをしたり、寄せ焼きをしたり、さつま芋を土手に植えたり、毎曰毎曰働きました。そして、私は考えました。"こんな不便な山奥にもし私の母が来たら病に倒れるかも知れない。鍬ー鍬本握ったことのない町育ちの幼い弟、妹達はこんな過酷な労働には耐えられない。
こんな所に来たら一家は破滅だ。私は意を決して日本の父母に「もうブラジルには来たい方がいい、こんな苦労は私ー人でたくさん、来てはいけない」と手紙に書きました。
何ヵ月か経って母からの手紙が届きました。手紙が無事に日本に届き、無事返事が来ることさえ。ここでの生活では奇跡に近い出来事でした。急いで封を開けてみると、そこには私の身を案じる父母の気持ちと共に、思いもかけない事実が認めてありました。

明主様の御昇天の知らせでした。私は立っていられない程のショックで涙も出ませんでした。しかし、"必ず明主様は霊界から見守ってくださっている。私を見ていてくださる。
泣いたら明主様が悲しまれる"と、思い直しましたが、それでも心の整理がつくまでに二、三日を要しました。

Manacapurú - 62miles from Manaus in the state of Amazonas
The left is Mrs. Yoneyama (Teruko Sato with married name) and the right
Michiko Yamande, leader of the Zuiun district - May 1953

瑞雲教会奉仕の頃の米山さん（左）と故・山根道子教会長夫人(昭和28年5月)

運命の転機

ある日、真っ黒になって働いていた私に、「人が欲しい、来てくれないか」と、内藤さんという方が尋ねて来たのです。私は恩い切ってその方とー-緒に、私を雇ってくださるという方がいる、アマゾナス州バレンチンスに近いイタコアチャラ郡のモンテ・レアルに行くことにしました。
内藤さんに連れられて、再び船の旅です。私は、御神体と御尊影、そして「おひかり」十体に数枚の着替えを持ち、ベラ・ビスタを後にしました。着いたところは、御園さんという方が経営する食料雑貨店でした。
私はこの店で、昼間働きながら、夜はランブの明かりを頼りにポルトガル語を勉強しました。初めは、原地住民との挨拶から日常のこと料理のこと、見るもの、聞くものすべて、日本と違った生活習慣でした。
しかし、それまでの植民地生活からすると、天と地の違いがありました。脚園さん鐔夫妻は、私を娘のように扱ってくださいました。仕事も覚え、言葉も片言でしたが何とか話が通じるようになりました。
心機一転、私は与えられた新しい環境の中で何とか布教しうと思い、つたない言葉で浄霊の話をしてみることにしました。
何日も何回も話すうち、私があまりに一生懸命言うので頭をかしげながらも話を聞いてくれる人が出始めました。もちろん、浄霊の意味などをしっかりと説明するまでには至りませんでしたが、徐々に浄霊のぉ取次ぎが次々とできるようになです。

日本からの使節団

ある日、母から再び便りが届きました。手紙には、「明主様御昇天後、小田信彦先生という方がブラジル布教のためクリチーバに行とれたので、その先生と一緒に布教したらどうか」との、山根先生からの言付けが書いてありました。

First mission in South America, the beginning of a new life as an immigrant
Translation of the first part.

I was born in a small town south of Okayama on February 4th , 1936 (Showa / 昭和 - 11 is the year 1936). In mid-1945, at a time when the Messianic Church and its members had the nickname "Ohikari-san". In front of my house there was a family of Messianic Church follower, as my mother was sick, they use to come to give her Johrei, in 1952, we became members. Every month, the minister in charge of the Church use to give us lectures about the Spiritual World and the ancestors, the kind of stuff that we don’t learn in school, and then, I’ve reached the age of majority.

Towards departure

It was the year of 1945, the minister of this religious unit told us the reports of the missionaries Yamane the reports of the minister Kiyoko Higuti and Haruhiko Ajiki in Hawaii and the United States. Listening to these stories, little by little, I began to cultivate the desire to dedicate myself to the diffusion of these teachings abroad, following the example of Minister Higuti. At that time, I learned that my family planned to immigrate to Brazil.

Aware of this possibility, Minister Yamane made a request to the Meishu-Sama, who immediately said, "Give her the image of God and Ohikari to take with her." In response to this response from Meishu-Sama, my certainty of going to Brazil was strengthened even more. However, during the immigration application process, my mother was afflicted with a vision problem that delayed our departure.

As a well-known family wanted to migrate to Brazil and needed to increase the number of people for the job in hand, I opted to board before my relatives. Only God knew at the time that the separation from my family would be longer than I had imagined...

Light and hope in my heart

On September 25th , 1954 (Showa / 昭和-29), at age 18, I embarked on the ship America Maru that left the port of Kobe, I left Japan to Brazil, taking with me the strong desire to serve Meishu-Sama .

I’ve never felt pessimistic, fear or sadness to depart alone. During the trip, the time I spent on the high seas was not easy, for long days I had to eat umeboshi (梅干 し - Chinese preserved plum) and Kayu (お 粥 also called congee, it is a cooked rice soup with meat) daily because of the seasickness caused by the sea voyage. After a break in Los Angeles to get some supply, fuel and groceries, we crossed the Panama Canal, arriving to the north of Brazil, in the port of Belém. We were transferred to a Brazilian ship and we went up the Amazon River. Since leaving Japan, two months had passed. We arrived at the colony of Bela Vista, located in the state of Amazonas, district of Manacapuru, after a trip of 1,400 km. Until we got to the farm, it was necessary to walk about half a day. The place was in the middle of the forest, on either side of the clumsy road lived some families of settlers who sought to establish themselves there. There was no housing, water, electricity or facilities needed for everyday life, the reality there was quite different from the one I had in Okayama.

Immediately, the men began to tear down trees to build settlements, and the women dedicated themselves to preparing food. Due to the tropical climate insects and mosquitoes use bit us day and night. We face many challenges in this age of adaptation. Groceries arrived regularly in a shop, located in a village that could only be accessed by boat, it take one day to carry everything in huge bags, women and children worked and were always sweaty, bubbles formed in my hands and then burst, we put towels to mitigate the pain, we slept at night in the middle of the logs, we heard several noises of animals, it was imperative that the fire never go out during the night, we did not know when and by what animal we could be attacked, we lived in days of inexhaustible fear and tension.

習志野浄霊センター - 米山晃子

Narashino Johrey Center - Akiko Yoneyama - Teruko Sato

Moving away from deep depression

In the midst of this harsh reality, at night, while everyone was asleep, I used to look at the stars through mosquito nets and cry, wondering, "What have I come to do in this place?" ... I wanted to serve Meishu Sama and came to the middle of the forest, to live a primitive life, without light or water. Did Meishu Sama abandon me? Why do I have to go through so much suffering? Are my parents looking at these same stars? Why did I come alone? Does Meishu Sama know about me here?

On the other hand, I was thinking about my mission. "Perhaps I can minister Johrei to the settlers ..." I began to minister Johrei to those who had the flu or with eczemas. However, they did not believe that I could heal illnesses, simply by putting my hands up towards them.

The daughter of the family I was with start to spread rumors that I had mental problems, or something like that. Faced with such contempt, I decided not to talk about on Johrei or religion anymore; I began to work even more and chose to move away from the family with whom I came to Brazil. I lived with families who were in need of labor, skimmed the backyards of the houses, planted and made roasted sweet potatoes to serve them.

Facing that, I thought, "If my mother comes, she will surely be sick with so much discomfort, the delicate hands of the brothers and sisters who grew up with the books, could not stand the hoes, if they come here, my family will be ruined.

So, I wrote to my parents asking them to "give up coming to Brazil because I go through so many difficulties here." A few months later, after my letter arrived safe and sound in Japan, I received a letter back with my mother's reply, it sounded like a miracle, taking into consideration the reality in hand.

I rapidly ripped the envelope, I was taken with emotion, it was so good to know that my parents had not forgotten me there; but the letter also brought me the sad news of Meishu Sama's ascent to the Spiritual World. Then I felt that he was looking at me, I cried a lot in mourning, it took too long for the sadness to pass.

The Turn of Destiny

One day, in the middle of my work at the farm, Mr. Naito told me that he needed people to work with him. So, again by boat, I left for Monte Real in the district of Itacoatiara, near Parintins AM, taking with me the image of God and some Ohikari, he said that someone wanted to hire me.

I went on another boat trip, carrying imperial clothes for Mr. Naito, and I chugged at a deserve, managed by Misuno-san.

I worked during the day and during the night I tried to study Portuguese, under the precarious light of a lantern. Initially, I had many difficulties with customs, language and food compared to life in Japan. However, that place was for me the paradise on earth, comparing to the life I had in the previous colony, in Bela Vista, everything had changed for the better.

Mr. Shigaru's sweet wife treated me like a daughter. I learned the service and, in the midst of a new environment, again I endeavored to spread the Johrei, and to my delight, my stories began to be heard.

This time I had changed my mind, now I could talk about Johrei, I tried hard to explain, although people often scratched their heads without understanding very well, but even so, little by little, more purified, people would better understand the proposal of all that.

Mission from Japan

Some time later, more news arrived, I received a correspondence from my mother telling that after the rise of Meishu Sama, Mr. Yamane, a minister named Nobuhiko Shoda asked me to go to Curitiba ( a urban metropolis in the south region of Brazil) with him.. .

Translated by Luiz Pagano

-------

 Inspiration and joys of faith by Chico Xavier

 As you may know, dear reader, I consider myself an Omni Religious, I believe, study and respect all religions and I value the good in all of them, I should start by saying that I had already been to Uberaba and personally met Eurípedes, adopted son of Chico Xavier.

Chico Xavier or Francisco Cândido Xavier, born Francisco de Paula Cândido on April 2, 1910 was a holy figure from Brazil, of the highest religious and cultural importance, a philanthropist and spirit medium who changed the doctrine of faith in Brazil and in the world.

It was December 8, 2011, I had coffee and some pão de queijos (brazilian style cheese bread) with him, who kindly showed me all the rooms, told me stories about Chico, showed me the tree that he (Chico Xavier) had planted himself in the backyard, as well as the whole complex, very simple but perfectly functional, that he had built to help as many people as possible, with him and another group of ten people, I went to help cook and serve the more than a thousand needy people in a huge dinning room.

The fact is that, after that day, my life has changed a lot, especially when it comes to my goals and how to reach them with joy.

I truly believe that the best way to create an evolved society in every way is by proactively mobilizing ourselves in this, we should start by being inspired by the examples of people like Mokiti Okada, Teruko Sato and Chico Xavier - to promote the moral improvement of people at the same time. around us and at the same time, in addition to providing conditions of dignity, we promote the physical and structural development of the group, considering each member as universes in themselves, as well as important, reliable and talented links, part of a society that gives pleasure to work for the common good and for each individual, separately.

Luiz Pagano and other volunteers helping in the kitchen of the Spiritist Center Prece, by Chico Xavier in Uberaba - the happiness of helping those in need is unparalleled.

Chico used to say to his closest friends "I want to die in a day of great happiness of Brazilian people" which actually happened!

The first book psychographed by Chico Cahvier was Parnassus Beyond the Tomb (Paraíso de Alem Túmulo - SOUTO MAIOR, 1995:31) from 1931, the book brought together 203 poems dictated by 38 deceased poets. Anticipating a very difficult journey, he wrote in the preface "I know I will be the object of commiseration or laughter, but some will find solace in my book" - and many people did so!!  Chico left his terrestial life leaving 412 psychographed books in 54 years of mediumship and 92 years of life, the cause of death was cardiac arrest, without pain and suffering around 7:30 pm on June 30, 2002, at the very end of the International Soccer World Cup, ten hours after Scolari's team brought the fifth victory to Brazil - on that day, because he may have anticipated the future or because the future had graced him with his wish, the whole of Brazil was celebrating in great joy at the moment of Chico Xavier's death.

 With that in mind, I took advantage of the energy of today's victory, when people are celebrating with the glory in a great and plural spiritual vibration, the size of our country, and I decided to redo the drawing by Teruko Sato (illustration below)... my Teruko Sato.

In my art, she is the Japanese woman who adopted the indigenous culture in her paintings and clothes. In my personal universe, this evolved culture, Nipo-Tupiniquim even has a name, it's called yvyturokai (pronounced something like "wovo churo kui" - the first two 'Ys' have a sound similar to the ~ of the word 'SAO' - and means PARADISE in Guarani –, a place where people are well educated and well educated).

In my drawing, Teruko Sato (佐藤輝子) from my personal universe, dances gently on the cut trunk, as I drew in my childhood, in harmony with the forces of the forest, has a pink Amazon river dolphin to his left and a Tucuxi (grey Amazon river dolphin) on her right - she looks pretty much like an Avatar: the last air bender anime character.

The Py'araku Movement

Py'Aruku movement - plataform Angatú

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One of the things I most enjoy when I interact with Japanese people, is the way they express admiration when exposed to new things, with a pronounced surprising expression in the face, followed by followed by a long exclamation, "Ehhh".

During the Heian period in Japan (794 to 1185 AD), the Chinese who visited the country, criticized everything there, they used to say that they were indigenous people, backward and uncivilized. The constant criticism made the Japanese take ownership of various traits of Chinese culture. It was during this time that the term 'Mono no aware' (物の哀れ) was copiously used in one of the oldest Japanese literary works, the Genji monogatari, and the Japanese experienced the emergence of a new culture.

The phrase 'Mono no aware' is derived from the Japanese word mono (物), 'thing', and aware (哀れ), a surprise expression, commonly used in the Heian period, similar to 'ah' or 'oh', "Pugence," "deep feeling," "sensitivity," or "consciousness." It could be translated as the 'ahh' of things, the life of things, the inner god of things.

This incorporation arose in their hearts as a God of great beauty, who grew up in the midst of their best essences, few cultures know how to appropriate the benefits of other cultures without losing their own essence as Japanese people.

Benguela 12

With that thought in mind that I present here the Py'araku movement, rather than a philosophy of life, is a Brazilian cultural and artistic manifesto, which arose from the conjectures of a blog article published in December 2012, in which I wonder "what if the culture of the Brazilian natives had stood out to that of the Portuguese colonizers in Brazil".

Since then, I have been reflecting on daily basis on what to do in order to valorize the good elements of Brazilian indigenous culture, as well as black and Portuguese culture, with potential for improvement, and how it could be subjected to the frame of Japanese culture (both of descendents of indigenous ancestors) Cauim, the Brazilian native booze, like sake – is the great catalyst - Cauim is undoubtedly the driving force behind this movement.

Cauim has so many similarities to sake that it goes far beyond coincidence. Since the immigration of ancient peoples by the Bering Strait  - the alcoholic drink in my conception, is together with the gastronomy, the main vehicle of cultural manifestation of a civilization.

If we want a better Brazil, we should focus our efforts on reversing negative points, which are many, but mainly emphasize the positive points, which are also many. The Blog 'Ame o Brasil’, actively works the activating platform called Angatú (literally, a good soul, well being, with happiness), whose purpose is to promote love towards Brazil and Brazilian people, valuing and encouraging good stimuli, In order to make us grow and overcome the bad stimuli, until its virtual extinction.

If we want it to work, we need to have a long-term conscience and it is also fundamental that we have a 'pro' attitude, never 'against' - once asked why she did not participate in anti-war demonstrations, Mother Teresa of Calcutta said she would never do it, It is a position of unquestionable logic - while the 'anti-something' movement is characterized by resistance to natural forces, a passive strategy that depends on commitment to protection, which however good it may be, are always at risk of being defeated, the 'pro-good cause' movement, in turn, is a proactive strategy to promote a good idea, increasing the potential for success to statistically greater levels.

Moçmbique 25

Since I started this blog, I have worked on activations of limited scope, but of great intentions. With 'Projeto Tembi-u',  held in April 2015, we were pioneers in bringing ingredients from the Amazon to which awardees Brazilian bartenders create drinks, exploring the vast universe of unusual Brazilian ingredients par excellence, in detriment of the excessive appreciation of the American / European cocktail ingredientes. In May 2016, we promoted the first 'Capivara Parade' (http://capivaraparade.blogspot.com.br/) , on the same spirit of Cow Parade by Pascal Knapp, in partnership with Shopping Paladium, with the purpose of using capybara as an ambassador of nature in an urban environment, to raise funds for the Curitiba's clothing campaign, and the launch of the comic book Heroes da Buzundanga, bringing the Tupi-Pop culture in its essence  - The logical path of these serial works leads us to launch the Py'araku Movement for the year 2017.

Py'araku aims to make an enthusiastic transformation agent grow in the heart of every individual who loves Brazil, native or foreign, multiplier of good practices, that enables anyone to be an ambassador of a better Brazil. In Tupi, the word Py'araku (Py, broad + Araku, Enthusiasm), literally means to make grow our inner God, to grow a warm soul, with a warm heart - a word that brings to our hearts and minds the divine force that has the power to magnify our nation through love. Even the English word 'enthusiasm', which comes from the Greek, ἐνθουσιασμός (where ἐν - interior and θεός - God and οὐσία - possessed), brings in its essence the power to promote possession by the divine, "possessed by God”).

I have more than 20 years of experience with the introduction of new products in the market, I'm specialized in 'acculturation', a complex process designed to incorporate a particular product into a culture, in which the product is studied in depth, with Their habits of consumption and then, taught to this new culture, to the point of achieving total incorporation outside their place of origin, to the point of fully integrating local culture;

Cunhanbebe 10

"In order to have the ideal Brazil, 'acculturation' must go hand in hand with our efforts for 'enculturation', a process of self-knowledge, in which we understand our own good practices, study them to exhaustion and then, Incentives to become common practice in our society.

If we can do this with foreign wines, food and equipment in Brazil, why not do the same with prosperous native attitudes, bringing the best practices of social conduct to change our Brazil".

Heroes of Bruzundanga - the first Tupi-Pop Comic

Comic Launch party took place last December 17, at the Monkix bookstore in Vila Madalena, São Paulo - Brazil.

Tupi-Pop culture leaves the virtual field to be prototyped in its first edition of a comic book 'The Heroes of Bruzundanga', in which the Brazilian heroes, based on Brazilian writer Lima Barreto, to fight against crime in the turbulent land of Bruzundanga. The plot takes place in the year 2093, in an alternate time line when, Brazilian antihero Policarpo Quaresma did not die, and President Floriano Peixoto adopted the reforms presented by him, two hundred years ago, Brazil is a land of great prosperity and its culture is worshiped worldwide.

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The launch of the comic took place last December 17, at Iconic Monkix bookstore in Vila Madalena, São Paulo - Brazil.

The literary works of Lima Barreto perfectly serve as a backdrop to the Heroes of Bruzundanga saga, Barreto's genius is timeless, presenting love for the things of Brazil, Who reluctantly engages their force in the conflict against the impunity of twisted character villains, present in Brazilian daily lives.

Autographs afternoon at the Monkix bookstore in São Paulo - Brazil. To the right, articulated Hot Toys representing the ‘cangaceiro’ Assum Preto, the Indian Mani and descendant of Policarpo, Viscount Quaresma.

 The Heroes of Bruzundanga came to the already extensive pantheon of deities of the world comics, they arrive with the unusual and almost impossible task of rescuing the dignity of its people. As written in the book ‘The Bruzundangas’ in 1923, by Lima Barreto, Brazil is the perfect country, an enviable economy whose infrastructure is copied by the main nations of the world, very different from the poor and backward country of Bruzundanga, with its serious problems - this one, clearly Based on real life Brazil.

Besides Lima Barretos’ stories, Bruzundnaga Heroes adventures is also based on oral tradition of more than 300 Brazilian indigenous peoples, translated into amazing situations. Pagano narrates in his own style the saga of this charming heroes, against powerful and mysterious villains, viciously malicious and of unsurpassed practicing powers. The academic lines of Pagano’s drawings, perfectly mastered, appears here in the form of loose, simple, trembling hand lines, as a mere refined expedient of this great storyteller.

Besides Monkix, the comic, so far written (only in Portuguese) could still be found in the geek bookstores of of São Paulo city, as well as in the virtual store PopUp Draw

Have a good time

Antropogistony - it can be as dangerous as a nuclear holocaust

Antropogistony is the paralysis of the people on the planet Earth,
a gap between action and ideation that could lead us to total annihilation 

We all know the importance of recycling waste, to combat the indiscriminate dispersal CO2 in the atmosphere and how fragile life is in our small planet. And yet, we have barely begun to design policies that ensure the quality of life for our future generations.

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The devastation caused by ancient Mayans on their lands, along with the indiscriminate felling of trees to build their temples, provoked a century drought that made them directly responsible for the degradation of their micro region, the price for their actions, was the extinction of their own civilization. The Rapa Nui of Easter Island and the people of Mesopotamia also made the same mistake. Unlike these people, we have the exact knowledge of the risks of our actions and still, we continue in the course of self-destruction.

The question posed is "Why we do not stop now with these self-destructive attitudes and create new rules for serious strategies in order to ensure the well being of our future generations, for say... 500 years from now?

Biomimetics gives us the answer, it is the Antropogistony (Greek - οι άνθρωποι της Γης, people of Earth, and the Latin 'tone' of Latin; tension) term used by blog Blemya to describe the paralysis of the people on the planet Earth due to stress caused by panic, which makes it impossible to have attitudes by an evident problem.

A Brazilian sarué playing possum

Playing possum, or Tonic immobility (TI) is a behavior in which some animals become apparently temporarily paralyzed and unresponsive to external stimuli. In most cases, this occurs in response to an extreme threat such as being captured by a (perceived) predator. This apparent death can be used as a defense mechanism or as a form of aggressive mimicry, and occurs in a wide range of animals. Such behavior became popular after appearing in an episode of Mythbusters TV series that showed myotonic goats, otherwise known as 'the fainting goat', in which these animals freeze its muscles for about 3 seconds when in panic, and the results, the animal collapse falling sideways with rigid legs.

Another possibility is that we have a gap between action and ideation caused by our lack of ability to apply intelligence in its full scope. According to Neil deGrasse Tyson, scientific disseminator of COSMOS series, taking into the account the time of existence of life on earth, our intelligence is very recent, and it is not active part of our survival reflexes. We’re not sure yet how to deal with it, a good example is the way that millions of people’s intelligence were and still is, naively manipulated by political and/or religious leaders, for different purposes.

The recurrent claim is that prophylaxis is expensive. Well then wait to see the price of medicines - ecological control measures such as the cleaning and maintenance of life in the rivers, the liability of companies recycle their own packaging after the consumers use (extended producer responsibility - EPR), among others, can really have additional costs that affect the final result of the companies, but believe me, the remedy can be exponentially more expensive as time goes on.

A predator at the sight of his prey instinctively stands against the wind, hides in the grass and creates hunting strategies and well formulated by reflex action. In our case, this gap between what we know what is right by reasoning, and the effective placement of these strategies into practice makes us static.

We are comfortable in an economic system that emerged when the air, the rivers and the seas seemed to be unlimited resources, and that would never be subject to any damage caused by us. We follow our shortsighted course, with an obvious fatal end, waiting for someone to change the rules of the game. The sad conclusion that our antropogistonic civilization may come is that perhaps it may never happen.

The cure for antropogistonia might be found also with the help of biomimetic studies, but we are already aware about our sickness, by that we might have the chance to cure ourselves by entering, each one of us in the individual process of nature healing.

Similarities between cauim and sake

Luiz Pagano visited Brazilian indigenous tribes to search the cauim / above - Yasutaka Daimon explains relationship of the sake to Japanese religions

The latest research on the Cauim and how this beverage could be produced on a large scale, with high quality standard, generated a number of difficulties, which oddly enough, the only obtained solution was found by researching the old methods of sake of production.

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The sake and cauim has much in common, almost two thousand years ago, the Japanese believed that sake could only be produced if the rice were pre-chewed by virgins, known as bijinshu or 美人酒 or ʺbeatiful women of sake”, the same happens in Brazil, tribes of almost all indigenous ethnic groups have virgins who chew manioc (sort of Brazilian cassava) and spit in a pot so that can ferment.

Actually, the alcoholic fermentation only occurs when fungi transform sugars into alcohol, rice as much as cassava contains no sugar in natura, so they are not ready for fermentation, so chewing, not necessarily by virgins, becomes necessary, human saliva contains an enzyme called amylases, which breaks down starch molecules into sugar.

Indian tribes producing cauim compared to ancient Japanese people producing sake

Japanese people drank saké even before their first contact with China. The Kojiki (古事記), "Records of Ancient Matters"  written during the Nara period (710‐94) suggests that the first saké in Japan was called Kuchikami no sake, (口噛みの酒) or chewing‐in‐the mouth sake.ʺ

Other countries produce starch wines around the world, Chicha made from corn in Central America, the Cheongju a type of rice wine of Korea and Hariya also made out of rice in India.

It is well known that long before the arrival of Europeans, people coming from Asia were already living in the Americas. The Zuni tribe has left perplexed anthropologists with their language, they speak a language so similar to the Japanese that could hardly be seen as coincidence.

Some similar words as for example; To be Inside in Japanese is 'uchi', in Zuni is also 'Uchi', the word used in Japanese for Yes is 'Hai' for both languages, and thus continues for many other words. Both Zuni and Japanese use the verb as the last word of a sentence, a feature only 45% of languages share. This might not seem like much, but the Zuni language is very different in this than other languages around them.

Above - A Zuni rosette, below - Imperial Seal Japan - See how face painting resembles the Japanese kabuki masks

Davis; Nancy Yaw; "The Zuni Enigma," NEARA Journal, 27:39, Summer/Fall 1993. NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association.

My research on the production of cauim, which began by the chewing process, and went to the use of synthetic amylase and inevitably led me to use fungi, technique used in Japan and in Brazil by producer tiquira from the Brazilian states of Piaui and Maranhão.

In a methodical manner I was taken to visit factories in Piauí, Maranhão and finally in Japan, where I had an illuminating insight.

I’m graduated in international business, I wanted to know the culture of the peoples around the world, after the initial frustration in financial market, I’ve found in alcoholic beverages the perfect vehicle to become intimate to cultural knowledge. An alcoholic beverage goes far beyond mere fluid that make us drunk, they are closely related to the human soul.

Take a Burgundy wine and understand the spirit of its people, the wine is closely linked to the Catholic religion, is an essential part of the Eucharistic and thus, vines were tested in churches in different parts around the globe, creating wines that expresses in better or worse forms, in the various terroires all around the world.

Luiz Pagano drinking in a calabash - to drink cauim and/or its variations the Indigenous peoples hold the bowl with both hands, in contemplative gesture as Japanese people does.

The same goes for the sake, which is closely related the Shinto and Buddhist religions in Japan.

The traditional religious beliefs of the Japanese people, in common with most of Brazil's indigenous peoples, are a based upon a mixture of respect for the abundance of nature, a fear of natural disasters, and respect for ancestors. The concept of god in Japan is not that of an omnipotent creator of all things like we believe in occident.

According to Daimon Yasutaka, sixth-generation Japanese sake brewer, owner of Daimon Brewery, producer of Mukune Junmai Ginjo and Tozai Honjozo and Nigorion, head of Japanese Sake Export Association (SEA) the “Naorai”, the act of first offer food and drink to the gods is related to yearly festivals, called "matsuri" in Japan (very similar ideas are found in Brazilian indigenous tribes).

Luiz Pagano trip to Japan to research koji - to the right - Luiz Pagano asking for blessings in a Buddhist temple
for Cauim project

All this rich spiritual involvement that I noticed with the trip, along with the huge accumulated knowledge for hundreds of years of the Japanese people, made me realize that the different varieties of Koji (麹 菌 Koji-kin, fungi used to replace the saliva of virgins) together with multiple production characteristics that go far beyond the simple breakdown of starch to obtain the alcohol, (different types of koji also has the property to break down proteins and lipids, offering multiple options), reaching an infinite range of flavors of options that only the spirit of an artist is able to conceive.

Behold! A new world of flavors is about to present itself when the first bottles of cauim start moving out of several Brazilian producers.

Capybaras mobilized to save Brazilian rivers

The Capybara is an ambassador of nature, the dare to arrive to the Brazilian cities and to swim in its heavy polluted rivers. Capivara Parade was created in 2008 by Luiz Pagano, with the purpose of calling public attention to the indifference that public administrators have with Brazilian waters.

Last May 23 in the city of Curitiba-Brazil, a Capybara Parade entitled 'Capi Parade' was launched in the same format of Pascal Knapp’s CowParade, at Palladium Shopping Center, "The capybara is a symbol of Curitiba, besides being an extremely adaptable animal is often found in man-altered environments," says marketing manager Palladium, Maria Aparecida de Oliveira, who decided to show 8 capybaras in allusion to the eighth anniversary inauguration of the mall.

Leia este artigo em Português

According to Luiz Pagano, creator of 'Capybara Parade movement', public mobilization that lead to decontamination of rivers in other cities of the world, such as the River Thames in London and the Han River in South Korea, has not happened in Brazil, 'Capybara Parade' was created in 2008, with the purpose of calling public attention to the indifference that public administrators have towards Brazilian waters.

After the incident in which a dam holding back water from an iron ore burst near Mariana contaminate lots of rivers in the state of Minas Gerais, and a few months left to the opening of Olympics games, with the waters of the bay of Guanabara completely filthy, Brazilian authorities really shows the total ineptitude with regard to the basic care that the rivers and lakes of almost every Brazilian cities should have.

And it is in this scenario that the capybara surges as a hero. The world's largest rodent that lives in the Brazilian forests boldly appears swimming in rivers highly polluted cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and walking in groups along its banks.

“The Capybara is an ambassador of nature, dare to arrive in the cities and to swim in the rivers and lakes that we degrade, they seem to show us as a protest, that the rivers of our cities are no latrines, but spaces for living and beauty” says Luiz Pagano.

The exhibition at Palladium Mall in Curitiba, which began on May 23, goes up to June 5. On 4 and 5 June, the children who pass through the mall can paint mini plaster capybaras. "The intention of the Palladium is to aware the children about the preservation of nature, as well as providing a playful experience of painting," adds marketing manager.

Concept artist Luiz Pagano at the opening of 'Capi Parade', promoted by Palladium Mall - the animal is also symbol of the city of Curitiba, one of the most sustainable cities in Brazil

To celebrate the World Environment Day, from 6 to 12 June. the ‘Capi Parade’ leaves in flock to the itinerant exhibition in various touristic sights of Curitiba, at the end of the action, the pieces will be donated and auctioned by the auctioneer Helcio Kronberg. The value fetched from the auction, the auctioneer's commission and the work of artists are donations and will be reversed in blankets to the campaign 'Donate Heat', of Curitiba performed by the Pro-Citizenship Institute and the Social Action Foundation ( FAS).

The event also includes the participations Brazilian celebrities, the 'Capybara Bi-articulated' had artistic intervention of architect and urban planner Jaime Lerner, in reference to the bus created by him, another wears a jersey of Brazilian soccer selection that will be autographed by Pelé, the king of football, after the auction, with a dedication to the winning bidder.