Many times as I set down this story, I struggled with pen to paper. As Donna so wisely observed, it’s hard for me to say how I feel, to articulate what I want, and to fully reveal myself. I even considered telling the story instead with a simple haiku poem accompanied by a photograph:The gods, placed
oh!
Green parrots in the trees
But I was ultimately compelled to tell the story completely and faithfully, in much the same way I was compelled to help place Shinto gods around the world. The writing, like the project itself, became an act of personal exploration, an act of reflection and growth. It was—as so aptly represented by the cross that Kazz gave me at the monastery—an act of becoming, not being.
Remarkable events have continued to occur since I placed the last gods in South Africa and South America: on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Václav Havel was elected president of a democratic Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989. Shortly after that, the USSR and the Warsaw Pact ceased to exist. Then, miraculously, apartheid was dismantled in South Africa in 1991, peacefully. The Cold War is over. The fear of an all-out nuclear war between the superpowers is virtually gone.
Did a Shinto priest save the world?
At moments, when I’m switched to the Shinto channel, I think he did. I can clearly see gods all over the world battling in unison for world peace, making sure a missile isn’t launched here, helping tear a wall down there. But then, my rational mind, strong as ever, changes the channel, and I think all of it was just a lucky coincidence.
I can say unequivocally, however, that a Shinto priest changed my life. My crippling nightmare has never returned. With fear removed from my heart, I’ve lived a very different life.
In 1992, while I was in Prague waiting to meet my old friend Wolfgang, I met Rebecca Taggart, a foreign service officer at the U.S. Embassy. After just a few days together, I decided that she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But I still lived in San Francisco, and she lived in Prague. It took everything I learned from the Sword of Heaven to make the relationship work. I jumped in with both feet, and after returning to San Francisco for six weeks to put my business in order and to pack up my things, I returned to Prague. There were moments when I doubted my rash decision, but I’ve learned that doubts are a normal part of life. There were times when our romance was less than perfect, but I’ve learned to live with that too.
After two years in Prague—where we both witnessed and participated in the country’s thrilling transition to a free, democratic state—we moved to Washington, D.C. Then, a year later, at an outdoor ceremony in Northern California, surrounded by a grove of redwood trees, we were married. Kazz flew in from Japan to officiate and make sure no bad spirits interfered. Two years later, our daughter Miranda Kristina was born. Kazz wrote to congratulate us and referred to her as the daughter of the Sword of Heaven.
I haven’t been back to Japan since the fire ceremony, but I know from Kazz that the teacher Hakuryu Takizawa is still alive, although suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Kazz doesn’t think he will live much longer. My teacher—and I say “my” purposefully—is more than 90 years old, and I thank him from deep inside my heart for all he has done. I wish his soul a well-earned rest.
About ten years ago, Kazz told me he had finished the project by placing two final gods—one in a pyramid near Mexico City, helped by Juan Li, and one in North Korea along with the teacher and a group of the teacher’s disciples. But I wouldn’t be surprised that if the world suddenly got really dangerous, a package would appear on my doorsteps with a note, “One Shinto God.”
Juan Li has become a renowned Tai Chi teacher. Donna still lives and works as an artist in New York. We are still in touch and recently she shared some of her memories of our time together to help me tell this story. Pascale is back in France with her husband and their four children.
As I write these last words, rays from the afternoon sun are striking my office window. The golden light is wonderful. I love this city, and I am so happy to be back. I can hear my daughter and her friend talking in the room next to me. I think about their future. The Cold War is over, and so is the nuclear threat of my childhood. My daughter won’t grow up in a bomb shelter but that doesn’t mean the world is not dangerous.
I want to tell my daughter not to be afraid, but I know that she will have her own fears and her own unique solutions. Instead, I’ll tell her to be vigilant, and to look to her dreams and nightmares for clues and signs of progress. I’ll tell her to be open-minded about the spirit world, and if it feels right, to call upon the spirits for help. I’ll also tell her to seek out communities embarked on meaningful and noble acts. The acts need not be as large as the Sword of Heaven, for any act that makes the world a better place is worthy. Above all, I’ll tell her that all action, big or small, must always be accompanied by the opening of one’s heart. As the Sword of Heaven taught me, ritual only takes one to the door. To get through to the other side, there must be love.
The afternoon light moves from the end of my desk and for a moment illuminates the letters on my keyboard. From my window, I can see a huge ship passing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on its way to dock. I lean back and take it all in. I wonder where the ship is going next. I wonder where the light will fall now.
Mikkel Aaland
sword of heaven placement information
Compiled by Kazz Tagami
1. North of Spitbergen, Norway
2. Antarctica
3. Lake Titicaca, Peru
4. Cape Horn, Chile
5. New York, USA
6. San Francisco, California, USA
7. Upper Mississippi River, USA
8. Hawaii, USA
9. Sun & Moon Lake, Taiwan
10. Hong Kong
11. Macao
12. Bangkok, Thailand
13. Calcutta, India
14. Nepal
15. Nepal
16. Darjeeling, India
17. Peking, China
18. Harbin, China
19. North of Manchuria, China
20. Nachodka, USSR
21. Lake Baikal, USSR
22. Moscow, USSR
23. Black Sea, USSR
24. Athens, Greece
25. Brienzer Lake, Switzerland
26. London, England
27. Paris, France
28. Florence, Italy
29. North Cape, Norway
30. Tromso, Norway
31. Bear Island, Norway
32. Lake Inari, Finland
33. Helsinki, Finland
34. Copenhagen, Denmark
35. Geiranger Fjord, Norway
36. Northwestern Norway
37. Panama Canal, Panama
38. Tipasa Beach, Algeria
39. Montreal, Canada
40. Athabasca River, Alberta, Canada
41. Azorou, Morroco
42. Ulefoss, Norway
43. Tibet near Lasa, China
44. Western China
45. Colombo, Sri Lanka
46. Male, Maldive Islands
47. Madras, India
48. Louisiana, USA
49. Cheju Island, Korea
50. New Caledonia
51. Madurai, India
52. Himachal Pradesh, India
53. Northern India
54. Northern India
55. Mount Kangchenjunga, India
56. Lake Naivasha, Kenya
57. Sea of Galilee, Israel
58. Minnesota, USA
59. Washington, USA
60. North Carolina, USA
61. New Mexico USA
62. Kachemak Bay, Alaska, USA
63. Eastern China
64. Eastern China
65. Eastern China
66. Eastern China
67. Eastern China
68. Xi’an, China
69. Florida, USA
70. Nile River, Egypt
71. Zamboanga City, Philippines
72. Singapo
re
73. Kun Lung Mountains, China
74. Northern Pakistan
75. Lake Lögurinn, Iceland
76. Karachi, Pakistan
77. Islamabad, Pakistan
78. Bombay, India
79. Mount Kailas, Tibet
80. Tibet
81. Berlin, Germany
82. Baltic Sea, Sweden
83. Midway Islands
84. Perth, Australia
85. Melbourne, Australia
86. Vieques, Puerto Rico
87. Cyprus
88. Mount Massada, Israel
89. Tel Aviv, Israel
90. Dead Sea, Israel
91. Jerusalem, Israel
92. Suez Canal, Egypt
93. Mount Sinai, Egypt
94. Gulf of Arabia
95. Aman, Jordan
96. Mount Ararat, Turkey
97. Persian Gulf, Iran
98. Mashhad, Iran
99. Teheran, Iran
100. Elazig, Turkey
101. Lake Atítlan, Guatemala
102. Mexico City, Mexico
103. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
104. Iguaçu Falls, Brazil
105. Manaus, Brazil
106. Near Magnetic Pole, Canada
107. Loch Ness, Scotland
108. Bali
acknowledgements
This project spans seventeen years and I have accumulated a debt of gratitude to a large community of people who helped me along the way. Besides the people noted in the narrative, I’d like to thank Melinda Tevis, whose dinner party in 1982 and friendship started the whole thing. Thanks to Michael Rogers and Anne Russell who patiently read most every draft of the story. Thanks to Tom Mogensen, Dave Drum, Jacques Gauchey, Michelle Vignes, Monica Suder, Michaela Schreier, and Perry Garfinkel, dear friends who gave their valuable advice and encouragement from the beginning of the project to the end.
Thanks to my friends who came to the project at later stages but offered just as much enthusiasm and support: Jo Ellen “the whip” Bokar, Janelle Balnicky, Kate Kelly, Michael Borek, Rudy Burger, Laena Wilder, Paul Saffo, Laura Parker, Chris Vail, Jan Hopson, James Housten, Michael Lester, Mark Powelson, Daniel Ben Horin, Valerie Russell, Suzanne Lavoie, and Eva Patterson. Special thanks to Bernard Ohanian for his long hours with the manuscript and patience with me on the courts.
Thanks to Lucy McCauley for reading and carefully critiquing the manuscript and for putting me in touch with the receptive folks at Travelers’ Tales.
Thanks to Sarah Lazin, as usual, for her wise legal and creative consul.
Thanks also to other friends, family, and colleagues who encouraged or advised me at various stages of the project: Rebecca Abrams, Nathan Benn, Hal Hinson, Laura Levy, Sarah Margulies, Sean Parker, Bob Wilkinson, Beverly Usher, Seth Derish, Dawn Finch, Maggie Hallahan, Jerry Mander, Sandy Close, Karen Robbins, Wendy Vetter, Chuck McIntyre, Valerie Robbins, Jack Swanson, Steve Moni, Leonard Koren, Mirek Vodrazka, Amy Shiffman, Ellen McNeilly, Paul Persons, Marcia Briggs, Laura Oliver, Elizabeth Logan Harris, Julie Westcott, Dorit Elder, Francisca Schneider, Catherin Fredman, Fred Soloway, Catherine Henderson, Marsha Weiner, Paul Foldes, Saucy Dollard, Dayna Macy, Jennifer Saffo, Rob Fulop, Vanessa Southern, Michael Taggart, Annette Doornbus, Noel Young, Robert Stricker, Michael Larson, Miyako Yoneyama, Sally Larsen, Charles Wehrenberg, Barbara Bode, Dana Hull, Laura Nolan, Peter Goodman, Jeff Hunter, Gregg Mitchell, Richard Koman, Catherine Fowler, Joe Kane, and my family on both sides of the Atlantic.
I’d especially like to thank the people at Travelers’ Tales who took a rough stone and polished it into a thing of beauty: Lisa Bach, Larry Habegger, Sean O’Reilly, James O’Reilly, Tim O’Reilly, and designer Diana Howard.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the emotional and editorial support of my wife, Rebecca Taggart. I wouldn’t have finished this book without her help.
“Bert the Turtle” excerpted from Life Under a Cloud by Allan M. Winkler, published by Oxford University Press, 1993.
Selection from Children of Hiroshima, published by Taylor & Francis Ltd., London, 1980.
Selection from “Eve of Destruction,” Words and Music by P. F. Sloan. Copyright © 1965 by Duchess Music Corporation. MCA Music Publishing, a Division of Universal Studios, Inc. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
Selection from Freedom from Fear and Other Writings by Aung San Suu Kyi, published by Penguin Books, 1991.
Selections from the I Ching, The Richard Wilhelm Translation, published by Princeton University Press, 1978.
Walls by Oswald Mtshali. All rights reserved.
Author’s note: You can find an updated bibliography of Shinto books and resources as well as color and additional sumi-e photographs at my web site http://www.cyberbohemia.com/Pages/Sword.htm.
About the photographs on the four part-opener pages: To help illustrate the book I created a style of photography that I call sumi-e photography, which was inspired by the Japanese art of gestural painting. Instead of using a brush and black ink, I waved or shook a 35 mm camera at slow shutter speeds, mostly in front of boats, stones, trees, and sand, leaving the results largely to chance. The text is from the I Ching, the ancient Eastern book of wisdom.
about the author
Mikkel Aaland is an award-winning photographer and author of fifteen books including Sweat, County Fair Portraits, The Sword of Heaven, Digital Photography, and Photoshop Lightroom Adventure. He is currently finishing a book titled, A Year on a River in Norway. Aaland’s documentary photographs have been exhibited in major institutions around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France, and the former Lenin Museum in Prague, Czech Republic. He and his wife and two daughters split their time between San Francisco and the family home in Telemark, Norway.
The Sword of Heaven: A Five Continent Odyssey to Save the World
By Mikkel Aaland
Copyright © 1999 Mikkel Aaland. All rights reserved.
Travelers’ Tales and Travelers’ Tales Guides are trademarks of Travelers’ Tales,
853 Alma Street, Palo Alto, California 94301. www.travelerstales.com.
Credits and copyright notices are given starting on page 260.
Kami copyright © 1999 by Mikkel Aaland.
Interior Photographs: Mikkel Aaland
Page Layout: Cynthia Lamb, using the font Bembo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aaland, Mikkel, 1952-
The Sword of Heaven: a five continent odyssey to save the world / written and with photographs by Mikkel Aaland
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-609-52007-6
1. Peace—Religious aspects—Shinto. 2. Aaland, Mikkel, 1952-3. Shinto—Social aspects, I. Title
BL2220.3 b.A35 1999
299’.56117873—dc21 99-38755 CIP
First Printing
The Sword of Heaven Page 18
