A small Japanese booklet, published 36 years ago, titled “A Marine Province SHIMA” written by Tsuneichi Miyamoto, a prominent folklorist made us to begin this project because the book conveys the genuine culture and the life style of Shima which have been inherited long time, together with its characteristic landscape written by Kazuhiko Miwa. We have edited to remake the book in Japanese and English adding an essay of young French sociologist and a classic Waka Poem from Man’yoshu, with a unique book design as a holding book to have completed this artist book. We are sure the artist book titled “A Marine Province SHIMA” is enough to introduce the deep culture and the beauty of Shima. Locating in the beautiful Ise-shima National Park, Shima is a place where many people from all over the world have enjoyed their visit and stay.

This year in May, Ise-Shima summit conference will be held. It is the best opportunity for us, the residents of Shima, to introduce our culture more widely and deeply to the world. An artist book is a book with a limited number of copies featuring a special design as an artistic work which has had a good reputation as a genre of the art in the Western culture.

We are delighted to publish this artist book so as to share the genuine heart of Shima with visitors and guests from all over the world.

■Contents of the book: All scripts in Japanese and English with proper copy rights

• 1.“Shima has been a Marine Province since Ancient Days”
  written by Tsuneichi Miyamoto
• 2.“A Landscape Created by the Sea” written by Kazuhiko Miwa
• 3.“Kani no Mori” in French, “Forest of Crabs”
  in English written by Bastien Tavner
• 4.Man’yoshu Waka poem about Shima written by Yakamochi Otomo
• 5.Photograph by Masanori Tomari
• 6.Epilogue by Director of Shima History and Folklore Museum