Listening to the land first — the ground-breaking ceremony marks the beginning of construction.

While I was spreading out blueprints in my office in Denmark, I received an email from a Japanese client that said, "We will be holding a ground-breaking ceremony next week." At that moment, my Danish colleague sitting next to me asked with interest, "What is a Jichinsai?" As I explained, I realized something anew. This is not just a story about a "ritual," but a story about the most fundamental attitude of architecture, how the Japanese have dealt with the land.

What is a Jichinsai?

A Jichinsai is a ceremony held before a building is constructed to pray to the gods of the land for the safety of the construction and the building. A Shinto priest is invited, bamboo poles are erected at the four corners of the site and sacred ropes are stretched between them, and an altar is set up in the center. The client (builder), designer, and builder stand side by side, offer sake, rice, salt, etc. to the gods of the land, and perform the ritual of turning the ground with a hoe before construction can finally begin.

If you were to explain it to someone from overseas in one sentence, you would often say this: "This is a ceremony to 'obtain permission.' For us, the landowners, to 'be allowed to live' on that land."

Land is not something to own, but something to rent

In Western architectural thinking, land is often an "object" that is surveyed, has boundaries drawn, and is owned by a title deed. However, in traditional Japanese sensibilities, there is a belief that there is originally a god residing in the land (ubusunagami, or a god unique to that land), and that humans are only allowed to live on it temporarily.

Therefore, the acts of digging up the ground, cutting down trees, and laying foundations are inherently "disturbing the land," and one must first apologize for the disturbance and appease it before starting. The character "鎮" in "地鎮祭" (Jichinsai) literally means "to appease."

I understand this not as mere superstition, but as a sense of viewing nature not as something to be controlled, but as a partner in dialogue.

Resonance with Danish Architectural Culture

What is interesting is that this sense is not entirely unrelated to Danish architectural culture. Danish architecture has a strong respect for "place." The topography of the fjords, the angles of light, existing trees—the attitude of designing buildings to blend in with them rather than destroying them is a common thread in Nordic architecture.

Of course, Denmark does not have religious ceremonies like ground-breaking ceremonies. However, in the sense of "listening to what the land originally had before designing," the two stand in surprisingly similar places. Although ground-breaking ceremonies take a religious form, I think their essence lies in "making respect for the land visible as an action."

What Rituals Give to Architects

From a practical standpoint, ground-breaking ceremonies have meaning. The client, the designer, and the contractor—all the people involved in a project for months, even years—stand in the same place before construction begins and share the same prayer. It is more than just a prayer for safety; it is a time for everyone to align their mindset, so to speak, saying, "We will take responsibility for this land from now on."

Every time I attend a ground-breaking ceremony, I notice things that were not visible on the blueprints. The way the wind blows, the angle at which the morning sun enters, the memories that the land has received over many years. More than the ceremony itself, I feel that the most important things for an architect reside in the few minutes before it, when I stand quietly on the site and listen attentively.