Marcus Maeder has been recording the environmental sounds in the forests of Nara near Shimoichi in Japan since late summer 2023 and works with the local population on questions of perception of the forest and the environment. The eight movements not only make the forest audible, but also musically reflect the spiritual realm and the mythologies that populate the forests and the mountains of Nara. Sonic aspects and moods of the ceremonies of the Yamabushi – the monks that practice the Shugendō religion – are echoed in Maeder’s electronic music that connects the field recordings; the synthetic meets the natural, culture blends harmoniously with nature, the human with the non-human.

Listen to and buy the realease at Bandcamp.

The Tree Temple is also available as cassette. See the PDF here.

A letter to the collective can be found here.

And informations about the broader context can be found here.

This work was developed and composed in collaboration with the following residents of Shimoichi:

Taisuke Eida, forester; Yoshifumi Mizuguchi, local resident; Makiko Mori, translator and local resident; Toshihiko Mukai, farmer; Mana Nakatsuji, translator and local resident; Yuri Nishiyama, creative team Panoramatiks; Takashi Noguchi, Forester; Seiichi Saito, creative team Panoramatiks; Daisuke Takano, local resident; Kaori Takano, local resident.

Special thanks go to the Embassy of Switzerland, Jonas Pulver and Yuko Takahashi and the monks of the Kimpusen Temple in Yoshino.