People who can gather 100 people, gather 100 people. People who can gather 1,000 people, gather 1,000 people. With a natural feeling, without trying excessively, realizing the concert, the event, the prayers. I think that even more festivals will be held in other countries throughout the world, than will be held in Japan. The soul of the festival has been lost.
Festivals seem only to be held for sightseeing purposes.
The Gregorian calendar was enacted in 1582, and then the mechanical timepiece was introduced making everyone's measurement of time the same. Since then, the Industrial Revolution took place in Europe, followed by a dramatic increase in the population of mankind from 500,000,000 people then, to 6,000,000,000 people now. Man-made urban civilization has gradually progressed mankind in a direction in which we think less and less about the natural balance, therefore facilitating this rapid increase in population. To live by this man-made rhythm, man is rapidly shifting toward artificial values that are held by man alone. Present day agricultural methods are based on this artificial and mechanical rhythm.