What’s the Meaning Behind this Japanese Rock Sculpture?
The Shinto shrine that acts like a modern installation piece
Some artworks move us because of their sheer conceptual simplicity.
The Married Couple Rocks are two small rocky stacks in the sea just off the Japanese coastline. Between the two rocks a thick rope is hung, representing the concord of marriage.
The first time I ever saw an image of these rocks, something profound shifted in me. I found the symbolism deeply appealing, the way the rope is so solid and durable-looking, unmistakably linking the two rocks across their unpassable divide.
Many years later, the Married Couple Rocks still moves me and sends my imagination into a spin.
Two Primal Spirits
This work of religious art — a representation of two primal spirits — sits in the sea of Futami, off the coast of Japan’s main island of Honshū.
Here, the two rocky protrusions lie within easy reach of the tide and can be distinguished from the many thousands of other rocks in the vicinity by the rope that hangs between them.
The symbolism of a rope, with its fibres and knots, keeps the image grounded in the realm of the proverbial or the utilitarian. The rope binds the…
