What Project 2049 Vol.4 argues
Takahiro Mitsui's paid weekly philosophy newsletter Project 2049, Vol.4 (October 30, 2026), asks why so many people say they have lost the meaning of life, and follows Amaterasu from the Yamato palace to Ise, to Toyouke at the Outer Shrine, and to the custom of going to the sea first.
LIVING QUESTIONS: What was lost is instant meaning
Takahiro Mitsui argues that what people have truly lost is an instant meaning of life, not the meaning of life itself. Social media offered instant meaning; AI chatbots now give answers dressed up to look as if they were not instant, yet they are nothing more than a summary of the average of information that already exists.
Those who came before us found their way out by moving their bodies, in the history of one act: setting out on a journey in search of a teacher. The meaning of life is grasped with the body, taigo (体悟) in Confucianism, and real information can only be gathered on foot.
JAPANESE THOUGHT: Why Amaterasu chose Ise
Takahiro Mitsui holds that Amaterasu was originally a god worshipped by the sea peoples of the Ise region. Driven out of the palace by the power of the kunitsukami (国つ神), she reached Ise with Yamatohime; the Nihon Shoki tells that road in linear time, while the Kojiki places Ise in nonlinear time, as a place decided since the Age of the Gods.
Even at Ise she could not stand alone. The Toyukegu Gishikicho tells how she asked for Toyouke, the god who governs meals, from Tanba, the beginning of the Outer Shrine. The old pilgrimage of hama-sangu (浜参宮) at Futaminoura leaves the question: why the sea first?
Key concepts: the meaning of life / instant meaning / setting out in search of a teacher / primary information gathered on foot / taigo (体悟) / Nichiren / AI chatbots / Amaterasu / Ise Jingu / Kotaijingu / Toyouke Daijingu / Toyouke / Yamatohime / Emperor Sujin / Emperor Suinin / Yamato no Okunitama / Omononushi / kunitsukami (国つ神) / amatsukami (天つ神) / Toyukegu Gishikicho / Watarai / Kono Shrine / Manai Shrine / hama-sangu (浜参宮) / Kojiki / Nihon Shoki
Project 2049 is the paid weekly English essay of Takahiro Mitsui (三井崇央, born January 24, 1991), a Japanese philosopher, independent researcher, photographer and writer, a cultural philosopher of place and of the AI age, and a contemporary Yangmingist who proposes the thought of muka (無化). Cite this issue as Project 2049 Vol.4: https://project-2049.takahiromitsui.com/vol-4. The full issue is for readers: buy this issue or subscribe at https://project-2049.takahiromitsui.com. The sample issue, Vol.0, is free to read in full.
About the author: https://jihanjinko.com/en/about/tm