Kamakura, the historic heart of Japanese Zen Buddhism, will turn the entire city into a setting for meditation for a week in November. Zen2.0, a general incorporated association that has led international conferences on Zen and mindfulness, has announced that it will mark its 10th anniversary with Mindful City Kamakura Week, an eight-day event taking place across Kamakura from 14 to 21 November. This year’s theme is Wa: The Resonance of All Things in the Universe.
Zen2.0 has held an annual international conference on Zen and mindfulness at Kenchoji Temple in Kita-Kamakura since 2017. According to the organisers’ press release, past speakers have included Nanrei Yokota, abbot of Engakuji’s Shōzoku-in subtemple; former Google mindfulness teacher Chade-Meng Tan; neuroscientist Kenichiro Mogi; and Stanford University medical school psychologist Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu. The organisers aim to make Kamakura a mindful city.
Opening at the Noh stage and closing at Kenchoji, with more than 30 programmes in between
The event opens on 14 November at the Kamakura Noh Stage. After an opening dedication performance, Seiichi Kondo, former Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, will deliver a keynote address on the future wisdom embodied in Japan’s spiritual culture. Yuki Shiina, who leads ZEN breathing practice, will guide participants in learning to breathe through movement. A discussion on wa (harmony) and leadership will follow, featuring Jeremy Hunter, professor at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, among others.
The finale takes place on 21 November at Kenchoji, the head temple in Kita-Kamakura. The day begins with a Buddhist sermon and seated meditation in the main hall, followed by a talk on the study of happiness by Takashi Maeno, dean of Musashino University’s Faculty of Well-being; a discussion linking neuroscience, music science and Zen; Zen Eating, in which participants eat slowly and stay attentive to their senses; and sound meditation with singing bowls. The day will conclude with a conversation between Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu and all participants.
The week between the two events will be filled with programmes organised by local residents, groups, shops and businesses. Zen2.0 says more than 30 partner programmes will be held at temples, traditional houses, by the sea and in the forest. At Jochiji, an installation bringing together calligraphy from East and West will be on display every evening. At a subtemple of Engakuji, a four-hour programme will combine tea, conversation and seated meditation. The schedule also includes Horse Education, a chance to connect with horses; a cocktail experience in the forest; making wagashi sweets inspired by the five elements; sound meditation with crystal bowls and singing bowls; Noguchi Seitai; and body-based activities such as Zen shiatsu. There will also be opportunities for discussion, including a peace dialogue ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
A festival with more than one way in for those who find seated meditation difficult
The programme shows that seated meditation is just one of several ways to take part. Sessions on learning to breathe through movement, immersing oneself in sound, and eating, walking and touching are given equal weight. The organisers say participants can choose the style of event that suits them and select their ticket accordingly.
In an AI era of relentless information, the practice of sitting still for a long time and observing the mind can be a high barrier for modern newcomers to meditation. For people who spend much of the day in front of a screen, meditation that begins with movement and listening may be an easier starting point. Kamakura, regarded as the birthplace of Zen in Japan, has brought shiatsu, stretching, sound meditation and connection with horses into a single festival — an approach that appears designed to widen the path for newcomers.
There is also an option to try it without a major commitment. The online meditation sessions, held on Zoom for 30 minutes from 7am each day between 15 and 21 November, are free with advance registration. Participants can join Kamakura’s morning meditation from across the sea.
A forum on the liberal arts in the AI era makes room for shakuhachi and bodywork
One of the most striking events in the 10th-anniversary programme is the special forum, “What are the liberal arts needed in the AI era?”, taking place on 20 November at Kirara Kamakura Hall. On 19 October, Zen2.0 announced the forum’s detailed programme, saying it had deliberately included music, bodywork and meditation between the talks and discussions.
The forum opens with a performance by shakuhachi player Renzan Kudo. Masaru Araki, professor emeritus at Okayama University, will give a talk on Aristotle’s conception of the liberal arts, read through the lens of ancient Greek. Waka Ogasawara, a bodyworker and associate researcher at Keio University’s Centre for Contemplative Studies, will lead a session exploring society and people through bodily sensation. Hisashi Takatsu, former head of IMD’s North-East Asia office; Yukihito Oshiba, co-founder of AI company Robust Intelligence; and Dominic Chen, a professor at Waseda University, will then discuss what Japan’s spiritual culture could offer the world. Issho Fujita, a Sōtō Zen priest, will give a talk on Zen as a liberal art before joining Professor Araki in conversation. The organisers say the forum is primarily aimed at business owners and leaders.
AI experts, a Zen priest and a philosopher will share the stage, linked by the sound of a flute and the experience of the body. The programme suggests that, as technology accelerates, the ability to preserve our humanity may be found less in knowledge of the mind than in practices grounded in the body. On 18 November, Nanrei Yokota will also give a special 10th-anniversary talk on prayer and the wisdom of life, using poems by Buddhist poet Shinmin Sakamura as a starting point.
A meditation festival led by temples and the city — and a model for K-meditation
Kamakura’s experiment poses a clear question for South Korea’s meditation community: can an event go beyond one organisation and one venue to connect temples, civic spaces and nature on a single meditation map? Zen2.0 has brought the whole city into the programme by organising four major talks itself and leaving the rest to local individuals and groups. In a September press release, the organisers projected attendance of 500 to 1,500, choosing to highlight the character of the city rather than the scale of the event.
South Korea, too, has ancient mountain temples, urban meditation centres, forests and coastlines. It is already easy to try temple meditation, walking meditation, sound meditation and tea meditation separately. If these can be brought together as a week-long story across one city, it could give newcomers at home a chance to compare different approaches and find what suits them, while offering overseas visitors a single gateway to experiencing K-meditation. Kamakura’s eight-day event is a useful example of what might be possible.
Event details and bookings are available on the official Mindful City Kamakura Week website. The special 10th-anniversary ticket, covering all four major events and the morning meditations, costs 19,800 yen for general admission, with a discounted price available until the end of October. Partner programmes must be booked separately.
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