National Kokkuri-san / Shareholder Kokkuri-san: Decision-making without a Subject and the Structure of Prayer

🔰 Introduction | Who Moved It?

Politics moved.

Stock prices moved.

—But who moved them?

No one says, "I moved it."

Yet, something certainly moved.

It was like a ritual.

We were all there, pretending that "someone moved it."

But that "someone" does not exist.

Kokkuri-san, politics, and the stock market.

The three are strangely similar.

Chapter 1 | The Democratic Prayer of National Kokkuri-san

Democracy is a system where everyone believes they are "choosing."

In reality, everyone votes thinking "someone else will choose," follows the prevailing mood, and prays to justice.

• "The voice of the people"

• "Public opinion"

• "The chosen one"

These are no one, and yet they are everyone.

The subject of decision-making is diffused, responsibility is diluted, and only the results remain.

This structure is exactly like Kokkuri-san, where everyone places their fingers on the planchette.

Chapter 2 | The Market Oracle of Shareholder Kokkuri-san

Stock prices are made of the accumulation of predictions, expectations, and anxieties.

Though they appear rational, they are actually made of prayer and crowd psychology.

• "Market aversion"

• "Worsening sentiment"

• "Rising on expectations, falling on reality"

But it is not clear who moved it or how.

Individual intentions chain together, and a ghost called the "invisible hand" appears.

Here, too, everyone is summoning an invisible god.

Shareholders pray, placing their fingers on the planchette amidst faith and suspicion.

And as those fingers tremble slightly, the "value" moves.

Chapter 3 | Prayer and Decision-making: The Terror of a World Without a Subject

Both politics and the economy assume "universal participation."

But in reality, by everyone sharing a small portion of the responsibility, the overall will becomes absent.

This is not decision-making.

It is a ritualized reaction.

A question is posed, everyone "thinks" in response to it,
and the aggregate of those thoughts emerges as an "answer."

That is the modern Kokkuri-san.

Chapter 4 | What Questions Resist a World Without a Subject?

So, how should we live in this world without a subject?

Must we keep praying with our fingers on the planchette?

No, to truly question might mean to take our fingers off.

To question as oneself, not on behalf of someone else.

• Not "Why did it move?" but "Who moved it?"

• Not "What is public opinion?" but "Why is the narrative of public opinion necessary?"

• Not "Why did the stock price fall?" but "What is the market?"

In a world that keeps summoning the spirit of Kokkuri-san,
don't we need people who refuse to be mediums?

🧭 Conclusion | The Courage to Step Away from Kokkuri-san

This society is full of invisible intentions and invisible gods.

Most of them are stories created by someone, a structure of prayer maintained by everyone.

"Everyone is saying so."

"The market reacted."

"Public opinion decided."

What lies behind these things is a void.

And we ourselves, who pray to that void,
might eventually find ourselves on the side of "moving someone else."

That is why I want to say this.

It is okay to take your fingers off the Kokkuri-san planchette.

And it is okay to ask again.

Not "Who moved it?" but
"Why are we keeping our fingers on it?".