“What is real Japanese Cool?”

ORIENTARHYTHM is an artist group who expresses “movements”, “rhythms” and “the spirit theory” unique to Japanese traditional culture(especially Japanese traditional martial arts “BUDO”) as an art, And disseminate it to the world and inform it. And I hope that our performance will be a catalyst for knowing Japanese culture.

In the past, the Japanese created various “Combat skill” from the life-threatening struggle that focused only on winning. Then, the skill and spirit were passed down from those who survived the battle to the next generation, and “Combat skill” became “Bujyutsu(Japanese Ancient traditional martial arts)” in which extra things were scraped off.

Furthermore, it matured over time and became a “Budo” with the meaning of “The Way” added.
(The meaning of “The Way” is the correct way of life for humans.)
We have found new value in the skill and spirituality that has been sharpened to the limit of this Budo.
Sophisticated Technique can be seen as beauty, and peculiar spirituality can be seen as a message that solves modern problems. We found that Budo have the potential to enrich people’s lives and make the world peaceful.

For example, Budo have a rare precept in the world.
It is prohibited to rejoice after you win a fight in Budo.
It’s strange, isn’t it?
It’s natural to want to express joy the moment you win, because you’ve worked hard to win, but Budo have admonish you about it.
That’s because the moment I won, I focused on thinking about the person who lost before my joy.
Why? How come??
Because Budo originated from real combat.
You winning the fight means that your opponent has lost it.
In the old serious fight, your opponent would be seriously injured, or he could even have lost his life.
So, first of all, before you are happy that you have won, think about the person who lost and refrain from joy.
We call this “Sokuin”, which means compassion for others.

Budo have such a wonderful knowledge.
Isn’t it possible to solve many existing problems by sharing this with the world?
With such expectations in mind, we continue our activities.
Now that the world has common problems, I think it is time for Japanese culture to contribute to the world.

[movement]
Movement that does not twist the trunk of body which is especially seen in the basic movements of Japanese traditional martial arts “BUDO”.
[rhythm]
The rhythm of “ma(soundless time)” the Japanese have.
[spirit]
Japanese spirit that can not be seen in other countries gathered in Japanese traditional martial arts “BUDO”.

[TEDxTokyo]
(You can change subtitles to English or French.)