１５。An era of rediscovering the values of Japanese culture and its depth

An era of rediscovering the values of Japanese culture and its depth

When I look at the vines of the trees in the garden or the plants crawling high on the walls, I think of something.

The old dead vines are necessary for the new green vines to grow. The vines grow well because the new vines wrap around the old dead vines and gain directionality. So if you remove all the old dead vines, the new vines will lose their direction and will not grow well.

I think the same can be said for today's society.

In this day and age, there is a tendency for people to ignore cultural spirituality and civility which can be bit troublesome. More and more people are being influenced by the easy way of doing things. I've heard that, predecessors and elderly who are supposed to be a guidance to the young individuals, are now treated with disrespectable names such as “ROUGAI” or "problematic old hazard".

If we ignore our ancestors and the old ways of thinking and the fundamental ways of doing things, society will go in a direction of confusion and lack of direction, as if we were trying to remove all the old dead vines and grow only new ones.

Today, Japan is heavily influenced by the culture that came from the West, but now many social phenomena that is written in horizontal characters as katakana as way to express foreign language occur as a problem in the country, and many loud claims against them are filling the headlines of TV and media. Nowadays, like how ghost appears from nowhere , Japan is full of problems expressed out in horizontal katakana letters from outer country.

But if you replace them with vertical letters back in to Japanese language, you will soon find that they are all things that Japan has been living with in harmony since the beginning of its history. Why are phenomena that have been around for a long time becoming a problem now? may be, it’s because they are now trying to deal with them in a unfamiliar Western way.

In Japan, there has always been an important and deep oriental culture of “CHOU YOU NO JYO” or "the order of the elders and the young" and "WAKI-MAE" or cultural discretion. The “CHOU YOU NO JYO” is the relationship as one of deep respect to the elderly, and the elderly return it to the young.

In Japanese culture, the concept of "wakimae" or discretion is based on the wisdom of Yin and Yang philosophy, which is to divide things into Yin and Yang, and to adjust them according to the time and situation. Like situating the events in accordance to fit certain situation, depending on where the sun shines (Yang, light, public), and places where the sun does not shine (Yin, shadow, private), and keep them in right place.

From the view point of the laws of nature, it is wisdom to refrain from anything that dissipate the natural flow, if a child would see and imitate, sort of actions and behaviors that would cause a disorder if everyone all did it together openly, should be kept out of the public (Yang) and still coexist as some thing private (Yin).

This traditional Japanese culture is based on totalitarianism, which is completely different from the kindness and self-assertion based on individualism introduced from the West. Therefore, it is different from asserting a sense of value based on individualism, which is simply a matter of an individual wanting to do things this way, and it is a dimension that requires having extra strength as a person. This also ties in to Bushido philosophy.

If we look at totalitarianism from a biological point of view, we can see that the human body is a collection of individual organisms called cells.

Our own bodies, which we perceive as individuals, are actually groups of organisms, and we are made up of them, and we are social animals who like to be in groups. This is why we are able to exert our strength and feel happy only when we have the whole of our family and predecessors.

For this physiological reason, the totalitarianism of Japan's unique culture makes sense.

However, if people who have lost this important culture continue to push forward with the misunderstanding of equality and democratization, isn't it obvious that many things that wouldn’t be a problem will develop into big problems and create divisions among people? It is obvious from looking at the world outside of Japan that this will never lead to a good society or a good country.

On the contrary, it is a path that leads to the establishment of a lot of laws and the use of police power to coerce the masses, who have lost the power of self-control, much like the cattle.

This is something that the Japanese, a nation of the orient and a people who value culture, should quickly reevaluate.

The power of a single individual can only be so great. However, in order to develop one's true strength and to be truly happy, it is essential that the power of our ancestors, that is, the power of our elders and family members, become one with us.

The world is going through a difficult time right now, but first of all, I would like to ask the Japanese people to remember the respect for the elderly based on the "order of elders and the young" and to reaffirm the beautiful virtue of their country, the Japanese way of "Waki-Mae".

 After all, This is the main reason why people all over the world are paying attention to Japan.