Abstract

For 43 years, the author has grappled with the samurai spirit through "kenbu" (sword dance), and he teaches the true essence of Japan: Bushido. What is the difference between "bushi" and "samurai"? What kind of people were samurai? Why did samurai commit seppuku (ritual suicide)? Why did samurai dance? Can you answer these questions for foreigners visiting Japan? The author, a seven-time winner (Japan's best) of the All-Japan Kenbu Competition sponsored by the Japan Ginkenbu Promotion Foundation and a four-time recipient of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, explains these topics clearly and passionately.

Author’s Information

Ando Seisho has won the All-Japan Kenbu Competition seven times (Japan's best), received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award four times, and is a Kenbu artist, Bushido evangelist, Senior Instructor of Tenjin Shinyo-ryu Ginkenshibu-do, holds an MBA from Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, and is a Business Model Designer (certified by Sharebrain Business School). He has embodied Bushido since childhood and has been familiar with Kenbu, a traditional performing art that draws from martial arts, for 43 years. He currently holds the highest rank of instructor, Senior Instructor. He established the Japan Traditional Culture Transmission Platform, a general incorporated association, and assumed the position of Representative Director. He has welcomed Ryusuke Koyama, a former Shochiku producer and author of business books with cumulative sales of over 500,000 copies, and Associate Professor at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, as a director of the same association. Based on the philosophy that "Only those who learn from tradition will grasp the future. Culture creates the present, and transmission creates the future," the association develops services that allow people to experience Japanese traditional culture. In addition, he founded "Densho University," a cyber university where people learn and practice Japanese spirit and Western techniques, and impart traditional teachings, including Bushido.