November 19, 2017 Noboru Yasuda Noboru and cellist Mitsuko Arai at Kamakura Noh TheaterWe held the first ``Oke no Kai'' event, inviting Mr. and dancer Akira Noguchi as a guest.

 

[Purpose of the Okenokai]

What kind of intelligence will be needed in the coming era, where technology is evolving more and more and is also called the age of artificial intelligence? From Japanese mythology and traditional culture, we learn not only the intelligence expressed through written linguistic information, but also the physicality that cannot be put into written words and the intelligence that senses the universe, and the liberal arts necessary for modern times - living freely as human beings. A gathering place for learning and experiencing with the aim of discovering the intellect for human beings and opening the door to human potential. The ``Oke'' of the Oke no Kai refers to the ``Oke'' of the heavens, which is said to have appeared in the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and Kogo Shui, where Amaterasu Omikami, who hid in a rock, came back to this world and changed from a world of darkness to a world filled with light. The name comes from the word ``Oke'', which is the word of joy sung by the gods in the scene of ``The Myth of the Opening of the Iwato'', ``Aware, Anaohoshiro, Yours, Anasayake, Oke!''.

 

 

[Exploring the ancient Japanese people from the characters in the Kojiki]

Mr. Yasuda has written about 30 books so far, but this is almost the first time he has talked about the Kojiki, so it was a valuable opportunity. Mr. Yasuda has studied languages such as Greek, Hebrew, Akkadian, and Sumerian. I'm impressed by his studious nature. In 2018, he plans to write two books about the Kojiki, comparing them with world myths.

 

According to Yasuda, an expert on letters, by thinking about letters, especially by reading the Kojiki, we can learn about the kind of spirituality that pre-ancient Japanese had.

Moving on to the future, it is said that the singularity will arrive in 2045. The basic prediction is that the artificial intelligence contained in a computer costing around 100,000 yen will surpass human intelligence, and there are three main things that will happen in that case. G: Genes N: Nanotechnology R: Robots. It is said that these changes will bring most humans closer to immortality, and the world of VR will advance. There are many unknowns about how we should face this future, and it may be confusing, but in fact, humankind has experienced the singularity many times in the past, and in the past there was a "Gularity" is occurring, and we can learn from it.

 

[The birth of “heart” through the birth of letters]

Human thinking has changed significantly since the creation of writing.If you think about history before and after the written word, you will find something interesting.The oldest civilization is Mesopotamia. Sumerian. The Egyptian civilization is almost as old as the Egyptian civilization.

If we trace its history, we can see that before writing, it was a female society where women had strong leadership. When reading the literature of the time, it seems that it is written that the queen led the largest army at that time.

It is said that in ancient China, as of 1300 B.C., there were approximately 5,000 oracle bone characters, but it is said that there was no character for ``heart.'' By the way, currently only 2000 characters have been deciphered. The character ``kokoro'' (heart), which was first used in 1000 BC, is said to represent the male genitals.

Also, in Sumerian, Akkadian, Hebrew, and ancient Greece, the word "heart" was used to refer to internal organs. It was also believed that ``mercy'' resided in a woman's genitals, uterus, and internal organs.

And surprisingly, the Japanese word for ``heart'' was thought to reside within the internal organs.

 

[Where is your heart? ]

Ladies and gentlemen, where do you have an image of where your heart is? asks Mr. Yasuda. 

Mr. Yasuda's Noh teacher's father was a priest at a shrine, and it is said that he committed seppuku the day after the end of the war. At that time, seppuku was said to represent showing that one's heart was not unclean.

And if you ask children today, "Where is your heart?", they will probably answer that it is in their head. What we can see from this series of events is that in ancient times, the heart was located in the genitals, but as time passes, its position has moved higher and higher, and perhaps later on it will be even higher than the head, where the heart goes. It can be said that this is disappearing. It's interesting now that the current flow has come to an end.

In order to experience the fun of it, let's perform the oldest work, ``Inanna's Descendance to the Underworld,'' which dates back to a time when writing was just after the creation of the world, but there was no writing, so we all read it aloud. I tried acting.

I believe that the rare experience of reciting an unknown ancient language touched the minds and bodies of all the participants.

 

After talking about the heart, he performed Natsume Soseki's ``Yume Juya'' using cello and Noh.

On the dimly lit stage, Mr. Yasuda's voice echoed throughout the stage, and the tones of the cello overlapped, giving the performance a profound feel.

In the second half, everyone read Ten no Iwaya aloud to deepen their understanding.

 

``Transcription is a tool for externalizing the brain,'' says Yasuda.By putting the thoughts in your brain outside, you create space in your brain and can think and come up with new ideas. There is a term called ``warm the past, learn from the past,'' and it refers to the process of warming up the old, or the sudden appearance of something that no one has noticed before. 

The same goes for every lesson or study, but when it seems like you are not making any progress, it is said that magical time is actually moving at that time.In order to make that magical time work, it is important to take a moment to relax or go on a trip. As the word "great late bloomer" suggests, one day you will suddenly become good at something, but you don't know when that will happen. Still, "one day" will come someday, so you shouldn't give up midway.

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[The true meaning of not forgetting your initial intentions]

Also, the story of Zeami, who wrote Fushikaden and perfected Noh, was very impressive.Zeami's most important words: Never forget your original intentions. It is said that the meaning Zeami used and the meaning we use today are very different. When making a kimono, the first thing you do is use scissors.

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It is said that Zeami used this word to mean that when changing from where you are now, you should cut off your past self. Cut it off and change.Tokito's original intention. People go through various stages, and with each stage change, you have to cut yourself off and throw yourself away. Mr. Yasuda says that in modern society, this transition between stages is not going well, and this is one of the problems.

 

Afterwards, all the participants will read out loud the passage from the Kojiki about the opening of the heavenly rock door, and Ms. Yasuda will give an explanation, and the participants will be asked to reenact the scene with cellist Mitsuko Arai and dancer Akira Noguchi. It was a luxury.