Iaido, an art of mind (by Jacques MARTIANO)

Japan has always distinguished itself from other countries in many different areas, but this specific characteristic is fully expressed in all arts, whether they be of Japanese or Western origin.
What makes each «Japanese style» practiced art different, is firstly this particular form of transmission from the Shishô to the Deshi based on very old educational principles. The originality encountered in this human relationship that combines respect and loyalty, can only lead to a form of practice that largely exceeds the purely technical context of the discipline that is being taught, this discipline merely being a support for demands that should be integrated into each individual’s life.

Using art as a tool, a means to progress.

Even if changes in the rules of life in society have sometimes enabled considerable progress in terms of  improving conditions of daily living, the consequence of these changes has been a deterioration of spiritual values that are the genuine cultural wealth of a country.

The tool has become more important than the object it helped to create

An artist is only recognised through the price that is put on his work and not through the spiritual elevation that he has reached in his pursuit of excellence in the practice of his art. The rules that underlie the relationship between human beings are changing, as are their preoccupations and their objectives of life are evolving. These changes are reflected in the education they give to their children, integrating less and less values that over time shape the culture of a country. The arts have been nurtured with values that are specific to the Japanese soul. It is time that these arts help us to retrieve a taste for lost values through a traditional approach integrated into a fast-moving world.
The basis for these considerations on a daily basis is the will to change our way of being and to participate in a revaluation of human relations.