{"id":948,"date":"2011-06-24T00:21:06","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T00:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/?p=948"},"modified":"2018-01-07T09:48:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T09:48:00","slug":"philosophie-de-comptoir-5-ichi-go-ichi-e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/?p=948","title":{"rendered":"Philosophie de comptoir 5 – Ichi go ichi e"},"content":{"rendered":"

When wet, the black mud\u2014\u201chedoro\u201d in japanese\u2014left by the sea after the March 11th tsunami, smells like putrid sea water, sewer, dead fish and a hint of dead body. And that\u2019s actually what it is made of.
\nOur team of four volonteers once had to crawl in the watery mud under the floors. In reality, our team leader Angela, went crawling alone. I myself was not far from throwing up, and hedoro mixed with vomit is the last thing you want to see. Going back to camp covered from head to toe with a thick layer of hedoro, our Angela would make the children cry. Their parents, who have now seen much worth, would stop their car to take a photo of the monster: \u201coh! Look! A monster!\u201d. Some believe it to be a mutant resulting from the tsunami, the radiations and perhaps those giant mushrooms that starts to invade the city. A muddy version of Bardot<\/a> on her Harley Davidson, she would then roam the streets on her bike from hell, so loud the neighbors would fear another earthquake and the children, still crying from the monster’s apparition, would start running toward the hills, anticipating the next deadly tsunami.<\/p>\n

When not shoveling hedoro, the Peace Boat<\/a> volunteers rest, eat or drink in Kaska Fashion, a disaffected clothing factory repurposed as their base camp for the clearing operations.
\nSeating on the blue tarpaulin, we are going through the usual introductory discussion. When my turn comes, I explain I have been working in an office for a while, and that I am now taking some time off to see the world. I also mention I am now having lots of nice, but brief encounters; which contrast with going every day to the office. I would not see those acquaintance ever again. \u201cWe are in motion to the ocean\u201d, as the guy in the boat car says in \u201cWaking Life<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n

I feel like my transport should be an extension of my personality. And this is like my little window to the world\u2026 and every minute\u2019s a different show. I may not understand it. I may not even necessarily agree with it. But I\u2019ll tell you what I\u2019ve accepted: just sort of glide along. You want to keep things on an even key, this is what I\u2019m saying. You want to go with the flow. The sea refuses no river. The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving. It saves on introductions and goodbyes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So I am reflecting on the strangeness\u2014or at least, newness to me\u2014of this constant flow, when someone interrupts:<\/p>\n

\u201cIchi go Ichi e!\u201d<\/h1>\n

Seeing my expression of incomprehension, he carries on explaining:
\n\u201cIchi go Ichi e\u201d could be a concept similar to \u201cCarpe Diem\u201d. But not quite. It is having one opportunity. \u201cIchi go Ichi e\u201d comes from the Japanese Way of Tea, a reminder that each ceremony, while similar to any other tea ceremony, is unique. Similarly each encounter is unique. Yoda Sensei, famously once said:\u201d Do or do not. There is no try<\/a>\u201d, leading us to the conclusion that Yoda Sensei has probably been, amongst other things, a master of Tea ceremony.
\n\u201ca state of constant departure while always arriving\u201d,
\nThere is no try, there is only actual doing.
\nEvery instant is unique.<\/p>\n

But where \u201cCarpe Diem\u201d is an Epicurean notion of enjoying the present, because the future cannot be trusted, \u201cIchi go Ichi e\u201d emphasize is that the now, is the only opportunity you have to do things well: “This might very well be the last time we\u2019ll meet, so let\u2019s make it a valuable moment”. \u201cCarpe Diem\u201d might be more passive and enticing to self-indulgence, whereas \u201cIchi go Ichi e\u201d might be more about doing your best today. Like an actor in an audition, only one chance. And as Shakespeare puts it:<\/p>\n

All the world\u2019s a stage
\nAnd all the men and women merely players<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No spectators, we are all actors and there is no rehearsal. \u201cIchi go Ichi e\u201d.<\/p>\n

Learning about \u201cIchi go Ichi e\u201d in Ishinomaki, shoveling mud where the Tsunami abruptly ended the lives of thousands of people, gives it a peculiar meaning for me. For all the once in a lifetime encounters I had there, for all the dead I will never meet, and for shoveling putrid mud being a significant moment.<\/p>\n

A young Japanese aspiring firefighter, tells me: \u201cAs I see all those destructions, I have to also think about the thousands of people that die everyday in the world\u201d. Only eighteen, and so wise as we are walking through the destroyed city. Perhaps this is a manifestation of the Japanese spirit: Seeing life as transient, but according importance to every moment; being aware of the impermanence of things, while at the same time doing your best. This spirit might not be far from the Myth of Sisyphus as seen by Camus:\u201dLa lutte elle-m\u00eame vers les sommets suffit \u00e0 remplir un c\u0153ur d\u2019homme; il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux<\/em>.\u201d (The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man\u2019s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.)<\/p>\n

There is no giant mushroom in Ishinomaki.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When wet, the black mud\u2014\u201chedoro\u201d in japanese\u2014left by the sea after the March 11th tsunami, smells like putrid sea water, … <\/p>\n

<\/span> Continue reading “Philosophie de comptoir 5 – Ichi go ichi e”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":128,"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1091,"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions\/1091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozaki.fr\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}