a shokunin

Abe, this made me think of you and your approach to wood-working.
I am strangely fascinated by this process of making tamago,
especially since it reminds me of one of my favorite words, shokunin.

It came up in one of my favorite documentaries, Jiro Dreams of Sushi,
when an apprentice had to make it 200 times before the shokunin, Jiro, deemed it worth to be served.
A different appreciation of a simple egg.

“The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan,’ but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning.  The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people.  This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.” – Tasio Orate

Tasio Odate is an artist, sculptor, teacher and author in the field of Japanese woodcrafting. So clearly he should know what he is talking about. Yet I feel his explanation is [limited], perhaps politically correct but [limited] in the sense that I believe the answer is incomplete. His answer implies that the master does his job well because of social obligation, that he is doing it for the people because that is what drives him.

While I concur that having a social agenda is a noble aspiration. At it’s essence, it is still a worldly pursuit. The pursuit to constantly satisfy the people around you. I do not know anyone who lives a happy life going around fulfilling other people without taking something in return. Be it a sense of pride, a sense of satisfaction, there is always something they want in return.

Look within you and ask yourself this question – Why am I doing what I’m doing. You may start off with a bunch of reasons about how you want to change the world, but at the end of the day, it is still about you. It will forever be about you. The pride you feel in your work, the elation you get when someone says good job, the thrill you get from becoming the next big thing. It will always be about you.

Besides, if you search for quotes from those who reach the top, they say the same thing. That the person always driving them forward is never the competition, but themselves.

Without focusing on you, you will never be happy in your work. And like Jiro, you will never reach your full potential. Learn to embrace it, all the selfish reasons and selfish goals. Live in them, sleep with them. For only when you reach deep aside yourself and magnify the driving forces within, then can you forget about the world and learn to pursue your craft on your own terms. That, to me, is what shokunin is all about."

video via {swiss miss}
discussion via {wilson k}