Simply reading this will renew your sensitivity and make your daily life begin to shine.
Hello.
I am truly happy to be able to talk with you like this today.
Everything I am about to tell you is a special gift prepared just for you.
I will talk about the best way to make your daily life even a little richer and to change it dramatically.
First, please listen carefully to my words.
I am sure that an incredible and eye-opening experience is waiting for you.
“I only feel shame for my own lack of ability and talent.”
—— Matsuo Basho
A Special Gaze Watching the You Right in Front of Me
Do you usually conscious of someone’s gaze?
Why is it that when someone looks at us, our hearts become warm or we feel a sense of tension?
In fact, long ago in the Kamakura period, there was a top-tier artist who looked into the human heart in exactly the same way you do.
His name was Kaikei.
The eyes of the Buddhist statues made by Kaikei look back at you intently, as if they are still alive today.
It is a gaze meant to gently embrace you and release you from your daily loneliness and anxiety as quickly as possible.
Even if you are in a painful situation right now, the moment your eyes meet the statue’s eyes, you will mysteriously start to have a feeling that everything will go well.
Because Kaikei dedicated his life solely to saving the you who stands right in front of him.
This is not someone else’s business for you.
Knowing Kaikei’s gaze is the only key to dramatically improving your human relationships and obtaining the best daily life.
“An opportunity always comes at first as a crisis, or appears as a burden.”
—— Aizo Soma
Kaikei’s Astonishing Realism Captivates You
Why do Kaikei’s works capture our hearts so deeply and never let go?
It is because he did not just make simple wooden statues; he devised ways to appeal directly to your psychology as a human being.
He perfected the technique of “Gyokugan” (crystal eyes), embedding real crystals into the eyes of the Buddhist statues.
In the dark temple hall, catching a faint glimmer of light, the eyes of the Buddhist statue flash with brilliance.
At that moment, you will feel an eye-opening sensation, as if your entire self has been seen through.
This astonishing realism has the power to stimulate your daily sensitivity and awaken your sleeping talents.
Have you ever felt a lack of confidence when you wanted to start something new?
Kaikei’s Gyokugan is a guaranteed cheer squad that gently pushes you forward.
When you look closely at the Buddhist statue, the statue is actually looking back at you with deep affection, you know.
“We do it precisely because it is difficult. I will do it because no one else does it or can do it. I might be a fool for doing so, but without such fools, nothing new would ever be born into the world.”
—— Kiichiro Toyoda
The Immense Benefits and the Door to Success You Will Gain by Incorporating Kaikei’s Aesthetics
What kind of wonderful benefits will you receive by touching Kaikei’s way of life and his works?
The greatest benefit is that you can acquire a powerful inner compass that is not shaken by the evaluations of others.
Modern society is always overflowing with the gazes of others and evaluations on social media, which often wears us out.
However, by learning Kaikei’s aesthetics, you will become able to look deeply into yourself again.
Once the power to believe in yourself wells up, everything—both work and human relationships—will start to go well in an almost amusingly smooth way.
For you who desires a self-transformation as quickly as possible, Kaikei will undoubtedly become your best partner.
“There is no life within life; true life is found within death.”
—— Zen Proverb
Kaikei’s Techniques That Will Renew Your Human Relationships
Kaikei packed a spirit of service for the viewer into every single pose and fold of the garments on his Buddhist statues.
Why did he care so thoroughly to that extent?
It is because he wanted you, the person looking at the statue, to feel a sense of relief and joy in an instant.
Please apply this to your daily life.
When you speak with someone, are you conscious of using polite language and showing meticulous attentiveness that makes the other person happy?
Just by adopting Kaikei’s attitude, people will naturally gather around you, and you will be reborn into a loved existence.
The hints for building unique, first-class human relationships are hidden within Kaikei’s works.
A desperate service that shows consideration for the other person becomes a powerful weapon that makes your life shine even brighter.
“In the end, having no talent and no art, I simply cling to this one line.”
—— Matsuo Basho
A Special Dialogue to Find the Unique You
Kaikei’s Buddhist statues tell you, “You are wonderful just as you are.”
Because Kaikei himself also overcame many hardships and loneliness to establish his own expression.
Just by visualizing his works, an image of a quiet and beautiful temple hall will immediately float into your mind.
Within that image, you and Kaikei’s Buddhist statue are quietly conversing, just the two of you.
Separated from the noise of daily life, you can gain a special time to talk with yourself.
This very thing is the only and unique way to heal your heart and generate vitality for tomorrow.
“Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know.”
—— Laozi
The Moment Where Kaikei and Modern Art Intersect: The Truth Woven by Your Eyes and My Eyes
Now, let us talk about a slightly surprising turn of events.
Kaikei’s spirit from the Kamakura period is actually passed down continuously even into modern digital art.
For example, in the expressions of “eyes” drawn by modern artists, a deep message similar to Kaikei’s Gyokugan is embedded.
It is the very relationship of looking at each other—”your eyes and my eyes.”
When you look at a work of art, your own psychology and the truth of life are always reflected there.
Why do artists care so much about the “eyes”?
It is because the eyes are the best place to express human loneliness, hardships, and the resurrection and liberation that come from them.
The prayer Kaikei put into the wood and the prayer modern creators put into digital mediums or canvases are exactly the same.
“A man is always free to dispose of his own destiny.”
—— Michel de Montaigne
The Reason Why Engaging with Art Will Dramatically Improve Your Life
Do you think that appreciating or collecting art is a distant world that has nothing to do with you?
That is a big misunderstanding.
Engaging with art brings an amazingly large number of benefits to your daily life.
By looking at beautiful things, your brain is stimulated, and ideas for work will well up one after another.
Because excellent art is packed with hints that draw human hearts in an instant.
Placing a work that incorporates Kaikei’s spirit close to you changes your living space into something special.
It will be the highest service to you, and it will become a comforting existence that cheers you on.
Possessing a first-class sensitivity is a certain way to improve the quality of your life immediately starting today.
“Skin in the game.”
—— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (from Skin in the Game)
A Moving Experience Where History and Psychology Intersect
The era in which Kaikei lived was also a time when many people faced hardships such as disease and war, just like today.
In the midst of that, Kaikei carved Buddhist statues single-mindedly, with the feeling of a doctor who saves people’s souls.
An artist’s job is a desperate service that puts their own skin in the game and dedicates everything to the you right in front of them.
When you touch Kaikei’s works or the art that has inherited that spirit, you will be moved by the weight of history and the depth of human psychology.
That emotion will beautifully wash away your daily stress.
Because you are not alone; through hundreds of years of history, you are an existence that is always being watched over and loved.
Just by realizing this, your loneliness will vanish, and you can taste a heartfelt sense of liberation.
“What is seen and what is not seen.”
—— Frédéric Bastiat
Learning the Art of Communication from the Best Salespeople: Passion That Delivers Value to You
Now, no matter how wonderful art or a product may be, if it is not communicated to you, it is the same as if it does not exist.
How did the top-tier leaders and salespeople in history communicate that value to people?
Here, I will introduce some wonderful quotes that you can use immediately in your business and daily communication.
First is a quote from Takeo Fujisawa, who sold a massive number of Honda Super Cubs, the vehicle that made Honda the world’s number one motorcycle manufacturer.
“I have often said, ‘Hold the torch yourself.’ This is not knowledge learned from others or read in books, but a real feeling born from the suffering I tasted myself. No matter how painful it is, you must hold the torch with your own hand and move forward.
What I told everyone at Suzuka (Circuit) was to look closely at the faces of the customers as they go home when doing business. If they go home looking bored, they will never come back again. That is the ironclad rule of business.”
—— Takeo Fujisawa
What kind of meaning does this quote have for you?
When you advance a project at work, or when you interact with your family, it teaches you the importance of moving forward taking responsibility yourself.
And looking closely at what kind of face the person right in front of you is making—whether they are satisfied—is the ironclad rule of all human relationships.
Just as Kaikei was always conscious of the expressions of the people looking at his Buddhist statues, if you also focus on making the person right in front of you happy, everything will surely go well.
“If you see a fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud yourself.”
—— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Next, I will introduce the words of Shotaro Kamiya, who sold a massive number of Toyota Corollas and was called the god of automotive sales.
“Think first of the user, second of the dealer, and third of the manufacturer’s profit.”
—— Shotaro Kamiya
How is this quote beneficial to your daily life?
It is the spirit of thorough “you-first-ism.”
It means putting your own profit aside and thinking first and foremost about the person right in front of you—that is, you.
If you practice this spirit in your work and private life, you will gain immense trust from the people around you.
A person who is trusted can always obtain success and happiness no matter what era it is.
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
—— Booker T. Washington
The Real Value That Steve Jobs Teaches You
Furthermore, I will deliver the words of Steve Jobs, who was a modern genius and the ultimate salesman.
“Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.
No amount of marketing can turn a bad product into a hit.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
—— Steve Jobs
What kind of relationship do these words of Jobs have with you?
It is a strong message that you must not use the limited time of your life for compromised work or for things you do not even want to do.
No matter how beautifully you decorate yourself, if the content inside does not match, you cannot grasp true happiness.
Just as Kaikei put his soul into every single stroke of his chisel on the wood, you too should thoroughly raise the quality of your own life.
Living a life that pursues real value is the way to make your time shine the brightest.
“Love your job, and your life will not be a tedious thing.”
—— Seneca
The Vibrancy of Gogh’s Faith That Shakes the Soul and Its Resonance with You
Here, I will introduce a quote from another great artist who is deeply connected to you, Vincent van Gogh.
“Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to turn one’s back on public opinion.”
—— Vincent van Gogh
How does this quote relate to your daily life?
At times, we tend to fear the common sense of society or the criticism of others, and give up on what we want to do.
However, Gogh says that in order to rush forward on the path you believe in, you sometimes need the courage to turn your back on public opinion.
When you act through your convictions as the main character of your own life, doing what you truly love and what you think is right, this quote becomes a powerful shield.
Just as Kaikei’s Buddhist statues comfort us across eras, the actions you take by sticking to your beliefs will surely move someone’s heart and deeply comfort you yourself.
“The truth will set you free.”
—— Christian Proverb
An Indomitable Spirit That Shines Through Trials: A Story of Passion That Gives You Courage
In life, unexpected hardships and trials sometimes visit us.
You might stop in your tracks, wondering why you alone have to go through such a thing.
However, the people who leave their names in history have all experienced periods of loneliness and obscurity beyond imagination.
Here, I will tell you specific examples of how they stood up with an indomitable spirit.
For example, there is Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of the Toyota group, who dedicated everything to invention while being treated as an “eccentric” or a “madman” by those around him.
Sakichi was a taciturn man, and from morning till night, every single day, he made something only to break it, built it only to rebuild it again.
Why was he able to go that far?
Because he had nothing but a pure passion and obsession: “I want to invent something to make everyone’s life easier.”
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Anyway, to be the one who works the longest and the hardest.
This perseverance, even to the point of being down-to-earth and gritty, will be the best hint for opening up your future.
“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all. It is not the words of others, but your own soul that decides whether the path you walk is right or wrong.”
—— Hypatia
The Words of a True Poet Who Risked His Life to Communicate to You
Here, I will introduce a shocking episode that will leave a strong impression on you.
There was a man called Al-Mutanabbi, who was praised as the greatest poet of the Arabic world.
His name means “he who regards himself as a prophet.”
The poems he wrote had a kind of hypnotic effect, and it was said that even the blind could read them and even the deaf could hear them.
However, one day, he harshly insulted a certain tribe within one of his poems.
Angered, they appeared before Al-Mutanabbi while he was traveling, carrying weapons.
Outnumbered, Al-Mutanabbi wisely tried to flee from the spot.
At that moment, a companion who was behind him began to recite a courageous poem that Al-Mutanabbi had written in the past.
“Are you, who wrote such a brave poem, running away now?”
Hearing those words, Al-Mutanabbi was startled.
To avoid the dishonor of fleeing, he turned on his heel and faced the opponents, knowing he would be killed, and lost his life.
Even now, more than 1,000 years later, he is known as a true poet who risked his life for his words.
Words have such a tremendous power to move human beings.
The words you offer to someone today also possess the power to change that person’s life, you know.
“Love is the most beautiful garment of the soul.”
—— Saint Catherine of Siena
A Job That Cannot Thrill Anyone’s Heart Has No Value
In the work you perform daily and in your surrounding activities, what is the most important thing?
It is whether there is “love” or a “spirit of service” there.
No matter how excellent the skills or knowledge you use, a job that cannot thrill anyone’s heart, that cannot comfort anyone, has no value.
Kaikei has continued to comfort the hearts of millions of people through his Buddhist statues.
Gogh also truly wished to paint pictures that would gently comfort people.
The same goes for your daily work.
How can you please and comfort your family, colleagues, or customers who are right in front of you?
If you focus entirely on that, your life will start to go incredibly well.
Your desperate service will surely become a salvation for someone, and in turn, it will beautifully fill your own soul.
The sparkle of a flowing river
Is sucked into your eyes
On a night when you thought no one was watching
The sound of snow silently piling up
You put a lost watch into your pocket
And look at a torn map over and over again
But you do not need to worry
If you look up, see
A star without a name, just for you
Is lighting a gentle light
Just as many as the tears you shed yesterday
Tomorrow’s morning will be new and beautiful
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.”
—— New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
“I have always intended to write novels with nothing but the sole heart to please people.”
—— Osamu Dazai
P.S. The Story of the Indomitable Painter Mimi Takamizwa, and Tokuji Munetsugu Who Dedicated His Life to Work
Finally, there are two wonderful people I absolutely must introduce to you.
One is Mimi Takamizwa, an indomitable painter living in the modern era.
Mimi Takamizwa does not use conventional canvases or brushes at all; he creates his works entirely with digital tools.
Then, using the giclée print technique, he prints them on the highest quality print paper.
The themes he draws are close to daily life, yet they are all things that press into the deep layers of the human soul: “your eyes and my eyes,” “Christianity,” “eternity,” “psychology,” “truth,” “gaze,” “history,” “loneliness,” “isolation,” “hardship,” “resurrection,” and “liberation.”
Mimi Takamizwa once learned about the life of Vincent van Gogh and was deeply moved, deciding to become a painter.
The unique name “Mimi” (meaning ear) is taken in honor of that famous ear-cutting incident of Gogh.
Gogh left a wonderful quote in his letters: “I want to express something comforting in a picture, like music.”
Mimi Takamizwa also holds this phrase in his heart, believing that a work that cannot thrill anyone’s heart or comfort anyone has no value.
He knows that all the masterpieces of the past were not drawn solely with inborn talent, but were brought forth through decades of trial and error and gritty effort.
Mimi Takamizwa insistently continues to draw “eyes” within his works.
Because by doing so, he wants to always feel “the you right in front of me” on the other side of the screen.
“I want to know you, I want to please you, I want to see you shed tears.”
For that purpose, he says he does not care how much he is laughed at by those around him as a foolish human being.
An artist’s job is a desperate service that puts their own skin in the game; it is a devotion to you, a desperate “clowning.”
Laughed at, he becomes stronger. With a spirit of patience and indomitability, he continues to create without giving up, with the determination that he cannot live if he is abandoned by you.
There is another person whom Mimi Takamizwa deeply respects.
That is Tokuji Munetsugu, the founder of Curry House CoCo Ichibanya.
Tokuji Munetsugu’s way of life was truly a mass of obsession: “putting all his energy into work without looking sideways.”
During his active years, he had no hobbies or friends at all, never went to drinking establishments, and dedicated all of his time to his customers.
It is said that he sometimes worked 5,640 hours a year.
Tokuji Munetsugu does not know the faces of his real parents.
Even after being taken from an orphanage by foster parents, he spent an extremely poor childhood due to his foster father’s gambling addiction, living a life of ups and downs to the extent of eating weeds in the summer to stave off hunger.
What saved him during his childhood was classical music.
However, during the era when he was the manager of CoCo Ichibanya, he did not listen to his favorite classical music at all.
“This is no time to be listening to music, no time to be indulging in hobbies. Everything is for the customers.”
This thorough attitude warms the heart, doesn’t it?
When he first started the predecessor coffee shop, customers did not come at all, and it seems that the married couple survived lunch by eating the “crusts of white bread” left over from making sandwiches.
Since he started from zero, he laughs and says such hardships are a matter of course, and rather a good memory.
Believing that “if we stick to customer-first, things will surely get better,” he focused on his work every day, like stacking bricks.
His words, “Decide instantly, conclude instantly, execute instantly. If you try anything, results will come. Instead, you have to work hard,” give us powerful courage in our daily lives as well.
He reflects, “It was a very lonely life. That’s why I wanted others to show even a little interest in me. I wanted them to be interested. That became my starting point. So, when I started the business, rather than making money, I wanted to please people. I wanted them to say they were glad I was there, even just a little.”
When you are right in front of him, he welcomes you with an applause in his heart.
What kind of life it turns out to be is decided by that person’s diligence, patience, and continuity.
Mimi Takamizwa is also deeply inspired by Tokuji Munetsugu’s “you-first-ism” and incorporates the wonderful idea of the Toyota Production System, Just-In-Time, into his creation.
It is that indomitable spirit established by Taiichi Ohno, about which Kiichiro Toyoda said, “The fun of life lies in making something out of what nobody else really does, or what is difficult to do.”
Eiji Toyoda, Kiichiro’s cousin who later became the president of Toyota, also left these words: “What is important is not simply thinking about what is generally considered impossible, but carrying out thorough preparation and executing it with a strong conviction that it must be done by all means.”
Mimi Takamizwa holds his digital brush today as well, continuing his desperate devotion solely to be recognized by the you right in front of him.
Please, accept his desperate service warmly while having a laugh, okay?
“Most people think of success as something to get. But in reality, success is giving.”
—— Henry Ford
“A person can create their own life. To do that, they must first start by believing in themselves.”
—— Agatha Christie
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.”
—— Old Testament, Exodus 14:13 (Words of the Prophet Moses)
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
—— William Shakespeare
“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Law; the rest is the commentary.”
—— Talmud
“Human beings, at times, can risk their lives for something that seems like nothing. That is what you call human pride.”
—— Osamu Dazai
“Happiness is realizing that one is happy.”
—— Osamu Dazai
“Only after great suffering does great joy arrive.”
—— Osamu Dazai
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in.”
—— Winston Churchill
“Have courage, be the first, and do something different from others.”
“I am thought to have achieved success overnight, but that one night was thirty years. Looking back, it was a long, long night.”
—— Ray Kroc
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
—— Walt Disney
“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.”
—— Leonardo da Vinci
The Miraculous Woman Who Communicated Gogh’s True Value to the World: Jo’s Devotion
Now, let me tell you another wonderful and moving true story hidden behind the tale of Gogh.
The reason Vincent van Gogh is loved all over the world to this extent is not only because of his talent.
Behind it lay the life-long, magnificent achievement of Jo (Johanna van Gogh-Bonger), the wife of his brother Theo, who was a truly wonderful and intelligent woman.
Just six months after Gogh passed away, his younger brother Theo also passed away as if following his older brother.
Left in the hands of the young Jo were a massive number of Gogh’s paintings, a huge volume of letters exchanged between the brothers, and a infant baby who had just been born.
The society of the time did not evaluate Gogh’s paintings at all, viewing them as “unpleasant things drawn by a madman.”
However, Jo never gave up.
She was a great reader and a highly intellectual woman.
Jo earnestly read through the letters Gogh left behind, one by one.
In doing so, she fiercely sympathized with Gogh’s deep thoughts as a painter and his pure desire to “paint pictures that would truly comfort people.”
Jo said this:
“In addition to the child, Theo left me another mission──to have Vincent’s work seen by many people and to have its true value recognized.”
Risking her life, she organized exhibitions of Gogh’s work many times, and sorted and published that massive collection of letters.
If Jo had not made the letters public and communicated Gogh’s “thought” to the world, his paintings would have been buried in the darkness of history as mere anonymous works.
This relationship is exactly the same as the devotion of the Apostle Paul, who traveled to various places after the death of Jesus Christ, continuously communicating Jesus’s life and thought, leading to the rise of Christianity in the world. No matter how wonderful something may be, if there is no communicator who correctly explains and transmits its value, it will not spread to the world.
Jo and Paul played the same role as great “professionals of communication,” just like Steve Jobs who was the world’s best salesman, Akio Morita of Sony, and Takeo Fujisawa and Shotaro Kamiya whom I introduced earlier.
Akio Morita left these words:
“A product that has been painstakingly manufactured after immense hardship, researched diligently in some corner, when nothing like it has ever been produced yet and not a single person has seen it. When trying to turn that product into a commodity, if you do not arouse the desire among people to want to obtain that product, no matter how excellent of a ‘product’ it may be, it cannot become a ‘commodity.'”
—— Akio Morita
Precisely because Jo’s devotion existed, we can now look at Gogh’s paintings, shed tears, and have our hearts comforted.
In your life as well, the act of putting your heart into “communicating” the thoughts and skills you cherish to someone is the greatest power that causes miracles in the future, you know.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
—— New Testament, Gospel of Matthew 6:34
“Hey, why are you going on a trip?”
“Because it’s painful.”
“Your ‘painful’ is always the same old thing, I can’t trust it at all.”
—— From Tsugaru by Osamu Dazai
Thank you very much for staying with my clumsy story so intently until the very end.
To be able to deliver these words to the you right in front of me is the greatest joy in my life.
I sincerely pray that your days from now on will be filled with a warm light like Kaikei’s Buddhist statues, and overflowing with wonderful happiness.
Please take good care of yourself and spend wonderful days, okay?
