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We will deliver SAMURAI SPIRITS from Japan to the World.

Experience our SAMURAI Project in Kamakura

   We are carrying out our SAMURAI PROJECT at Engakujis sub temple, Kigen-in.  This famous temple is located just within a one-minute walk from JR Kitakamakura Station.  

  Kamakura, which is one of the most popular tourist spots in Japan, is best suited to our project.  The historical city is the place where the Kamakura Shogunate, Japans first samurai (military) government, was established.  In Kamakura, you can enjoy Japanese tradition and culture as well as its natural beauty.

The SAMURAI PROJECT offers you a 90-minute course.  The admission charge is \8,500 per person.  An additional \300 is needed as the entry fee to Engakuji Temple.

 

   This course contains:

    1.  Written and narrative explanation on SAMURAI and the SAMURAI PROJECT

    2.  Experience of drawing circles with a brush as art work associated with Zen

   3.  Lectures on Zen meditation by the chief priest of Kigen-in

    4.  Experience of Zen meditation

 

    5.  Experience of drawing a circle with a brush on Sekishu writing paper designated as an important cultural asset

   Fill in the application form below and email us.  Let us know what date is convenient and the number of applicants.  Feel free to ask any kinds of questions.  We will email you back as soon as possible.

 All activities of the SAMURAI PROJECT are managed and operated by the SAMURAI PROJECT steering committee.  For inquiries, contact us via the application form.  Refrain from contacting any other facilities, including Engakuji Temple, about the SAMURAI PROJECT.

Zen and SAMURAI

Dr. Inazo Nitobe, who is well-known as the portrait on the former 5,000 yen bill, introduced an episode about Zen in his world-famous essay Bushido: A foremost teacher of swordsmanship; when he saw his pupil master the utmost point of his art, the teacher told him, "Beyond this, my instruction must give way to Zen teaching."  We can see that for samurais, Zen was an important way of training their spirits.

Zen meditation

 

   Zen meditation can be defined as a fundamental training method of Zen (part of Buddhism) teaching, which is done sitting straight with your legs crossed in a lotus position.  Many who experience Zen meditation feel peacefully calm after the practice.

 

   Zen meditation is simple.  The goal is to expel every thought from your mind.  Posture and breathing are important.  Zen priests stress those two elements when they teach beginners how to do Zen meditation.

 

   Zen has several significant sets of technical terms, one of which is Chou-shin (調身:setting of your body), Chou-soku (調息:regulating your breath), and Chou-shin (調心:setting of your mind).  This means that when you do Zen meditation with the correct posture while breathing in the correct way, you can reach the correct state of mind and spirit.

 

   Modern life can be stressful due to floods of information.  Zen meditation is mental training that makes your mind empty by stopping thinking.  Through this process, you can find yourself feeling calm and peaceful.

 

    

Mental and physical effect of Zen meditation

   Zen meditation is thought to have the effects listed below:

 

  1.  Improvement of resistance against stress by increasing serotonin in your brain

  2.  Strengthening inner muscles by keeping the correct position with your legs crossed in a lotus position

  3.  Promoting blood flow and body fat consumption by breathing in oxygen fully

 

   We know that a lot of corporation managers and executives take interest in or really take up Zen meditation maybe because they hope to relieve stress and be active and creative.  Among those business people was Steve Jobs, the father of the Macintosh computer and the i-phone.  Zen teaching is thought to have had some influence on Jobs way of designing Apple products.     

 

 

Kigen-in, a temple where a Japanese literary master did Zen meditation

 Our SAMURAI PROJECT takes place at Engakujis sub temple, Kigen-in, just close to JR Kita Kamakura Station.  Kigen-in temple is known as a place where one of the greatest Japanese novelists, Soseki Natsume, paid visit sometimes and practiced Zen meditation.  In his work titled Mon (The Gate), Soseki Natsume described the temple gate which was modeled on Kigen-ins: 


When he entered the temple gate, Sosuke felt it suddenly got dark.  Looking up, he noticed tall Japanese cedar trees on both sides of the approach blocked much of the sky.  That dismal atmosphere made Sosuke realize that had crossed the border between his daily life and the Buddhist world.  He stopped in the small temple grounds.  He had felt a sort of chill, which reminded him of the sign of a cold. (cited from Mon (The Gate)


  Place:  Engakujis sub temple, Kigen-in

   Address:  416, Yamanouch, Kamakura city, Kanagawa prefecture

 

   Nearby station:  JR Kitakamakura Station

Program

The SAMURAI PROJECT offers you a 90-minute course.  The admission charge is \8,500 per person.  An additional \300 is needed as the entry fee to Engakuji Temple.

 

   This course contains:

    1.  Written and narrative explanation on SAMURAI and the SAMURAI PROJECT

    2.  Experience of drawing circles with a brush as art work associated with Zen

   3.  Lectures on Zen meditation by the chief priest of Kigen-in

    4.  Experience of Zen meditation

 

    5.  Experience of drawing a circle with a brush on Sekishu writing paper designated as an important cultural asset

Contents

Fill in the application form below and email us.  Let us know what date is convenient and the number of applicants.  Feel free to ask any kinds of questions.  We will email you back as soon as possible.

 

メモ: * は入力必須項目です

  All activities of the SAMURAI PROJECT are managed and operated by the SAMURAI PROJECT steering committee.  For inquiries, contact us via the application form.  Refrain from contacting any other facilities, including Engakuji Temple, about the SAMURAI PROJECT.

The experience of drawing a circle with a brush on Sekishu paper

You might think of drawing a circle with a brush on pieces of Japanese writing paper (hanshi) as a too simple, easy activity.  You are wrong, though.   In Zen teaching, a circle drawn in China ink with only one brush stroke it is called Enso (円相) in Japanese has a significant meaning, because it is thought to symbolize several essential phases, such as spiritual awakening, the truth, Buddhas inner mercy, or the universe itself.  Besides, drawing a circle with one brush stroke is a lot more difficult to do than it seems.  In fact, drawing a circle with a brush is part of Zen teaching and also good old Japanese culture.      

 

 

  One of our policies is to offer you an opportunity to experience good old Japanese culture under the best possible surroundings.  The participants will draw a circle with a brush on a piece of Sekishu Hanshi, top quality traditional Japanese writing paper.  Even now, this quality paper is made by hand in almost the same skillful way as it used to be more than ten decades.  Our SAMURAI PROJECT has found favor by Mr. Masao Kawahira, president of the Sekishu Hanshi Engineers Group, based in Shimane prefecture.  Sekishu Hanshi (Japanese writing paper) is designated as an intangible important cultural asset by UNESCO.    Thanks to his cooperation, we can offer this precious opportunity, where you can bring your own piece of Sekishu Hanshi on which you have drawn a circle back home as a souvenir.

Message from Mr. Masao Kawahira, president of the Sekishu Hanshi Engineers Group

I have been making paper for 40 years.  It is my great pleasure to make treasure material that can be used in various ways.  Not only do I preserve conventional skills, but I also try to create new ways of processing paper to produce brand-new paper-related products.

 

   You can view Mr. Kawahiras sophisticated beautiful skills while making paper on websites.

 

 

Voices from those who experienced the SAMURAI PROJECT

  • The beauty of a natural setting was magnificent.  It really relieved both my physical and spiritual tiredness from restless life.
  • I realized the gap between urban daily life and time passing in Engakuji.  The latter seemed like an experience of fantasy.
  • I made friends from different cultural backgrounds there.  That was thanks to having unique cultural experience in such calm and beautiful circumstances.  

 

 

Application form

メモ: * は入力必須項目です

What is the SUMURAI PROJECT?

   The SAMURAI PROJECT is activities in which you can experience aspects of Japanese culture in the authentic environment.  Through the SAMURAI PROJECT, we aim to encourage the mutual understanding of people and their cultural backgrounds.

 

   When you go abroad, you are sometimes asked about your culture.  At that time, perhaps you tend to feel embarrassed because you find how unfamiliar you are with your own culture.  Only a few Japanese people, for instance, could tell others about Japanese culture and tradition fully or correctly.

 

   That is probably because you are not very interested in your own culture.  Of course, however, learning your own culture is worth time.   Experiences of practicing cultural things in authentic manners will stimulate you by bringing you discoveries and surprises. 

 

   Just like any other ethnic groups, Japanese culture has a wide variety of unique fascinating aspects of profound nature.  We have focused on something deeply rooted in Japanese mentality: SAMURAI and Zen teaching.

 

 

   In modern era, when tremendous numbers of people and things move all over the world, you are required to think and act globally.  Through our SAMURAI PROJECT, we hope that you deepen your interest in Japanese cultural tradition, which will lead to understanding of Japanese and Asian people.  We wish to create a modern SAMURAI, who knows what it is like to experience a different type of culture from yours and how important it is to intercourse with people from different cultural backgrounds.