Noone Can Go Ahead

First, Happy ??rd Birthday to my brother, who may be travelling around the Baltics right now; and to my great niece, who is probably closer to home.

I caught an interesting show on the TV a couple months ago about okami (女将) – landladies of traditional inns. One lady has started a school or internship program where she teaches others how to properly run an inn. This type of training generally follows a dojo style, where a master shows the students and they try to follow the example.

Part of being a good okami is to sense what is needed by the customer and provide it smoothly, without them having to ask. Part of the training involved the master asking the other ladies, “What did you forget?” She would wait while they carefully considered everything and answered correctly. If they could not figure it out they would have to serve the customers with something lacking. At some point the answer would be clear.

A sharp contrast was drawn to modern Japanese training methods. She felt that today’s motto is: “noone can go ahead without a manual”. Her hope is that traditional Japanese sensitivity can be preserved.