The heart of the craft: an encounter with the spirit of Shokunin

“There’s something to be learned from everything. From even the most ordinary, commonplace things, there’s always something you can learn.” – Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973. I read this quote in the epilogue to Matt Alt’s book, Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World. (London: Constable, 2021). It could be a summary of shokunin kishitsu (職人気質), the spirit of traditional Japanese artesanal culture. In fact, Jiro Ono the consummate master of sushi, featured in the acclaimed documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and who was still going strong at the age of 100, says something very similar in the movie: “I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit. There is always a yearning to achieve more.” This yearning, to learn, to achieve more is kojoshin (向上心), or aspiration, and it’s an integral element of the shokunin spirit. Shokunin (職人) is a Japanese concept translating to “craftsman” or “artisan,” but its cultural meaning runs much deeper. It describes a master of a trade who…