Japanese language - The Way of the Warrior: Learning Bushido

Why Do Japanese People Say, “Put Yourself in the Other Person’s Place”? — Moving the Observation Point: A Cultural Pattern Found in Japanese Language and Classics

2026年8月20日

Why do Japanese people say, “Put yourself in the other person’s place”? Exploring Japanese language, classical literature, Yohaku, Wa, and Musubi, this essay reveals a cultural pattern of moving the observation point—from self to other, past to future, and Entity to Relation—and considers what it may offer for the civilization of the future.

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A Ghost Story That Shaped a Nation’s Words — Learning Bushido Beyond the Sword

2026年2月1日

How a classic Japanese ghost story shaped modern Japanese language and revealed a side of Bushido beyond the sword—restraint, responsibility, and balance in an age of endless voices.

About the Author — Zenkoh Onagi

Advocate of Civilization Inquiry Japanese History and Classical Literature Scholar Organizational Development Consultant Born in January 1956 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. 
Zenkoh Onagi advocates Civilization Inquiry, an approach that seeks to translate the wisdom embedded in history and classical literature into contemporary thought and to explore how we might build a future in which people can ultimately share in human flourishing. His research and writing draw particularly on Japanese history and classical traditions, including the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and Bushido. His work explores such themes as autonomy, posture toward the world, Musubi (creative connection), Relation, and Exit Design, asking how inherited wisdom can contribute to the design of relationships, organizations, and civilization in the present and future. He lectures and writes extensively throughout Japan and is the author of numerous books on Japanese history, culture, and civilization.

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