As I often share, Teaching comes with great responsibility. No need for this pressure of responsibility when we just enjoy it. I don’t want you to worry about it too much when you enjoy Sashiko. However, please be noted that there is equally important responsibility like “Teaching” for everyone, you and me. We carry this responsibility regardless of our actions & intentions. It is a action of “recommendation”.
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Many ask me for (quick) recommendations for Sashiko. Unless they ask me in Japanese, my answer is “I don’t have any recommendations (so I speak up)”. I wrote that “Teaching” without a sense of responsibility can destroy the culture. Here, “Recommendation to resources that do not carry the sense of responsibility” is equally violent as actual teaching itself: A series of recommendations make a trend, and the “teachers” get more opportunities, and then they will corner themselves to be stubborn, to the point they cannot admit they aren’t learning enough. A good teacher will never say that they know “everything” about it. They know what they can & cannot teach. Using a “strong word” such as “Supreme”, “Ultimate”, “The Only”, “Comprehensive”, and “Authentic” is a great marketing strategy – but we have to know that there isn’t such a thing in culture.
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All action comes with consequences. As Spider-man says, “With great power comes great responsibility”. In this society, we are all “Spider-man” in something, especially when we can use “English”. Your words, recommendations, and choices are very powerful, and therefore it comes with great responsibility to preserve the culture of Sashiko & people behind. I really appreciate you following this account & reading. You are helping us greatly. Please be mindful of what you are recommending when you do so.
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私が今英語ができるのは偶然の賜物です。努力も勿論ありますが、何より運が良かった。と同時に、「英語の力（暴力）」もひしひしと感じています。世界基準で見た時には必ず英語が必要になります。それは日本文化を紹介する時でも、です。どれだけ日本文化に精通していても英語ができないと伝わりません。逆に言えば、英語ができれば誰でも専門家になれてしまう。今の刺し子も似たような現象が起こっています。私が敬う刺し子の諸先輩方は英語は話されません。でも存在しているし、彼ら彼女らがいなかったら今の刺し子はありません。たった言語で価値が決まるのは嫌なんです。これからもだからこそ「英語で」伝え続けます。
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