Athlete Brains: Dai Tamesue's "Mastering Pace and Rhythm" vol.15

A serial interview column where Mr. Dai Tamesue freely discusses "things on his mind right now." The only set theme is "What is autonomy? What is tolerance?" Mr. Tamesue shares his thoughts on various "things on his mind" in response to the mysterious "interviewer's" unexpected prompts. Well then. What kind of stories will emerge this time...? Stay tuned.

──Under the theme of "Autonomy and Tolerance," we've set the topic for this installment as "What is beauty?" Like "loneliness" and "gratitude," I apologize for the eccentric themes each time.

Tamesue: Not at all. I look forward to this interview every time. I think people are drawn to these big questions, if you will.

──Actually, this theme is something I've wanted to ask you about since before the Olympics began. Take sumo wrestling, for example. While winning and losing are important, audiences are also captivated by the wrestlers' beautiful movements, right? It's the same in track and field. Records matter, but there's also that feeling of, "What about Tamesue's beautiful running style?"

Tamesue: I'm glad to hear you say that. Speaking of beauty, Japan's first Olympic gold medalist in track and field, Mikio Oda, once said, "Correct movement is beautiful." Essentially, it's functional beauty. When people see something that makes sense, they perceive it as beautiful.

──I see.

Tamesue: And I think this connects to feminine beauty too—the sexual appeal of the opposite sex is also a form of beauty. Regardless of gender, it's that instinct to want to pass on this person's DNA. I feel like what people perceive as beautiful often contains these animalistic, instinctual elements.

──As usual, your thoughts jump around. That's fine, it's interesting.

Tamesue: These things come from that universal part within us as living beings. On top of that, I think beauty also includes elements imprinted by society. Like, "This is how you should act towards the outside world." For example, do foreigners find beauty in the movements of sumo wrestlers? In other words, I think beauty imprinted by society only functions within a limited community.

──Like formal beauty derived from order, you mean?

Tamese: Exactly. Inner universal emotions and socially ingrained emotions. I believe these two form the basis of beauty. On top of that, people also perceive beauty in things that are "out of context."

──"Things that deviate from their context"?

Tametsu: Exactly. Things that make you go, "Huh? That's how it is?"—things that transcend common sense. Easy examples would be art, or an athlete's performance, things like that.

──So that's why warlords of the Sengoku period were captivated by Sen no Rikyū's world of tea ceremony, and why we're enthralled by the performances of world-class athletes today. It's not just about scoring a goal or hitting a home run to get a point; there's "beauty" there. Speaking from your own experience, Mr. Tamesue, what kind of state is this "moment of shifting context"?

Tamesue: In an athlete's performance, I feel beauty emerges the moment the desire to show off one's abilities vanishes. It's not about performing for the audience or winning the match; it's about facing oneself completely. When desire disappears and one becomes utterly absorbed in the act itself, that's when beauty is born.

──I see. I never would have connected that feeling we had, wishing "Tamesue, do your best!", with Sen no Rikyū. There is indeed a similar kind of beauty there.

Tametsu: I think the warlords of the Sengoku period were captivated by Rikyū's world because he perfected the pure act of hospitality. It was the Warring States period. A time when your life could be taken at any moment. He brought the spirit of "ho-te-na-shi" into that world. It was vastly out of step with the context of the times. Precisely because of that, beauty emerged. There was probably a sense of liberation for their troubled hearts.

—Yet in the end, Hideyoshi ordered him to commit seppuku.

Tametsu: It was the inevitable conclusion precisely because he pursued beauty to its ultimate limit.

──I'd love to hear more about that next time. Beauty is sought after in both the political and business worlds. Things like openness and transparency. But ultimately, it's a world where money is involved. In a sense, it's the polar opposite of beauty. Yet people still seek beauty. They want to be beautiful themselves.

Tamesue: Thinking about it that way, beauty is a profound theme. (Continued in #16)

(Interviewer: Web Dentsu Inc. Editorial Department)

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From Hibi, Athlete Brains Production Team

This time, the theme was "beauty." At work, I had the opportunity to watch professional baseball players fielding practice. While I enjoy baseball, I'm a complete amateur. Even to my untrained eye, the players' movements as they fielded the balls flowed like water—it was beautiful. I believe athletes achieve beautiful form through relentless training, mastering correct movements. I suspect the same applies to ideas. A well-honed idea is beautiful. So, how do we make it beautiful? Perhaps we can find clues in the training process of athletes.

Athlete Brains Production Team Dentsu Inc. / Akinori Hibi (3CRP) · Kohei Shiraishi (Business Co-creation Bureau)

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Athlete Brains, led by Dai Tamesue.
For details on this team that applies knowledge cultivated by athletes to solve challenges in the world (businesses and society), see here.