Japanese DOU is the way of life that comes close to reaching the essence of existence in pursuit of one’s own field.

The ultimate goal of Japanese martial art such as judo, kyudo, kendo, karatedo and iaido is not only to acquire the techniques, but also to constantly train the body and spirit in building character.

The ultimate purpose of Japanese traditional performing/fine arts such as shodo, nihon-buyo, sado and noh is not simply to acquire the forms, actions, and manners of these artistic skills, but also to bring devotion to the ceaseless pursuit of perfect beauty.

In our content, we focused on Japanese traditional martial arts and performing/fine arts to help pass along these intangible cultural assets to new generations in a “tangible” manner.

We selected 9 representative Japanese martial arts and traditional performing/fine arts, then tried to visualize the performance of masters in a database of 4D Views.

The content includes 4D Views of 9 DOH masters performing Japanese martial arts (such as judo, kyudo, kendo, karatedo and iaido) and traditional performing/fine arts (such as shodo, nihon-buyo, sado and noh) that can be interactively viewed from any angle via WEB GL.

Various manners (shosa), forms (kata) and techniques (waza) for each art can be viewed in five 4D View movies. Site visitors can also read masters’ commentaries on the movements or watch them describe their history, origin and interesting points in super high resolution movies.

We want to help pass along these intangible cultural assets to new generations in a “tangible” manner. Anyone can easily access and explore the content on PCs, smartphones and other digital devices.

Over 600 articles about the content were published in 60 countries within a month of its launch. It received over 25 million views, 50,000 shares and 55 million PR impressions. The number of foreign visitors to Japan also increased 18% year-on-year. This work won One Show 2018 Interactive Bronze.

Our content seamlessly connects the beautiful manners (shosa), forms (kata) and techniques (waza) of masters who train in DOU as in a dance and transitions between photographed images and digital representations.

Through dynamic camera work impossible in the real world, visitors can view the techniques of masters from angles never witnessed before.

Also by clicking the HIGH / LOW button on upper left on the page, visitors can choose high resolution movement, or low resolution movement.

According to a survey of European and American travelers, 80% choose not to travel to Japan because they lack information about what they can do in Japan. However, 80% who learn about Japanese cultural activities become more interested in visiting Japan.

To raise travelers’ interest in visiting Japan, we focused on visually presenting the concept of DOU, a unique intangible cultural heritage that visitors can experience in Japan.

The content is interactive, which encourages more user involvement than passively viewed content, and is compatible with PCs, smartphones and other mobile devices.

In Japan, the number of citizens at least 65 years old was 12% in 1970 and is estimated to reach over 40% in 2060. The population under 14 years old is expected to decline from 18% to 10% by that time.

Many developed nations are dealing with aging population issues, but Japan is aging at a faster rate and its percentage of youths is declining every year due to falling birth rates.

The future of Japan’s intangible cultural heritage is at risk and we must take socially responsible action to ensure Japan’s cultural assets are passed on to future generations.