Traditional Japanese culture is born from the lives of the local Japanese people,whose activities and actions nurture and reflect each passing era, up to today. Now, what are we supposed to do in order to hand what we have learned to the coming generations? We should not lament over the rapid sway of the times,nor allow ourselves to remain stiff minded and trapped in the past. Rather,we should try to understand what is at the core of traditional cultureby learning from the accumulated wisdom of past masters,then face the times sincerely by setting goals for the future. Maruwakaya links the ever-expanding creativity of people who live in the 21st century,and strives to discover new forms of tradition which can only be created in this era.We wish to create a beautiful new tradition to hand to future generations,and end this statement with a quote from our great ancestor, a haiku poet, Matsuo Basho:Seek not the paths of the ancients;Seek that which the ancients sought.

Hirotoshi Maruwaka