Concepts
Minimalism
Japanese minimalism is a concept that focuses on keeping life simple, clean, and uncluttered by living with just the essentials. It’s inspired by the aesthetic of Japan’s traditional Zen Buddhism and can be seen in many different facets of everyday life, from their architecture to fashion choices.
There are observers who describe the emergence of minimalism as a response to the brashness and chaos of urban life. In Japan, for example, minimalist architecture began to gain traction in the 1980s when its cities experienced rapid expansion and booming population. The design was considered an antidote to the "overpowering presence of traffic, advertising, jumbled building scales, and imposing roadways."
The concept of minimalist architecture is to strip everything down to its essential quality and achieve simplicity.
Hojōjutsu
Hojōjutsu (捕縄術, lit. "Restraining Rope Technique") or Torinawajutsu (捕縄術, lit. "Restraining Rope Technique") or just Nawajutsu (縄術, lit. "Rope Technique"), is the traditional Japanese martial art of restraining a person using cord or rope (called Nawa (縄, lit. "Rope") in Japanese), as a precursor to modern-day handcuffs. Encompassing many different materials, techniques and methods from many different schools, Hojōjutsu is a quintessentially Japanese art that is a unique product of Japanese history and culture.
As a martial arts practice, Hojōjutsu is seldom if ever taught on its own but as part of a curriculum under the aegis of the body of study encompassed by a larger school of bugei or budō, often as an advanced study in jujutsu. Regardless of the source, Hojōjutsu techniques and methods are seldom demonstrated outside Japan.
Zen
Japanese Zen refers to the Japanese forms of Zen Buddhism, an originally Chinese Mahāyāna school of Buddhism that strongly emphasizes dhyāna, the meditative training of awareness and equanimity. This practice, according to Zen proponents, gives insight into one's true nature, or the emptiness of inherent existence, which opens the way to a liberated way of living.
Zen emphasizes zazen, meditation c.q. dhyana in a sitting position. In Soto, the emphasis is on shikantaza, 'just sitting', while Rinzai also uses koans to train the mind. In alternation with zazen, there is walking meditation, kinhin, in which one walks with full attention.
To facilitate insight, a Zen teacher can assign a kōan. This is a short anecdote, which seems irrational, but contains subtle references to the Buddhist teachings.