The huge hit "ドラゴン桜And 'Crown of Sand", and the currently popular series "アルキメデスの大戦" author Norifusa Mita. He has been practicing kendo from elementary school through to university. We interviewed him about how to increase the number of people who continue practicing kendo, and about turning kendo into a business. First part What Norifusa Mita, author of "Dragon Zakura" and "Crown of Sand," gained from kendo

Profile

Norifusa Mita After graduating from the School of Politics and Economics at Meiji University, he joined Seibu Department Store. He took over the family clothing store together with his brother. While struggling with financial difficulties due to poor business performance and large debts, he saw an advertisement for a new talent award in a manga magazine, applied for it and won in order to win the prize money.Cross-country''ドラゴン桜''マネーの拳''Crown of Sand" and many other hits.Throw away your individuality! Don't be stereotyped!''Take the top spot without breaking a sweat!He also writes business books such as "The Great Passage" and "The Great Passage." He writes articles on the theme of "investment" for "Morning" and "Weekly D Morning."インベスターZ" is also being serialized (concluded in June 2017). Currently, "アルキメデスの大戦' is currently being serialized.

To increase the number of kendo players

--It is said that many people quit kendo. What do you think can be done to increase the number of people who continue? I think that people who continue with a sport, not just kendo, are people who really love it. As humans, we develop new interests and our living environments change throughout our lives. People who somehow manage to do kendo despite all that are people who really love it. From my perspective, that makes them a bit pathologically in love with it (laughs). But at the same time, I think that's a very noble thing. People who truly love kendo make up about 10% of the total competitive population.Isn't it the case that we should try to do something about the remaining 90%?It's impossible to do thisI think so.The idea of ​​continuing to love one thing forever is an illusion.Or rather... I think it's basically impossible.How to increase the peripheral area of ​​"10%"What should we do to achieve this? First,Little informationThat's right. After all, without friends you can't experience the atmosphere of kendo and you can't feel fulfilled.I do kendo here!"I think it's important to spread information like, "There is this kind of dojo owner, how many children there are, etc. Information like that. If you create a channel and access it, you can find people in your vicinity who are doing kendo. Also, "This is not limited to kendo.It's also important to have this awareness. Even if you work hard with a sense of crisis, it may not be rewarded. If you make efforts that are not rewarded, you will feel frustrated and will no longer be able to have bright dreams for the future. Therefore, in order to avoid being too damaged, it is important to think, "It's not just kendo, it's the same for baseball and rugby." I think it's good to approach it with that kind of attitude. - I'm glad I asked before I started working on it (laughs). I understand very well the desire to do something.A difficult endeavor in any sportLet's start from that premise and think about what we can do from there. It's better to tackle the issues one by one and get results.

About making Kendo your job

- There is a tendency to think that it is wrong to make money from kendo. What do you think about making money from kendo? Among those who compete in the All Japan Championships, there are some who do almost nothing but kendo, so kendo is actually their job. I think it would be good if this was communicated more openly to the general public. These teachers are professional kendo practitioners, and that they make a living from kendo. No one would watch the NHK broadcast of the All Japan Championships unless they really love it. The general public isn't interested. But at a glance, I think they might have the impression that they're police officers. So I think it would be better to spread the word that there are actually "kendo practitioners" and "martial artists" who make a living solely from kendo. Strictly speaking, they are paid as police officers, but... it would establish the awareness that "kendo practitioners" and "martial artists" exist in Japan. Some people might dislike the term "professional," butPromoting "Kendo practitioners" and "Budo practitioners" as a professionI think this will lower the barrier to becoming a professional. -I imagine that there is some practical work involved, but special trainees for the police, for example, specialize in kendo. OrCreating content such as producing kendo tournamentsHow about that? I think that by getting a company to sponsor a tournament to decide the best in Japan, we can provide Kendo to the world as content in a clean way.The footage from the All Japan Championships was processed with animation to create an animated look for the moment of a valid strike.It would be interesting to do that. We could use animation technology to process the images and distribute them online, to the world. - It seems like you can reach out to people who have never been interested in kendo before. I think the biggest weakness of kendo is that you don't know when a point has been scored. The average person doesn't know. By processing the image, you can make it seem "interesting" and "cool."Easy to understand presentationBy doing that, we should be able to attract a different demographic of users than before. - The perspective of disseminating information may not be very prevalent in the kendo world. I wonder if there are people who are worried that something will be lost if information is shared. They say that the solemn atmosphere will be lost, or that dignity will be lost... I think it would be good to keep that, but add a bit more entertainment value.If even 10 people out of 100 million are interested, it will be a success.I think so. Whether or not you score a point is a pleasure that only those with experience in kendo can feel. Ordinary people are left behind. Even if you don't have experience in kendo, you'll feel things like "Wow," "It's so fast," "I didn't really understand, but it hit me," etc. For humans,The pleasure of seeking "mysterious things"I think it would be interesting to further pursue entertainment value and satisfy the desires of people who are drawn to the mysterious. ——- Interview: Uejima Go, Kudo Yusuke Photography: Kobayashi Rina Text: Sato Mariko ——- To be continued in the second part.

[Bonus] Complete set of "Investor Z" autographed by hand

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