Heartfelt! Inspiring Quotes Left by Great Figures of Japan

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.

Various great figures who built Japan have left behind numerous famous sayings.

These quotes sometimes resonate with people living in the present and can serve as guideposts when moving things forward.

In this article, we introduce inspiring quotes left by those known as great figures of Japan.

We have gathered quotes from a variety of fields, including historical figures, people who supported major corporations, athletes, and entertainers.

Among the quotes we present, you may find a hint that clears your mind.

Be sure to check them out!

Resonating with the Heart! Famous Quotes Left by Great Japanese Figures (1–10)

Trust in others, but trust yourself a hundred times more.Osamu Tezuka

I’d like to share a famous quote by manga artist Osamu Tezuka: “Trust others, but trust yourself a hundred times more.” We can’t live alone, can we? Even when moving toward our goals, there are times we need help from those around us.

By trusting others and walking alongside them, life often becomes richer and happier.

So how can we learn to trust others? The answer is to believe in yourself completely.

If you don’t trust yourself, it’s hard to trust anyone else.

And trusting others too much can mean handing yourself over to them.

Listen to your own feelings and try trusting them.

Please stay true to your own precious life.

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Nakajima Junko

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There really isn’t any shortcut. The straight, main path is the shortcut.Tamori

Tamori, a comedy entertainer who is also well known as a TV host and actor, is fond of the word “tekitō” (roughly, “easygoing” or “appropriate”), and he has many memorable quotes.

Here’s one I’d like to share.

It’s followed by the line, “The royal road down the middle is actually the shortcut.” In everyday life, we often end up choosing the easier path.

But in reality, that doesn’t always work out, and taking the easy way can lead to hardship later on.

From Tamori’s words, we learn to calmly keep moving straight ahead on the path right in front of us, no matter the situation.

He teaches us that this attitude is essential for living.

It’s a way of life well worth emulating.

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kepiko

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Unless the whole world becomes happy, individual happiness is impossible.Kenji Miyazawa

Kenji Miyazawa, a fairy-tale writer and poet best known for Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Many people may find this phrase puzzling.

You could say that the world is a collective of individuals.

If you think of it that way, you might feel that each person’s happiness is the world’s happiness, right? But what Miyazawa is trying to say is that we must not pursue personal gain at the expense of others—that we should live together, all of us.

Perhaps these words resonate all the more in today’s society, where disparities are growing.

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sasashina

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Creation is the ability to invent a new future while using the past and present as its materials.Akiko Yosano

Akiko Yosano, the poet known for the poetry collection Midaregami and the poem Thou Shalt Not Die, also advocated that women should be socially and economically independent.

Perhaps it was precisely because she was such a person that these words emerged.

How do we use our past experiences and current know-how to create the future? It’s a saying that seems to question the very way we live.

Imagination is a power everyone possesses—that’s one way to understand it.

As long as we are alive, we want to think, challenge ourselves, and continue to grow.

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sasashina

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Forge yourself with a thousand days of training; temper yourself with ten thousand days of training.Miyamoto Musashi

Miyamoto Musashi, founder of the two-sword style “Niten Ichi-ryū” strategy.

In his own work, The Book of Five Rings, he writes that he was undefeated in numerous bouts and is renowned as the strongest swordsman.

This is a saying from The Book of Five Rings that even became the origin of the word ‘tanren’ (rigorous training).

It means that to truly master something, you must continue putting in effort over many years.

It was precisely because Musashi never neglected his training and perfected his technique that he became famous as an undefeated master swordsman.

Steady, consistent effort is indeed important in anything.

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sasashina

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