Abstract

"Reinvention, Using What is at Hand— From Karate to Karaoke"

Mark Field, Hosei University (field@hosei.ac.jp)

We tend to think of an invention as something new; however, this may well be an illusion if the Biblical saying: “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) is correct. For millenniums all major “inventions” were just minor innovations of existing tools. Etymologically ‘inventory’ and ‘invention’ are both based upon the same Latin verb “invenire” with the meaning of “to come upon or to discover.” The Latin root of inventory is “inventorium” literally means “a list of what is found.” Whereas the Latin root of invention is “inventio” simply means “discovery.” This paper will explore the idea that many recent as well as historical (re)inventions were simply discoveries of how to use and apply the inventory of materials that were at hand and easily found. For example, one could argue the first wheel was just a minor reinvention of the log rollers used to move heavy stones, etc. All one really had to do was slice off a couple of narrow sections of a wide log roller and attach them to another longer narrow log roller, and voilà one has a wheel and an axle. The inventive part is really the idea and the imagination to apply what is at hand in a new innovative way. Some inventors would not even consider their creations to be “inventions” at all in the sense of being ‘something completely new’. Consequently, it should be edifying to first look at the notion of “empty or open” that is the root meaning of the pictograph character for "Kara", “空” found in both the Japanese terms "Karate" and "Karaoke" on the way to addressing the research question: What role can “empty-space” play in (re)invention whether it be a space needing to be filled, or under-utilized capacity in need of redeployment?