The Spirit of Takumi | National Geographic

[Music] While I was in Hiroshima, Japan, I met craftsmen who embodied the Japanese tradition of takumi. Takumi means, in Japanese, a master craftsman, but it is so much more than that. It's not just a job; it's a passion; it's a total dedication to a single skill. That's an inspiring thing to witness.

At Mazda, it takes years to hone the skills to become a takumi. At National Geographic, to become a photographer like a takumi takes years and years of dedication and honing your craft to be a great visual storyteller. It's about putting all your creative energy into your work and that energy being transferred to and felt by whomever experiences that work.

Hi, we're looking for you to capture the effort, the energy. All right, let's do this! We want to see the spirit of the artist in these photos. I think there's no better way to challenge our photographers than to have them capture other people who are mastering their own craft, no matter what it is.

Yeah, that's really cool, and I just can't wait to see what these young photographers have in them.