Quest for Science, Spirit, and Skills

The 96th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Orthopedic Association will be held from May 11 to 14, 2023, at Yokohama in Japan. I decided to set the theme for this meeting as “Quest for Science, Spirit, and Skills.” We believe that the “quest” to master these elements is the basic principle of those responsible for well-balanced musculoskeletal medicine and is also essential to further developments of orthopedic surgery. The poster for the meeting incorporates Okayama Castle and an ukiyo-e painting of Miyamoto Musashi who was also famous for his nito-ryu or double-bladed swordsmanship. The idea behind using the ukiyo-e of Miyamoto Musashi on the poster is to draw an orthopaedic surgeon with “science” on one hand, “skills” on the other hand, and “spirit” in the heart. Moreover, novel perspectives and innovations may develop through working on more than two specialties. We believe that our interests to various clinical fields and science constitute the nito-ryu working style, which would accelerate the development orthopaedic science. It is important to challenge the unknown both in medicine and in life. Anyone would agree that it is fundamental to strive for new discoveries and technological developments in medicine. Sometimes we work hard because we cannot see the future, but there are times when we need to work hard even if we can anticipate the future. I think that your destiny may change depending on whether you make an effort or not. I would like young people to keep this in mind and continue to challenge the unknown. Finally, I would like to introduce the words of Shoin Yoshida in the Edo era: “Those without dreams have no success.”