A card game that illuminates the "space" - Why "wood education x art" is gaining popularity
Updated by Kazuhiro Aoki on November 12, 2025, 8:15 PM JST
Kazuhiro AOKI
Representative Director, WSense Corporation / DELTA SENSE Production Committee
Representative Director, WSense Corporation / DELTA SENSE Production Committee Born in Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture. From a family background of flower arrangement, tea ceremony, and Noh theater, he has been exposed to Japanese culture from an early age. His interest in wood began when he witnessed a shrine carpenter "sharpening a plane" and became aware of the depth of the craft. Currently, based on the knowledge he gained as a Shinto priest, he is promoting initiatives that lead to the public interest. He is a member of the Tokyo Junior Chamber of Commerce, holds a graduate degree and an MBA (Master of Business Administration), and has been a Boy Scout and a soccer player since he was 4 years old.DELTA SENSE Official HP WSense Corporation
Why do human rhythms become stagnant, while nature keeps a rhythm that never stagnates? We believe that we are now witnessing a completely new social issue: the stagnation of species. We are therefore beginning an attempt to restore that rhythm through a card game called DELTA SENSE. In fact, the development concept of DELTA SENSE incorporates “three world firsts. The first is that the more you use DELTA SENSE, the more it increases in value.The world's first wooden card gameaspect of "the world's first card game". And this time, I would like to focus on the second aspect - "the world's first card game to invent a coined word".
What is a coined word anyway? Why has humankind needed a new word for each era? In conclusion, it is because making history is nothing more than the act of giving a new name to the visible world. In other words, it is the power to shed light on the unseen, and to fix in words experiences that have no form yet. --DELTA SENSE is designed as a tool to reproduce this power.
We live in an age in which the boundaries between us and each other are becoming infinitely transparent. When the boundaries become transparent, in exchange for convenience, responsibilities become blurred, and relationships become less and less relevant. Even when we meet people, we do not interact with them deeply. With the digitalization of the early 21st century, the separation of mind and body has begun, and we may lose not only our sense of touch but also our sense of hearing.
What is needed, then, is a fusion of learning that begins with touch (Mokuiku) and creation that gives meaning to the unseen (Art). Mokuiku calms attention and returns the tempo of thought to the body. Art translates undefined phenomena into words and images. In other words, DELTA SENSE is necessary to re-create the connection between people and the world once again through the scent, touch, pattern, and celebration of wood in an age when boundaries have become transparent.
The wood does not speak, but the texture, aroma, and weight “physicalize” the conversation. The smell that rises from the box when you open it, the smoothness of the rounded corners, and the slight weight felt in the palm - all of these things create a time for "rethinking," slowing the speed of speech by half a step, and bringing the listening posture half a step closer.
Conventional wood education programs mainly focus on the act of making, such as building blocks and crafts, but DELTA SENSE adds “observation and association” to the mix. The symbols and words of congratulation depicted on the cards and the texture of the wood elicited the perspectives of each participant. Different perspectives generate different opinions. When opinions are nurtured, people with similar values naturally resonate with each other. This then invites people to leave the discussion of winning or losing and enter a dialogue that searches for a confluence. Parents and children move from “could have or couldn't” to "how did it look?" to "How did it look? Colleagues move from "right/wrong" to "where do we go next?" to "Where do we go next?
I want to value how much I can bring out the ”inner self” of the other person, what he or she feels and thinks. I think this is one of the wonderful things about Mokuiku.
Simply put, art is the activity of making the invisible visible.
For example, Rembrandt, a 17th century Dutch painter, is known for his skillful use of light and shadow and his expression that delves deeply into the inner life of a person, and his works are still loved by art lovers around the world today as “magicians of light and shadow. The Impressionists of later generations sought to capture the changing nature of light itself and to depict the ”impression" that light makes through bright colors and divided brushstrokes. For example, Claude Monet's "Impression, Sunrise," which gave rise to the name "Impressionism," painted the same subject over and over again, giving the "moment" of light a new name. Renoir, another Impressionist, left the famous painting "Moulin de la Galette," which expresses the air and joy that resides in the human skin.
To depict “light that can be felt” rather than light that is already there. By expressing a scene that is not yet common knowledge, people can use the work as a clue to reexamine the world. The same is true of the “coined words” handled by DELTA SENSE. Through the combination of cards and dialogue, the participants name the “as yet unnamed phenomenon” in their own context. When a name is given to a phenomenon that has no outline, a dialogue is born. The dialogue refines the coined word, and the subsequent action changes the common sense of the world.
In other words, a single coined word is the smallest work of art and at the same time an opportunity to envision the future.
So why is the "world's first card game to invent a coined word" viable? Actually, starting in October.trial meetingMost of the participants said, "Somehow, I was able to express thoughts that I had not been able to put into words. or "I was surprised to see thoughts that I had not expected to see expressed! I was surprised to see the thoughts and feelings that I had not expected to see,Press ReleaseThe advertising value of the "MYSTAR" has now exceeded 11 million yen. Some of the executives we met with said, "I never thought my true feelings and memories from the past would come out of my mouth when I first met them." I never thought that my true feelings and memories of the past would come out of my mouth at the first meeting.
The secret, simply put, is that DELTA SENSE represents the three-dimensional world we see in the smallest possible unit. I believe that the evolution of cognition from dualism to triadism will contribute to the evolution of mankind. To capture the space between, to illuminate the space between. The fact that it is designed to do so naturally can be said to be its greatness.
Such is the DELTA SENSE,Three types of cards: Space (S), Phenomenon (P), and Reality (R).It is composed of
<Space card (S)
The overall picture and framework of the world. Trends for the current year are described based on findings from industry newspapers, quarterly reports, and other sources, so that the "big picture" of the market and society (where it is headed) can be shared quickly.
＜Phenomenon card (P)
Things are shaking out. Since social issues are structured, it helps to calmly observe the "real things that are happening now" and generate hypotheses from the issues.
<Fact card (R)
Unwavering resources and qualities. Organized by the four “goods” that make up the world (commercial goods, cultural goods, natural goods, and human goods), it accelerates the decision-making process for resource allocation.
In addition, each card has ”three symbols” inspired by the ritual prayer. The symbols evoke intuition, and the stories evoke empathy. When the tactile sensation of the wood material is combined with the symbols, the discussion naturally flows from abstraction to substance, from ideas to action.
What we see from the perspective of "wood education × art" is a cyclical model of naming, resonance, implementation, and public benefit.
Because there is darkness, light has meaning. When light is named, it turns into words, and people use words to foster dialogue; the coined words that are created in DELTA SENSE can eventually become a guidepost for the future from the perspective of the people involved. This is because the "ma awai" that has gained a name is spoken, the spoken concept calls for friends, and when friends gather, verification begins. Whenever we touch a tree, read a symbol, or exchange stories, the world is renamed once again. Each step of this process thickens the cycle that leads from the forest to the region to the people, and quietly boosts the total amount of public benefit.
To make history is to give the world a new name. We entrusted DELTA SENSE with this power. It will surely illuminate the “light that has no name yet” within you. If you are interested in DELTA SENSE, please contact us. (Kazuhiro Aoki, President, WSense Corporation / DELTA SENSE Production Committee)
