"Orange Man" Healing Session movie released!
The rider who has combined snowboarding and spirituality into a life long journey
Orange Man is the nickname for Kazushi Yamauchi. Now a 40-something-year-old snowboarder born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. I met him when he was just out of college in his early 20s. He was riding a Salomon snowboard at the time and competing in halfpipe competitions A strong athlete he was good at all aspects of snowboarding, jumps, powder, etc. He soon joined the BlueBlood snowboarding wear team and we began shooting photos together quite often.
I don’t know exactly when or why, but at some point, his life took a turn toward Eastern spirituality. Wait, I do know why. Let me take credit for his life-changing shift! I lent Yama-san a book about Yoga which had been given to me by someone else. In those days books were still a thing that people read and shared with others! It was in English and had illustrations of the Yoga poses. I colored many of the pictures with coloring pencils. He and many of our tight-knit crew started practicing Yoga after I gave him the book. Being the athlete that he was, he took it to the highest level possible. I think in some way that led him to look for even more or go even deeper into what Yoga offers.
At some point, he took a trip to India, which led to another trip the next year and so on. He found himself in Saibaba`s camp on one trip and I met him in Tokyo right after he returned. He told us an amazing story about how on the final day of the camp he was able to get in one of the front rows close to the legendary Saibaba. Toward the end of the meditation session, he was able to make a momentary eye contact with Saibaba and at that moment a dark cloud of smoke came out of Yama’s chest and hung in the air. He felt that at that moment all the pent-up evil and darkness in his body had been removed.
After those experiences, there was a period when Yama would ride with a Saibaba-style wig on. You can see some scenes of that in my Car Danchi series. After Saibaba passed away Yama continued to return to India and explore and learn more about the variety of religions and philosophies in Northern India, and Southern India, at some point, I lost track of where he was going and what he was doing.
When asked a question about India or Yoga he would always have a long answer about the history or the various Deities or God etc. At one point I saw him carrying around a large and thick book in Japanese about the religions of India. He was deep down the rabbit hole.
During all this, he slowly and smoothly made the transition from a freestyle snowboarder to a masterful snow surfer. Eventually, he was able to find a position in the Gentem stick snow surfing family where he became known for riding the longest board in the brand line-up, the” Impossible”.
It was also around this time that he started to wear nothing but Orange clothing. He even painted the top of his Impossible board orange color. This came from the Indian religious concept that the color orange removes selfishness and other unwanted human emotions and traits. Hence the Buddist monks wearing all orange robes.
In 2016 Yama and long-time rider and friend Hayato Doi decided to take a trip to India and attempt to snowboard there in the Himalayas. They invited me, but I was unable to join them on the trip. A cameraman from the Gentem brand joined the trip to take photos, and I helped to supply some simple GoPro cameras and memory cards and advice on how to capture the trip on video by themselves. The footage they returned with eventually became the first “Orange Trip” movie “Omichibiki” Which translates to “Where the road leads”.
There is very little snowboarding in that movie, it is just a travel & adventure through India movie with a few moments on the snow at the end. I found it fascinating to watch and fun to edit. It was not a massive seller here in Japan, but it is worth a look This was also before all the Youtuber travel Vlogs exploded onto the world so it was a bit ahead of its time.
Five years after that life continues on. Yama is still wearing Orange, he returned to India again this year for another spiritual journey and he keeps asking me to join him on one of these trips.
Last winter I noticed that he was carrying around an Insta 360 camera and filming himself while riding. He was posting some clips to social media, both riding shots and even clips of himself dancing and singing Indian songs while in the mountains!
He said he wanted to make another Orange Trip movie, so I offered to help edit something if he could provide all the footage and data. Over the summer and autumn, it slowly came together. Footage from Orange Mans's latest pilgrimage to India combined with his amazing solo riding scenes in the mountains of Hokkaido, Alaska, and more.
I selected only the riding clips that show Yama riding alone in the mountains. Surrounded by snow, trees, and sky. No other humanity appears in the video scenes when on the snow. I combined that with some scenes of Yama on his pilgrimage in India, meditating, and traveling through the culture there. On top of this, I added ambient music. The result is something that I have not seen before in a snowboard movie. I am not quite sure how to describe it, maybe we have created a new sub-genre within the snowboard movie scene.
My hope is that watching this movie will inspire those who watch it to do something similar to what Yama has done. Take a more spiritual approach to snowboarding/snow surfing. Be willing to step outside alone and simply enjoy the moment and the present situation. Allow nature to guide you to the perfect spot at the perfect moment. Being with Yama in the mountains is such a pleasure. He never complains about anything and always seems to bring a sense of joy and content to every situation. While watching and editing the footage I was able to get into a very similar zone and I hope when watching you will also be able to experience this and then follow a similar path yourself.
Yama’s devotion to his life path has inspired me and I am always in admiration of his perseverance. Being a professional snow surfer is not the easiest path toward a “successful” life. It is fun and riding on snow feels good, but making a living at it is very difficult and Yama’s willingness to continue down the path unwavering is an inspiration to all.
So hopefully I have piqued your interest and you want to see the movie. You can rent or purchase the movie through the Vimeo On Demand system right now. I will add the link here
You can also support Yama directly by making a purchase through his Orange shop. He sells a variety of fun and original goods online.
