Thursday, 4 July 2013

Japanese in Karate 6 "Seiza"

(6)ללמוד מילים ביפנית שמשתמשים באימון קראטה

正座 Seiza

The first kanji   "sei" is the same kanji as "shou" of  正面"shomen" and it means  'proper, correct'    The second kanji "za" means 'sitting'. So "Seiza" means  'proper sitting'

"Seiza" is a formal way of sitting on the floor in Japan. It was originally for showing the respect to Buddha and Shinto Gods and then also to the Shogun(a head of samurai). Now it's more common to sit on the chairs in Japan too but "seiza" remains as a proper etiquette in Japanese society.
How to do "seiza" differs a little among martial arts and according to occasions. Here is the regular way: First kneel down onto the floor(in karate, left knee first). Make sure the big toes are touching each other on their side(big toes can overlap too). Lower your buttocks on the heels. Straighten your back so that it is directly above the heels. It is important to keep your back straight and draw your chin a little bit. In karate, they usually have a fist or two's width between their knees. In Kyokushin, they place their fists on the upper thighs .

In martial arts, "seiza" is one of the rules of courtesy.  "Seiza"  shows respects toward other people and  is also a self discipline.  When you do "seiza" in proper posture,  you do feel that your mind calms down(as long as you don't feel pain^^). By keeping the posture for a long time, you can strengthen the abdominal and  back muscles. They say that doing "seiza" makes your body more flexible too.  So it's worth getting used to it!!

Well, it's not so difficult for Japanese people to do "seiza" since they (I mean we) have short legs…  And we grew up on "tatami" mattresses and it is common to do "seiza" in our regular life.

But it's also painful for Japanese people to do "seiza" for a long time. So believe it or not, "seiza" is one of the punishments at school in Japan. I remember I had to do "seiza" once on the hard floor of the school corridor because I ate a snack at school….^^

I will write about "mokuso" next time
Osu










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