an article written in 1993 by Noguchi Hiroyuki¹son of Seitai founder Noguchi Haruchika. Translated from the Japanese by the Itsuo Tsuda School.

In the past, a unique approach to body awareness and movement underpinned traditional Japanese culture. This tradition was linked to a way of moving that transcended the boundaries of disciplines, styles and schools, and was the norm for physical exercise.²Marcel Mauss pointed out that the body is an expression of ourselves, but above all of a cultural conception, of social organisation and the systems of representation of the world. Education plays a key role in the transmission of bodily techniques that shape our habitus – our way of being, general appearance, demeanour, state of mind. M. Mauss, « Les Techniques du corps » [‘Techniques of the Body’], Journal de Psychologie, vol. xxxii, no. 3–4, 15 March–15 April 1936..

Although there used to be no organised system, our predecessors benefited from this way of moving quite naturally and deepened their own movements. I call this traditional approach to the body Dōhō³dōhō 動法 : lit. method of movement. It is a way of experiencing the body that is disappearing, while it is an intangible heritage developed by our ancestors. I seek to rediscover this way of moving and its principles of internal body awareness from the perspective of the Seitai⁴Seitai was developed by Noguchi Haruchika (1911-1976). This ‘method’ includes the practice of Katsugen undo (Regenerative Movement) spread in Europe by Itsuo Tsuda in the 1970s. Seitai is based on the postulate that the body has a natural ability to rebalance itself in order to ensure its proper functioning. The practice aims to restore this sensitivity and the body’s self-regulating abilities. method.

1. Dōhō and Japanese culture

Japanese culture is a flower that has blossomed on the rich soil of dōhō. But if the soil deteriorates, the flowers will have no choice but to wither. Chadō – the art of tea –, nō theatre and hana – the art of flowers –, are extraordinary art forms created by great masters. However, the beauty of a tea ceremony does not lie in its form, but in the ground that underlies it, that is, in the subtle movements between the host and the guest.

Whatever the form, even if technically excellent, if there is no active movement of the body underlying it, it has no life.

The refinement of ichigo ichie⁵ichigo ichie 一期一会: lit. one life, one encounter, or each experience is unique can only be felt in the present moment, by being kan-nō dōkō⁶kan-nō dōkō 感応道交 (Buddhist expression): mutual communication between the feelings of Buddha and human beings. In a broader sense, it refers to understanding between people who are close but have a difference in position, such as between a master and a disciple., that is, in a mutual communication that can only occur when the way of moving the body involves a strong concentration of ki from both host and guest, who exchange and merge together.

The way a tea master moves is not always specific to tea ceremony. There is no doubt that the art of tea masters is imbued in each of their movements, their way of walking hokō, sitting posture zahō, approaching nijiri⁷躙り: the crawling position, approaching slowly, and walking on knees shikkō are common to Shintoism, nō theatre and martial arts.

Similarly, although the gesture of holding a bowl with one hand is different from the gesture of clapping hands and joining them in prayer, in Dōhō, the effect on the body is similar.

Dōhō permeates all the arts

In the muddy rice fields, peasants developed a way of moving in which they stretched their toes outwards to be flexible and stable at the koshi⁸koshi 腰: area of the hips, pelvis and lower spine. The Yagyū school of swordsmanship developed the same way of moving and sitting in seiza in order for one to be able to sense a presence behind them. One could even say that the way of handling chopsticks for kaiseki⁹kaiseki 懐石: the simple meal that the host of the tea ceremony (chanoyu) serves to his guests before the ceremony is the same as the movements of Japanese swordsmanship.

In nō recitation, the sensation of sound vibration in the hara¹⁰hara 腹: area below the navel, centre of the body in Japanese and Chinese traditions (tanden 丹田) is found in Shintoism and in the Shugen¹¹Shugendō 修験道: an ancient Japanese spiritual tradition in which the relationship between humans and nature is paramount. It involves asceticism, mountain life and teachings from animism, Shintoism and Taoism. method of kiai. In any case, a certain arching of the koshi is absolutely needed. It can also be found in the nō dance, probably because nō actors originally used to sing while dancing.

This is how our ancestors created their own unique forms of agriculture, rituals, combat, ornamentation and elegance, in accordance with the principles of Dōhō, which are common to the Japanese people. Similarly, the foreign cultures imported into Japan were integrated thanks to Dōhō.

A good example is the forward bend of the koshi, which was not as emphasised on the continent, but which has become an integral part of Japanese Zazen.

With this arching of the koshi, during the practice of Zazen, when the hands are joined, the fingers are brought together while leaving a space between the thumbs as thin as a sheet of paper. This promotes a subtle movement, Dōhō.

Arching the koshi is a movement that the Japanese particularly appreciated and that is found in the trace of the calligrapher or the seiza, the sitting posture, as well as among ordinary people sitting around a traditional Japanese table.

If we look closely, we can see different types of arching of the koshi.

In the case of Nō, one sits with the sensation of pulling the sacral vertebrae upwards, while in the case of Zen, the sensation is that the sacral vertebrae push towards the hara, causing it to descend. It is a little as though the hara were being pulled downwards.

Modern sport is no exception in Japan, even in baseball. Here too, we find different ways of arching the koshi.

There is sonkyo – the catcher’s crouching position –, shizumi – the infielder’s position – and the batter’s position. The batter appears to be holding a Japanese sword symbolising the arch of the koshi.

These three positions correspond to the three specific ways of arching the koshi: the priest’s position, the nō style position, and the Zen style position.

Dōhō is like a “blood bond” for the Japanese, a “DNA” that, though partially disintegrated, has been passed down to the present day. This is proof that we are a people who, if we unleash our full potential, will naturally be in harmony with the principles of Dōhō.

A pulley called nanban was introduced to Japan, and the image of a worker using this pulley is said to have given rise to the word nanba, which could be one of the original characteristics of the Japanese way of moving.Nanba walking is when, while the right leg is forward, the right shoulder and the upper body are also forward.

In ancient martial arts, the standing posture so¹²so ソ: the basic standing position in the school Kashima Shin Ryū (鹿島神流) and the sideways posture shumoku are recognised as typical of nanba. From Awa Odori¹³odori踊り: folk dance Festival to nō dances, and even more so in the positions of peasants planting rice, all these movements come from nanba.

During the morning assembly at primary school, our generation had to do a walking exercise called Kōshin¹⁴kōshin 行進: walking in step. The modernisation policy of the Meiji era (after 1868) consisted of replacing traditional Japanese forms in all aspects. This also affected physical education through the introduction of Western gymnastics.. At the time, we were not yet accustomed to marching in step in the Western style, swinging our arms alternately in front and behind, so many students found themselves clumsy after two or three steps and were immediately labelled as having poor motor skills. It is strange, because the Japanese were mistreated simply because they moved in the traditional style.

Try it with today’s schoolchildren and you will see that nanba walking has completely disappeared. If we think about it, Japanese physical education in schools since the Meiji Restoration has attempted to eradicate the tradition of Dōhō represented by nanba walking. Today, a hundred years later, this national policy has triumphed, but it has also led to the disappearance of traditional techniques.

Once again, if the soil of Dōhō is lost, the flower can only perish, no matter how much protection it receives. However, even today, when many Japanese people have naturally adopted the Western way of walking, if you gather ten Japanese people and ask them to walk with long, energetic strides and large arm movements, as if they were trampling the earth, at least seven of them will do the nanba.

Nevertheless, they must be taught to walk with their feet flat rather than dropping their weight alternately on one foot then on the other. Today, people walk on their toes. If you do this, it will never be nanba walking. It can be said that nanba is clearly linked to the sensation of the arch of the foot and is closely related to the traditional gait of sliding feet (摺り足 suri-ashi).

To understand the characteristics of a country’s culture, it is useful to examine the relationship between objects and people. The production of objects is closely linked to the appearance of a culture. Traditional Japanese craftsman Akioka Yoshio identified that one of the qualities of Japanese culture is that objects have flexible and versatile uses. Chopsticks, for example, are a versatile tool, unlike Western forks and knives, which are single-purpose. The same chopsticks are used to pick up beans, grab The same chopsticks are used to pick up beans, grab tofu, eat rice porridge and cut potatoes. However, using a single object in such a versatile way means that the use of the Dōhō method is as subtle as possible.

Kenjutsuka Kono Yoshinori uses the example of the nihontō (Japanese sword) to illustrate the numerous uses of a single instrument. The nihontō is both a sabre and a sword, unlike the continental differentiation, where the sabre is a single-purpose instrument for cutting. However, this has led to functional ambiguity in that the nihontō is inferior to the sword for cutting and not as good as a sword for stabbing. Kono sensei states: ‘That is why we do not cut with the sword, but with the koshi. Kenjutsu (the art of the Japanese sword) is above all a taijutsu; an art of the body.’

Not only Japanese swords, but also the tools produced by Japanese masters, are unfinished objects. However, this does not mean, of course, that the skills of the craftsmen are immature. On the contrary, they remain unfinished in order to harmonise the function of the tool and the motor skills of its user. It is like the empty spaces in a Chinese ink painting. For Japanese craftsmen, a tool is only complete when it is connected to a person.

Furthermore, Japanese utensils are already designed to promote the user’s Dōhō. For example, the handle of a Japanese teapot must be too short to be grasped. Of course, this is not because our ancestors had small hands. First of all, the handle of a teapot is not meant to be grasped. It should be held between the thumb and index finger in a hook shape. This kata requires a strong and deep auricular presence in order to support the weight of the hot water in the teapot.

The use of the auricular is the basis of the skill of Dōhō. The auricular is the finger most closely connected to the koshi via the wrist. Therefore, if you hold the kyūsu (Japanese teapot) in this way, the weight of the hot water is naturally supported by the koshi. Thus, the shape of the kyūsu is designed to promote holding by the koshi.

This example clearly shows that Dōhō was present in every detail of daily life. There was a time when the katas formed by Dōhō actually functioned in everyday life. That time is not so distant.

The character 躾 (shitsuke: discipline) is not a Chinese character. It is a Japanese character written as 身ヲ美シウスル (lit. body that beautifies). This is where the vision of education held by the ancients lies. In simple terms, Japanese education was an education of the body. The emphasis was on “learning through the body” rather than memorisation with the head, and on respecting “the sensation of the body” rather than intellectual understanding.

Learning was not training the mind, but practising the body. Therefore, the first principle of education was discipline of the body, which meant the transmission of the principles and katas of Dōhō. Children learned to hold the bowl and chopsticks at the appropriate time. The bowl is held with the thumb of the left hand curved backwards. This was not only to avoid touching the rim for hygiene reasons. In fact, if you hold the bowl with the thumb joint arched, you can sit with the koshi also arched towards the belly. Whereas if you bend the joint, you immediately lose the hara, and the koshi slumps. ‘Losing the koshi’ means showing cowardice. On the contrary, if you have a stable koshi and hara, you will have confidence in yourself and you will be determined. The ancients saw a person’s character in their koshi and hara.

There are sensations and realisations that can never manifest themselves if the groundwork is not laid, that is, if the body is not “in order”. The ancients were well aware of this, which is why they developed these superior methods, Dōhō, to go further and discover a kokoro¹⁵kokoro 心: refers to the mind, heart or inner nature (wisdom, aspiration, attention, sincerity, sensitivity) that had not yet been discovered.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is the basis of the culture of shin-shin-ichi-nyo 心身一如, unity of body and mind. The arts of Dōhō were never the exclusive property of craftsmen, dancers or martial artists. The Japanese used kata to “be” in joy, anger, sorrow, reflection, appreciation and determination.

In addition, the Japanese distrusted the spirit stemming from a kata emptied of its meaning, but appreciated the spirit of a broken kata giving birth to a new form in a delicate balance. The aesthetic notions of iki¹⁶iki 粋: chic, fresh, direct, original. Can refer to attitude, behaviour, appearance, aesthetics. and sha-re¹⁷sha-re 洒落: fashionable, funny, witty, pleasant are good examples of this.

In the past, the spirit was very close to the body. The spirit is made up of words/sounds. The word is the voice. The voice emanates from the body. As we have already mentioned, vocalisation was done using the Dōhō method. Words were originally ideograms and calligraphy. Writing was done using the Dōhō method. This is how the intelligence of the ancients shone through the Dōhō method.