Ataru - Sar Suk Hara 2Where does the concept of the Hara come from?The Japanese word “hara” is variously translated as: : abdomen, bowel, belly, gut, mind or courage. It is a very important concept in both Chinese and Japanese culture – even in their religions. Below I offer a a playful linguistic romp to introduce some of the uses of “hara” in Japanese culture:
In Japanese it can be read as either “hara” or “fuku”. In Mandarin Chinese it is read as: fů (4th tone–falling). Japanese is tough that way; each character may have multiple readings — 3 or 4 readings per character is not uncommon. The Chinese language, on the other hand, is much easier– each character usually has only one reading.
Like many Chinese characters (the source of Japanese writing), “hara” is composed of several parts: On the left side of the character is the radical for “meat”. And for this character, the right side of the character only gives it the sound “fuku” and has no meaning related to the word.
Since the hara contains the vitality of an individual, a famous way to commit suicide is to “cut the hara” or “Hara-Kiri” (abdomen-cut). When Americans pronounce “HaraKiri” they ironically slaughter its pronunciation by saying “HariKari” (Hairy-Carry).
The characters for HaraKiri are 腹切りbut interestingly, if you change the order of the words, you get a more classic samurai word for this type of suicide : 切腹 “Seppuku”. This is one of the many difficult traits of Japanese — the pronunciation for a character depends on context.
Apparently, not only is the cutting open of one’s hara very painful, but one then dies slowly and painfully. Thus, to save “face”, a samurai committing harakiri will have a friend stand behind him so that once he has slit his belly open and sealed his fate, the friend would quickly chop off his head to save him a groveling and groaning death.
With the hara being the center of vitality, it is from the hara that anger arises. A common expression for “getting angry” is “Hara ga tatsu” or (“stomach stands/arises”). As the stomach stands, heat rises to the head! A very visceral description of anger.
So those were two unhealthy uses of the hara, let me end with two healthy tips on how to use your hara.
8/10 HaraDon’t eat until your stuffed! Or, as they say in Japan, “腹の八分” (Hara no hachibun) which means “[only fill your] hara 80%”. In the picture to the right we have the good boy (symbolized by the “0″) eating small portions and the bad boy (symbolized by the “x”) who is stuffing himself.
Here is another picture showing the 8/10 hara idea in more literal terms. Before leaving this notion of eating small portions, I must tell you another common Japanese saying used to steer people away from obesity. It is said that if you eat right before going to bed you will turn into a [fat] cow. It turns out that this is partially true. When your body digests food, it does not produce human growth factor which is primarily made while sleeping. This in turn slows down your metabolism and thus causes weight gain. Or so I have read.
Hara Method of Breathing腹式呼吸 (Hara Shiki Kokyū) is Japanese for “diaphramatic breathing”. This breathing method is taught in meditation styles of Zen, Yoga and many others. Here your lower abdomen expands with each inhale and contracts with each exhale. The chest does none of the breathing. Try it by lying down and placing a book on your abdomen. Then place one hand on the book and the other on your chest. Now, try to breath by only moving the book and not your chest. Once you have mastered is lying, it is easy to do while you are sitting. This sort of breathing is very calming. If you don’t believe me, try breathing only from your chest and watch your mood change!
Hara DuelingControlling the Hara is seen in all great Swordsmen. There are 2 Ways to Control the Hara:
1/
Occupation: Makashi/Angles/structure/Interception/Feinting/Reach
2/
Tension: Form 5/Kinetic/strength/Blade control/Threats/ Attacking the center from chambered positions for more powerful strokes.
2 Examples of Hara Dueling occurs in this video; watch it for the differences between Occupation and Tension:
| <![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmIkpRkgaZk" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmIkpRkgaZk</a>]]> |
Watch as Luke dominates the center with Harasao: Lifting/Beating/Throwing from High and Mid-parries/ and Sweeping (Wide sweeping arcs that are weak at the end of their motion but can be hard to take advantage of if the attacker has the initiative. Once Vader's Hara was destroyed by losing both blade centralization and balance, he could never recover...
| <![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RFvAeSJgjc" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RFvAeSJgjc</a>]]> |
I could of found just the fight but I wanted the full context of the fight as well.
Kind Regards
Bluesky
