Quantum Body?

 As I continued reading Yoko Muronoi's “The Dancer Disappears,” I came across a conversation with an Italian journalist and researcher during Muronoi’s workshop in Rome. Searching the internet for this person, Maria Pia D'Orazi, I found an essay by her about Kasai Akira, one of the Butoh pioneers. In this essay, she mentioned Noguchi Hiroyuki's paper, 'The Idea of the Body in Japanese Culture and its Dismantlement'. I supposed she came to know of the paper through Muronoi. Surprisingly, the title of the paper was "Butoh Training and the Quantum Body". It made strange sense that she had put it that way.

Shintai Kyoiku Kenkyusho the successor to the Seitaiho Kenkyusho,was founded in 1988. Around the same time, the term 'Naikanho' emerged, and 'Kyakkanho' was conceived as its antithesis. Naikan literally means “see inside” and Kyakkan means “see objectively”. Initially, I thought this was rather blunt, but after practicing Doho for over 30 years, I believe the distinction between Naikan and Kyakkkan is valid. 

Changing one's view of the body is not something that can be done overnight. Through practices, one tries to shift one's mindset from Cartesian-Newtonian classical physics to quantum mechanics, so to speak. The real world is based on the former premise, so even if one briefly experiences the latter, one quickly reverts to the former. This cycle repeats. For someone as half-hearted as me, it took a long timen until everything made sense. Once it did, I just thought, 'So that's what it was all about,' and I didn't feel any particular sense of accomplishment. I simply 'understood' the meaning of the practice I had been doing up until then.

Reading D'Orazi's paper, written in English, I find it fascinating to see the struggles she goes through to express bodily activity in a way that breaks away from the Cartesian-Newtonian paradigm. I believe there is more to using quantum physics than analogy, but there is always the risk of it becoming too eccentric. This year, I plan to continue reading Karen Barad's "Meeting the Universe Halfway”

An Introduction to Seitai 3.0

This text is prepared of a workshop in Vienna in June 2025

I teach Japanese grammar to Japanese people.
This is how I often describe what I do. Of course, what I call Japanese grammar is not the grammar of the Japanese language.
It is the grammar of the traditional Japanese body.
We call it Seitai.
In the last century, the way we perceive our bodies and the way we use our bodies has changed drastically due to the massive inflow of modern-Western civilisation and the change in our lifestyles. And today we cannot understand how our grandparents lived, as if they lived in another culture.

Then, why am I trying to teach it in Europe?
I believe that learning a different way of understanding our bodies can enrich us.

Seitai
Even though we call ourselves “Seitai Kyokai” or Seitai Association, word Seitai itself is a common noun in Japanese. Sometimes it is used as a translational word for chiropractic technique. But I use word “Seitai” here as a system started by Haruchika Noguchi, the founder of the Seitai Kyokai. Some of his books are translated into English and from 1970’s his philosophy and practices have been introduced to Europe by some pioneers who were direct students of Haruchika Noguchi. Katsugen Undo and Yuki are the main practices to express Noguchi’s philosophy. Through those people, Seitai has been spread out in Europe.
Haruchika Sensei died in 1976. His sons and his disciples succeeded his work. I myself have come to know of Seitai in 1977 after his death. So I had no opportunity to meet Haruchika Sensei in person. I belong to the second generation in Seitai. My teacher is Hiroyuki Noguchi, the second son of Haruchika Sensei. 

After Haruchika Sensei, Hiroyuki Sensei was in charge of most of the lectures and seminars for the members of the Seitai Kyokai. After ten years of teaching, he decided to start a new school within the Seitai Kyokai. In 1988, Shintai Kyoiku Kenkyusho was founded. It literally means ‘Body Education Research Institute’. We still do not have an exact translation for this organisation. Because the word Shintai cannot simply be translated as “body”, although every dictionary suggests using “body” as an appropriate translation. 

What Hiroyuki Sensei has been trying to do with this school is to elucidate the practices of Haruchika Sensei and how to pass them on to the next generation. He came to realize that people who lived a century ago and people today perceive the body differently. A practice called Doho was developed to replicate the way our ancestors perceived the body. This is why I call my work “teaching Japanese grammar”. The introduction of Doho will be one of the main exercises in the workshops.

So what is the body?
Our bodies are the results of our interaction with the environment. 
You eat food that is not you. You digest it and it becomes you. 
You meet other people and interact with them.
You digest what you experience and it becomes you.
You never stay the same. You are constantly renewing yourself.
This process is what we call learning and this is what we call life.
Haruchika Sensei’s “Colds and Their Benefits” is the book written about the process of learning.
Don’t we have a very manipulative relationship with our bodies? Aren’t you trying to control your body with your will?
What we call the body is an area that your will cannot reach.
Your body is not your property and perhaps you have never met it. So we need to learn what bodies are and how we can relate to them
How can we relate to others?
How can we relate to our own bodies?
In Seitai, the first question is how to touch others.
The answer to this question will be extended to how we relate to others. Others means not only people, but also society and the environment around us.
This is why practicing Doho is needed.

To relate to others in a non-manipulative way is the way to meet others. 
We are so used to relating to others in a manipulative way.
As long as we keep our habit of manipulation, we cannot meet others.
Doho is the word composed of “movement” 動 and “theory” 法.
And this Doho introduces you to the world of “kata”.
The literal meaning of kata is “form”. But it expresses a state of not-me, or a state where there is no will to manipulate others.
And this Doho introduces you to the world of “kata”.
The literal meaning of kata is “form”. But it expresses a state of not-me, or a state where there is no will to manipulate others.
Touching others in a non-manipulative way with the help of Kata 
will be the starting point of learning Seitai and 
it will also be the goal of Seitai.

What happens next?
This will be the theme of the workshop.

It is quite difficult to explain what we are doing with Seitai in the English language, which always requires the subject “I” or “you”. You always have to add “my” or “your” before the word body.

My ambition in this workshop is 
to shake up the world of solid “I” you live in.

Kazuhiro Sunami

英語版

英語版をはじめよう（より正確にいうと再開ー以前試みたことがあるが挫折）と思った動機の８割は、今年、ZOOMを使ったオンライン稽古をやったことに由来する。英語話者にとって、整体に関する情報は少ない。身体教育研究所関連でいえばゼロである。

近年、Google翻訳にせよ、DeepLにせよ、機械翻訳の精度が格段に上がったことは間違いない。しかし、たとえば、僕がこのブログに載せている整体、稽古関連の記事を機械翻訳で英語話者（日本語でないという意味です）が読んだ場合を想定すると、かなり悲惨な光景しか思い浮かばない。誤解を助長する結果さえ考えられる。（お前だって、誤解しているだろうという突っ込みは、ここではなし）。そうなると、機械翻訳の助けを借りて、自分で仕上げていくしかない、というのが今時点の結論。しかし、問題は山のようにある。

まず、固有名詞に定着した訳語がないのが困る。整体協会はSeitai Kyokai, Seitai Associationくらいか。一般名詞としての整体も流通しているけれど、野口晴哉のSeitaiも固有名詞として、かなり定着している。身体教育研究所が難しい。そのままShintai Kyoiku Kenkyushoでは問題は解決しない。そもそも身体と教育という既知の単語を組み合わせた「身体教育」という言葉を使い始めたのは、日本において僕たちが最初かもしれない。1990年くらい。身体x教育。ありそうでいて誰も使ってなかった。これ自体、謎だ。

体育はPhysical Educationと訳される。おそらく、Physical Educationという単語を日本語訳したものが体育なのだろう。じゃあ、身体教育にはどういう訳語が充てられるべきなのか？　アカデミズムの世界では、体育と同様、身体教育にもPhysical Educationという訳語が使われている。実に安直だ。故に、身体教育研究所をInstitute of Physical Educationとは訳したくない。つまり「身体」はどう訳されるべきなのだろう。

月刊全生には、いまでも晴哉先生の英訳文が巻末に掲載されている。「白誌」に載っている裕之先生の講義録が英訳されるのはいつのことなのだろうか。

COLDS AND THEIR BENEFITS

 　Let's talk about Seitai.  Seitai here refers to the Seitai of Haruchika Noguchi and the Seitai of the Institute of Body Education (身体教育研究所). However, people who study Seitai vary from one to another, from those who say, "I don't take medicine, so I am a Seitai person" to those in the practice who say, "Who care about health". I think that's fine. Simply not taking medication is a contribution to society in the sense that it does not increase unnecessary medical costs, but in the eyes of the world, it is an antisocial presence. It's a strange world. Anyway, let's move on from the question of why seitai practitioners do not take medicine to the question of experience and education.

　For example, if you read Noguchi's book, "COLDS AND THEIR BENEFITS," it says that when a person catches a cold, develops a fever and sweats, and then successfully passes through the period body temperature goes lower than normal, the body is refreshed. Many people understand this as just a health method, but from an educational standpoint, it suggests something really important. In other words, it is a model of how we assimilate our experiences. Let's say a cold is exogenous, like the flu for example. So the human body and the virus collide. The fever occurs on the borderline. The epidemiological mechanism of fever can be explained in many ways, but when a person experiences something, there is a chance to encounter with others. The "other" can be a virus or a new environment, or a human being. Some might say that this is too much anthropomorphizing viruses and bacteria, but if you think of a person as a unified entity, this is not anthropomorphizing or anything, it's just natural. The definition of "experience is born as an encounter with others" is not so far off the mark.

　The question is, "How do we assimilate our experiences? According to Noguchi, when you catch a cold, it is natural to go through the process of fever, low temperature, and return to normal temperature, and after this process, you become a new body. The same is true for relaxation, hypersensitivity, and excretion in the case of the Katsugen Undo (活元運動). In other words, a "new body" means a body that has assimilated the experience. If you think about it that way, medication can be an obstacle to this process of assimilation. Yes, person of Seitai  is not someone who does not take medication, but someone who can quietly look at the process of assimilation that is happening within him or her.

　When you think about it, the difficulty of "experiential learning" also comes to light. If experientialism is just a field approach, it may end up confusing the learners. I worked for five years at the Japan Center of an American college program as I wrote about in another article, and looking back now, a lot of my work was spent as a counselor to take part in the assimilation process of students who are confused and stuck in the foreign culture.

Translated with a help of "www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)"

Originally written in Japanese  as「なぜ身体教育なのか 2」on 2012/9/29

he said/she said argument 水掛論

There is a theory that the "Mizukake （水掛論）" comes from the Kyogen play "Mizukake Muko ,"  In English, the word "mizukake" is said to be "he said/she said argument”. It's quite obvious and understandable. The reason why people get into arguments is because they believe that they are right, and they believe that they can persuade the other person with their words.

In this respect, the theory of Taiheki （体癖論）is built on the premise that people cannot understand each other. The theory of Taiheki divides individuals shaped by the direction of their sensitivity into 10 types. People naturally judge things based on their own standards, and believe that these judgments are universal. It maybe true that if we don't believe that, it is difficult for us to survive. However, in the theory of Taiheki, ten standards are set. In other words, at its starting point, a standard or universality that can be shared by all of humanity are not set. It starts from the exact opposite, realism. Of course, before that, there is the basic premise that everyone is alive.

In the early days of Taiheki theory, it is said that people sometimes used animal metaphors to describe these types of people, such as a giraffe and a raccoon. The big question is whether giraffes and raccoons can understand each other. In fact, unless you go to a zoo, giraffes and raccoons, two different species, will never live together. However, humans live together as the same species. This is where it gets really tricky, but also really interesting.

There is a concept in biology called the Umwelt(
environment in English) proposed by a German bio-philosopher named Uexküll. he said that all animals live in a perceptual world that is unique to their species. That's right, each animal sees the world differently and lives in a different world. The theory of Taiheki is similar to this. The problem is that humans believe that we all live in the same world. Or we've been led to believe that we have to live according to a uniform standard that has been socially formed.

The most interesting part of Seitai theory lies in the pursuit of how these originally incomprehensible people can synchronize with each other and how they can overcome the world of Taiheki that confines them. The world of Seitai is about cultivating the ability to enjoy this discrepancy between oneself and others. Bothersome?
Be aware , we are living in bothersome world.

Why did I start thinking about this "Mizukake-ron"?
Because I am in the middle of it.

This is a translation of 「水掛論」https://dohokids.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html   

Translation was done with a help of DeepL https://www.deepl.com/translator.

Comments and feedback on this translation are welcome.

Lecture that has vanished

original text is read in Japanse here  https://dohokids.blogspot.com/2021/04/blog-post_13.html

In March, I had an opportunity to give a 90 minutes lecture online to a group of Alexander technique teachers. It became a very satisfactory one at least for me and I asked the organizer if I could have a recorded audio file. But she said, "Oh sorry, I forgot to record." So it has become a vanished lecture. 

I wanted talk about the theory of growth in Seitai, so I focused on childcare in Seitai, But I started talking about how I had become a Seitai student at the first place. I have prepared a list of topics as a memorandum. Some of the things I was trying to talk about, but I didn't actually talk about, were added afterward. I wonder if the title will be " Seitai  as a prototype of learning.”

Jump into Quaker University 1973
A method of experiential learning in an experimental college
Putting yourself in a different cultures
Confusion and conflict and assimilation
Free school
what is experience?
How do we absorb experience?

Seitai as a prototype of learning
Introducing books by Haruchika Noguchi, the founder of Seitai
From the lecture memo of childcare course by Hiroyuki Noguchi
Fetal-pregnancy
13 months after birth
When the belly grows
Belly as a digestive system
Hara as an assimilation of experience
1 to 3 years to 5 to 8 years to puberty
what we call Growth Disease
Grow what is growing now

How to think of "going through"
High temperature (fever) → low temperature (rest) → normal temperature
Things that hinder the progress
"The benefits of colds" as a book of education
What is physical fitness?
Unfounded self-confidence

I didn't have time to go to the training at the ongoing at Shintai Kyoiku Kenkyusho, but it was a fulfilling 120 minutes including a question and answer session. It was the harvest that made me feel "heard" more than I expected. It's a summary of what I've prepared for " book reading club" over the last few years.

Is Keiko possible on ZOOM?

３ヶ月にわたるZOOM稽古終了。

充足感よりも、欲求不満感ーライブ稽古への渇望感がより強く残るものだった。英語力不足も深刻だ。

以下は、先月書いた「ZOOMで稽古は可能か？」の英訳版。まずはGoogle翻訳に下訳をお願いしてみた。昔に比べると随分マシになっているとはいえ、そのままでは使えない。元の文章で主語が曖昧になっているせいでもある。手を入れることでだいぶreadableな英語になった気はする。間違い、改善点があればご教示願いたい。

ちなみに、今回のお相手だったLina Gómezさんのプロフィールへのリンクを貼っておきます。

https://www.goethe.de/ins/jp/ja/sta/kyo/res/sti/s20/lgo.html

---------------------

Is Keiko possible with ZOOM？

Bring the iPad on a tripod to a small keiko room and launch ZOOM. Translation app is ready on the screen of my iPhone. The scenery is not as beautiful as it should be when the electronic devices are  brought into the keiko room. I was negative about the keiko using ZOOM, but I decided to try it for the first time.

The student is a dancer and choreographer from Colombia who lives in Berlin. She  was supposed to be enjoying  Kyoto life now with the Artist Residency Program sponsored by Goethe-Institute. But the Corona turmoil forced to change her plan to the Online Residency Program. Isn't it a vocabulary contradiction?

Is it possible to do our keiko with ZOOM?
The conclusion I have reached after two months of trial and error is that if some prerequisites were met, it might be possible. 

Prerequisite # 1  Student  has a mutual experience .
Lina, my student this time, is from a university called PUC in Sao Paulo. There, she participated in Toshi Tanaka's class.  In the first place, she came to me with Toshi's introduction. As long as her works she showed me, a part of movements used in her dance seemed  inspired by the movement she experienced at Toshi's class.  In any case, I can't think of to do practice online without her experience with Toshi. She said she was interested in "air", so we started our keiko  "focusing on what we can't see."

Prerequisite # 2 Multiple people on both sides.
At  first, I tried it one-on-one, but I soon realized that it was no good. Face to face over the screen does not work well. We decided to ask each other for a partner for each side. The style is that there are two people here and two people over there. This makes it look like a keiko scene. Demonstrate on this side and have them do it over there. Just having a checker makes it different. I was surprised that Lina was able to call on friends who are former students of Toshi in Berlin. 

Prerequisite # 3 There should be a possibility that one day you can practice in a real place
There is no guarantee that we will be able to practice together in a real place in the future. However, we cannot do it without assuming it. The feeling of itching in the shoes is too strong. In other words, keiko cannot be completed online alone. Our keiko will be completed when we will meet in a real space.

It seems it's a better idea to carry a real body over here rather than practicing at ZOOM, even if she needs a period of self-isolation after her arrival . But we should  do what we can do under given conditions at this point.

why body education? III

[Colds and their Benefits]

 Noguchi wrote a book called "Colds and their Benefits" a half century ago. I think this book describes his philosophy well. Simplifying what written in the book in one sentence, "you catch colds because you need. And going through a pass-through process, you will be refreshed."  Sound good, doesn't it?  And many people understood and still understand Seitai as a natural healing art. I do not say this recognition of Seitai is wrong. But if you read the book carefully, you will find that this is the book on education. Over 30 years ago, I was working at an american college program in Kyoto as mentioned in part I of this essay.  Many students were experiencing what I called "culture shock fever" when they came into a new culture and this is what exactly happened to me in my intercultural experience. This phenomena can be explained easily as an adjustment phase one goes through. It interests me a lot  and eventually led me to the world of  Seitai.
 Now I have got to the starting point.
 (to be continued)

why body education? II

[Noguchi Haruchika]

I always find difficulties explaining what kind of work I do.  Before I go into this topic, I first try to describe Seitai Kyokai, an organization with which I have been working and Noguchi Haruchika, the founder of the organization. I tried to find what kind of information is available in English. Keywords I put to the Google window are, Seitai, Haruchika Noguchi, Katsugen Undo, etc. Then I found out that you won't get much through these keywords. Information from wikipedia is so limited and also outdated. You might get better results if you search in European languages, such as French, Spanish or German. It is because Noguchi's philosophy and practice have spread in Europe through his students. Seitai Kyokai has a web page < www.seitai.org> . But Google's translation system outputs unreadable English.  Best explanation of Noguchi's works I could have found so far is short descriptions of  Noguchi's translated books in English published by Zenseisha. They should give you some ideas of Noguchi's philosophy. http://www.zensei.co.jp/books/store?genre_id=7 
(to be continued)

why body education? I

[introduction]

A new gadget I recently got is a device called document scanner.  I bought it to reduce the amount of paper stacked in my shelves. It sounds odd to the people who live in spacious houses. But I have been living in a small house in urban Japan.  Also, I turned to the age of 60 and it is supposed to be a good time to review what I have been doing in my life. I scanned many writings I have done before, from FWC journals in 1970's to mini newsletters I had sent out to friends in 1980's and 90's. Scanning itself is not a difficult work to do. But at least you need to check whether scanning is done properly or not. As a result, I had to go through with my eyes what I have written in the past. I come to realize then, I have been running the same track as I was 40 years ago. I have been engaged in the field named Shintai Kyoiku - it is literally means Body Education past 30 years.  It can be translated this way - what is the role of the body in one's learning process and how one can assimilate their experience. See everything started when I came to know of an experimental college based on experiential learning back in 1973.  (to be continued)

Katsugen Undo

 I remember a conversation with Jack Hasegawa who was the director of the East Asia Center of Friends World College in Kyoto in mid-70's. I was telling him about Katsugen Undo which I started to learn. And he responded with a laughter and said "As a Quaker college graduate, you found the right place." Until he pointed out I was not aware of such similarity between them. I always liked the way he laughed.

The Idea of the Body in Japanese Culture and its Dismantlement

 Before proceeding to Keiko（稽古）- practice, I would like to introduce the paper titled "The Idea of the Body in Japanese Culture and its Dismantlement" written by Hioryuki Noguchi, the director of the Shintai Kyoiku Kenkyusho. This paper was prepared for International Journal of Sport and Health Science in 2003.

学びの原型としての活元運動

　当時、教育を学んでいた私にとって、相互運動くらい興味をそそられる対象はなかった。書物の中の「学ぶ者と教える者の共同作業としての教育」という理念に惹かれていたものの、実際のところ、何をどうすれば、そうなるのか、暗中模索の状態にいた。人間関係を意識と意識の関係としか見ていなかったのだから当然かもしれない。そんな私にとって、二人で行うことで、活元運動が深くなり、しかも、必ずしも、前－受ける人、後－させる人とはならない相互運動を体験することは一大発見だった。相手を動かそうと意識的に力を使えば反発が生まれ、運動も不自然になる。かといって、対等な関係に身を置きながら、相手の中の自発性を妨げることなく誘発することもできる。まさに、理想的な教育形態の雛型を発見したような興奮があった。私にとって、人と人を結ぶ「気」の発見である。

（整体十年　月刊全生　1988年4月号から一部転載）

Katugen Mutual exerecise as a Basic Form of Learning

　As a student of education at the time, there was no subject more intriguing to me than Sogo Undo - mutual movement. Although I was attracted to the idea of "education as a collaboration between learners and teachers" in books, I was still in the dark about how to make it happen.  Perhaps this was inevitable, since I saw human relationships only as relationships between consciousness. It was a great discovery for me to experience mutual Katsugen Undo, where the Katsugen movement deepens when two people work together, and also does not necessarily mean that the person sitting in front is the passive person and the person sitting behind is the active person. If you consciously use force to move the other person, you will create a repulsive action in him, and the movement will become unnatural. On the other hand, we can induce spontaneity in the other person without interfering with it, while keeping ourselves in an equal relationship. It was truly an exciting experience, as if I had discovered a fundamental form of learning in education. For me, it was the discovery of the "ki" that connects people.

（an excerpt from Gekkan Zensei, April 1988）