Why do we.........sit in Seiza?

Things don’t get more Japanese than sitting in seiza do they? Seiza (correct sitting) is the ‘sitting on knees’ position adopted in many Ways of life in traditional Japan, including chado (tea ceremony), shodo (calligraphy), ikebana (flower arranging) and many martial arts. Never has man risked showing disrespect to his seniors more than being unable to correctly get into, maintain, move and get out of the seiza position!

The degree of accuracy required in adopting a respectful seiza position varies according to the context, the occasion and the type of clothing worn. For example, the specific steps and etiquette required by a woman to sit in seiza wearing a tight kimono to perform a tea ceremony in front of important dignitaries may be a bit different to a man adopting the seiza position in a loose gi in a modern dojo on a normal club night. However, getting it right for the context you are in is important.

The precision of the steps for adopting seiza vary a lot from martial art to martial art. In the more modern ‘do’ arts such as karate-do and judo the subtleties of proper kneeling and moving have been lost. However in the more bugei arts such as kenjutsu , kendo, iaijutsu and iaido the precision of the steps and position of the feet, knee width etc, is much more prescribed. So why are there these differences?

To answer that you need to look at the original purpose of adopting seiza. As with many things Japanese, the seiza position was originally a Chinese development. It was a practical way to sit before the convention of sitting on chairs was adopted in Asian culture! It kept the feet out of the way when performing practical tasks like cooking. It was well suited to sitting on matted (tatami) floors and if you adopted the position from an early enough age – it was comfortable!

However, it soon became more than a practical way of sitting. A culture of etiquette and respect has long pervaded Japanese life and sitting correctly in seiza has been a part of that culture for centuries. But showing respect is only part of the answer. In Feudal Japan many aspects of etiquette had the dual purpose of also being linked to the practice of sword and other weapon arts, as well as self-defence strategies. So walking, moving, where to position the hands, what distance to stand or sit from others, how to sit etc, were all related to being able to instantaneously respond to being attacked.

A Samurai needed to be able to draw his sword from a sitting or standing position without hindrance or delay. If his seiza position was sloppy or inaccurate he would be a sitting duck. So Samurai were taught how to draw a sword instantly from seiza and how to parry a strike or remove an opponent’s sword from his grasp. Having the ability to rise up from seiza quickly by raising the right leg first, made drawing the sword easier and quicker. It also positioned him for further movement and bought him closer to his attacker.

This close association between sitting in seiza and drawing of the sword explains why the practice of seiza is much more precise in those martial arts that focus on sword. The true meaning of the etiquette involved still prevails. However in martial arts that don’t involve the use of sword the true meaning of sitting in seiza has been lost and in many dojos it is now not much more than a ritual for displaying respect at the beginning and end of a class.

It should be remembered though that sitting in seiza offers the martial artist a few moments to empty the mind of daily clutter and focus on the task they are about to embark on or, at the end of class, a moment to reflect on the training that has just occurred.



Ref: http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=168
wikipedia - seiza

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