Shinto

Kokoro-gamae and Image Training

A reader asked be for my opinion of the psychology of “Kokoro-gamae” recently, in reference to the martial arts. While I try to be a psychologist I have not come across research or even mention of the term within academic psychology. Recently indigenous cultural psychologists have started studying terms from languages and cultures outside of the West. I think that a study of Kokoro-gamae wouldbe appropriate to and well recieved in this field (for example at the Asian Association of Social Psychology) However, I have seen no research which refers to kokoro-gamae. So all I can talk about is the way it is used in the Japanese language, and my own theory of its content. Kokoro-gamae is made from kokoro meaning heart or mind, and "kamae" meaning stance-in-preparation-for-something. To Kamae(ru) is to take up a stance in preparation for what is about to happen, like the poses that practioners of the martial arts take, the pose of a cat before it pounces, or the coiling of a snake before it strikes. I guess "to take up a stance" comes closest for me. In this physical realm, the Japanese seem to be keen on poses. Putting ones body into a particular position is seen as being a good preparation for what is to follow. Images of Ultraman (left) spring to mind. But what about "kokoro-gamae"? What sort of position can one put ones heart or mind into? One way in which Kamae is used to express psychology is "sonnnani kamaenakuteiiyo" (lit. you don't need to take up a stance so much ) or "kamaesugi" (you’re taking up a stance too much) which meansomething allong the lines of "don't think so much about it," "chill out!" Kokoro-gamae might I think also refer to something negative. For example one might refer to someone who looks on the negative side of things or is a paranoid, as having a mistaken "kokoro-gamae" they have taken up a mental stance such that even trivial mishaps or conflicts seem like disasters and major put-downs. In all these cases kamae refers to a temporary state of action taken up prior to some event. However, kokoro-gamae in the sense as it is used to describe the mental state of someone that practices the martial arts for instance, is usually different in that it refers to a "stance", not in the usual English sense of someone’s opinion about something, but a state of mental readiness, which is both actively pursued and held over a long period of time. But what is this active pursual, or art, of Japanese mental readiness, kokoro-gamae? How does one take up a mental stance?

As a university-lubber that knows little about kokorogamae in practice, I unpack the concept of kokoro-gamae in the following way 1) Heightened attention. This is the obvious one. Before a fight, when the adrenalin is rushing, one usually enters a state of heightened focused attention. We "get ready," "focus," "put up ones guard," "steel oneself." 2) Calm focus. I guess there are many ways of achieving a heighten state of attention. It is possible that someone who is really "on edge" is very sensitive, and in that sense attentive. But the kokoro-gamae that is pursued here seems to me to particularly calm, even to the point of being peaceful, so as to achieve a greater degree of focus. Which brings us on to… 3) Mental quietness. This is the Zen Buddhist stance, now also well known, which encourages to achieve readiness by reaching a state of emptiness, of immersion in the moment. This *perhaps* departs a little from Western notions of readiness, since in that context one might "plan" or think about ways of attacking. The ultimate Zen warrior is empty, untroubled by plans. Zen books and books on Zen describe this sort of stance very well. There are lots of ways of achieving this "non-stance-stance", such as concentrating on one thing (such as ones breathing), or repeating a phrase (mantra, nembutsu) over an over again, or staring at a picture (mandara). 4) Imagery in Mental preparation. This is my own theory, and again rather trite, since it has a lot in common with Western "image training." That being said, it seems to me to be particularly prevalent in Japan, and in Shinto culture especially. Please see this mail written when my name was still Leuers, particularly about the guy doing "Zen and way of Badminton"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shintoML/message/1417 The Japanese paths (dou, judou, karatedou) are all very visual. They seem to me to have an air of what I would call "image training" where one often practices, in silence with an emphasis on form, on seeing the self from the outside. It seems to me that Shinto encourages a visual awareness of self and construes the divine as a viewer/seeer rather than a listener/hearer. Some of the paths show a ritual reverence towards the place where the art is carried out, with formalise rituals for entering that place - such as the bow towards the mats of the Doujou or the way in which one should enter the tea ceremony room. It seems to me that Shinto grew out of a reverence for holy places. By way of example, let me tell you about a guy that plays badminton at a club that I attend. He treats the badminton court like a Dojo making sure that he cleans it very well sweeping only in the direction of the floorboards and not against the grain of the wood. He plays with an almost religious attention to detail, and sometimes (this seems particularly moot) he plays without a shuttlecock, *imagining* where the shuttle is flying would be flying if playing against a real opponent. Sometimes he and his accolyte play together, without a shuttlecock, as if taking part in a ballet on a silent badminton court. This silent imaginary badminton that he plays reminded me of what one could call "The way of Badminton" more than anything else. What is this image training and is it Shinto? Misogi? Ritual, in action? Practical ritual? Pure movement? Embodied-ness? The “emptiness” and “back to nature-ness” of Japanese mental readiness is often emphasised. However, this is far from the whole caboodle. I can imagine a person being calmly focused and empty and still being a pretty poor warrior. I have a friend called Will http://nihonbunka.com/william/index.htm who is doing Buddhist training in Scotland. But even assuming that Will achieves enlightenment, and even assuming that he is strong and fit, I don't think that Will will become a particularly good warrior. Hence it seems to me that there is another component of "kokoro-gamae" which entails what one might call "training ones unconscious." Using the world “unconscious” at once sounds disrespectful and unfair. It seems a very Western appellation. Who am I to call that part of my mind that controls my bodily movements "unconscious." It reacts, and proacts towards events in the world all the time. However from the point of view of timothy-that-is-speaking, from the point of view of the intellect, "it" is other. Timothy decides what he wants to say, but who is it that presses the keys? In Zen Buddhism it is clear that one empties or silences the workings of ones intellect. However that does not mean that the mind ceases to work at all. A lot of processing is being done, but it is being done "elsewhere." No matter how much intellectual processing power we spend in preparation, this will be largely useless if we silence our intellect. But this does not mean that it is impossible to train the mind at all. So it seems to me that there is a lot of what one might call "image training" going on here in Japan and this forms a significant part of the active art of "kokoro-gamae." As a result the "unconscious" mind is honed, to such a degree that, without thinking, the move is made, the opponent hits the tatami mat, or is swept out of the ring. All this was rather a glimpse of the obvious. More attempts need to be made to outline what it is about the "image training" aspect of kokoro-gamae. 1) Through training does one become one with ones image or oneself or on the contrary does one become free of ones image of oneself (the latter, me thinks)? 2) Does it involve creating mental images of things (hmmm)? 3)Is there any playback of images at the time of action (surely not)? 4) Are these things social, such as imagining getting the gold medal (western athletes do do this apparently, but I don't think that this is what is going on here)? 5) Is the self seen from the outside (not sure)? 6) Does one imagine a gaze (Chiyonofuji used to imagine girls watching him do Sumo! I find it effective to imagine my father is watching me when I run!)? I am sure that the art of kokoro-gamae is very different from Western-style image training, and that there are many other aspects of “kokoro-gamae.” Please let me know if you find any more.