“Hara”: A Japanese Lesson

“Hara”, The Character 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: First, the Chinese character for “hara” is shown to the right.  In Japanese it can be read as either “hara” or “fuku”.  In Mandarin Chinese it is read as: fù (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.
Hara Wrap The cool weather today reminded me of staying warm in Japan.  In cold weather, the older people often wear a haramaki (腹巻き) — an abdomen-wrap.  It is a warm piece of cloth either wrapped around the abdomen or made from elastic tube cloth which slides over the abdomen. In Asian culture, the hara is felt to be the seat of vitality and power. Thus keeping it warm during the winter is felt to protect one’s vitality — one’s health.
Here is a scene from a famous Japanese movie where this old man is seen wearing a HaraMaki.  Since a haramaki is considered rather out-dated, this scene illustrates the character’s lack of concern for appearance and his old-fashion nature.Most Japanese houses do not have central heating, so these haramakis are very nice item to keep you warm in winter.  When I lived in Japan, I had one to wear around my house but would not wear one in public!
Cutting Hara 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.
Hara Stands 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 Hara Don’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! In my next Japanese Character post, I will show you how this sort of breathing can help prevent a very nasty aliment.

See other “Word!” posts, here.