This presentation refers to a line from my field research in Japan during the years 2012 and 2014 being a moment in my PhD in Social Anthropology. The aims is to relate some ethnographic facts collected with the practitioners of Japanese fencing [Kendo] - among them, Japanese and non Japanese - through the relationships made upon training places, called Dojo. The point is make an analogy between the notion of house, Dojo and Ie; the house remains an important practical concept for building a kinship. By kinship we understand the ways to make relatives. ’Relatives' here have a more free sense, as ways of making relationship without necessarily implying human reproduction. Hierarchy, Family, Notion of House, Japaneseness, Concept of Ki-Energy, Kinship.

1. The ethnography in ancient Japan looked
from the present; some thoughts about vital
energy and kinship
1st Asia FIEP-Conference Theme: Physical Education and Its Impact
to Quality of Life of Children and Youth – An Asian Perspective
Kogakuin University
Dec/2014
Gil Vicente Lourencao
Tsukuba University / Federal University of Sao Carlos

2. Development of Skills Necessary for BUDO
Chair – Prof. Dr. Toyoshima
Co-chair: Prof. Dr. Sugino
Acknowledgements:
¡ Monbukagakusho
¡ FAPESP
¡ Kogakuin University
¡ Toyoshima Sensei
¡ Kazuma Sensei
¡ Sugino Sensei

3. To reach a house, you must first enter the gate. The gate is a pathway
leading to the house. After passing through the gate, you enter the
house and meet its master. Learning is the gate to reaching the Way.
After passing through this gate, you reach the Way. Learning is the
gate, not the house. Don’t mistake the gate for the house. The house
is located farther inside, after the gate is passed.
Heiho Kaden Sho, Yagyu Munenori.

4. Abstract
¡ This presentation refers to a line from my field research in
Japan during the years 2012 and 2014 being a moment in my
PhD in Social Anthropology. The aims is to relate some
ethnographic facts collected with the practitioners of Japanese
fencing [Kendo] - among them, Japanese and non Japanese -
through the relationships made upon training places, called
Dojo. The point is make an analogy between the notion of house,
Dojo and Ie; the house remains an important practical concept
for building a kinship. By kinship we understand the ways to
make relatives. ’Relatives' here have a more free sense, as ways
of making relationship without necessarily implying human
reproduction.
¡ Keywords: Hierarchy, Family, Notion of House, Japaneseness,
Concept of Ki-Energy, Kinship.

5. Few words about the study
¡ I lived over two years in Japan, from 2012 to 2014 to make a research about
the Ki, or vital energy.
¡ Nevertheless, the two years spent in Japan opened my eyes to a somewhat
broader understanding of a given kinship operation in practice, and this
kinship helps to think about the Ki.
¡ I had contact with numerous people related to Japanese martial arts, from
Japanese and people born in other contexts and cultures. These meetings and
conversations, I realized in fragmentary way, little by little, like the petals of
Sakura flowers falling gently in the wind at the beginning of the Japanese
spring, a very important principle of Japanese Social organization and
cultural and life aspects.

6. Being and becoming
¡ I researched - in Brazil and Japan - collecting data within Kendo training Halls and
training Kendo. It needs to be understood in order to understand under what
conditions this study was conducted. Training Kendo was and is the relevant way to
talk about Kendo, and about the relationships established through it.
¡ While living in Japan, I realized that there is a myriad of subjectivity modes quite
distinct and which tied to a constellation of cultures and practices.
¡ Being Japanese in this sense raises a problem and a limit. What is the way a person
becomes ‘Japanese’? And second, what are the ideal from which we would have a
comparison index?
¡ There are different processes, which labeled by broad concepts as a Society,
Nationality, Culture, State, place more problems than solve. Simplifying, everything
depends on the place in which the same person are and does. And Inside the martial
ways, there are specific ways of subjectivity that even pass by modern Japan.
¡ For few people inside of martial ways, being Japanese means wants to live in peace, be
in contact with indigenous practices. To have the past as a future. Naturally it does
not mean to deny the present; people still have smartphones, laptops and many other
things of Capitalistic World.

7. One definition
¡ According to Morishima Sensei [2010]:
“The Kendo is education. Making a true Japanese. This is the
ultimate aim of Kendo. Currently, greatly increased the
Japanese who are not Japanese. There are many Japanese with
undefined nationality. In this way Japan's future is critical.
Spirit of Kendo, spirit of bushido, externalize it in daily
activities. And teach it to disciples. Then society will improve,
kendo will improve. Will have the courage to rebuild Japan.
This is the mission of those who practice kendo.”

8. Anthopologic point of view
¡ From the point of view of a given anthropology, we could
recognize a definition of a person inside of Japanese
Culture by three points. First, an underlying hierarchical
principle of Japanese social organization; second, by the
native word; and third, by kinship.
¡ According to Morishima Sensei, there is some Japanese
non-Japanese. For the other side, we can consider non-
Japanese, Japanese. At least in theoretical point of view.

9. Training halls – Dojo – 道場
¡ In Japan, there is a social and environmental structure for martial arts, everywhere.
Usually the big stadiums for martial arts are called Budoukan, and within these, there
are Dojos, or training halls. On the other hand, there are famous Dojos in Japan of
varying sizes, depending on the fame and history of the Sensei, contemporary or past.
¡ This is the case in several Universities, and usually in schools we can found these halls
on a reduced scale, since the Kendo course is elective for students. Police departments
in which I was, and in some companies we can find these halls.
¡ These spaces have a special wooden floor, inscriptions on the walls, and the
Kamidana, a small oratory of delicate wood and finely ornate, where this given one
notion of divine for Shinto [Kuroda, 1981]. These places are treated with care for
people. Always, and every day of training, it’s clean in the beginning and at the end,
either by children or adults.
¡ We note that often they are true extensions of Japanese houses, especially in the case
of fixed locations owned by a Sensei. Small gatherings happen, conversations and of
course training.

10. Hierarchy system
¡ Professors Sensei) 「先生」, the senior students (Senpai)
「先輩」, and beginner practitioners (Kouhai) 「後輩」 .
This primary hierarchical system is the basis of any
hierarchy in Japan, working in any relation, inside of
Companies, schools, universities and of course in martial
practices.
¡ This hierarchical system is vitally important to understand
the Japanese social structure. All other systems used it in a
similar logic and its operation takes into account basically
the temporality. Longer in a given activity, more a person
should to know. And teach.

11. Kinship makes relatives
¡ Dido San, 38 years old, Italian, married in Japan with
Japanese wife and two children, was one of Senpais I met
over the practice. He lived about 8 years here, been studying
language and Culture in Tokyo and after went to work in
Japan; he came motivated by Kendo. At one point he met I.
Sensei and went on to study Ittoryu, and it changed some
things he saw in Japan since became part of a 'big family',
in his words.

12. ¡ M. Ishii P., 38 years old, English, married with Japanese
wife and newborn son, working in High School as a teacher
of English. Mainly interested in Kendo and martial arts,
came because the family and work in Japan, making
residence in Kanagawa. According to M., life in Japan was
possible for the family that cultivated and interest in martial
arts, and want to live there because of the wife and child. In
addition, it makes a change in his name, getting Ishii of his
wife.

13. ¡ A. Fisherman, 28 years old, English, married with Japanese
wife, two children, working in Kendo supply store in
international sales. Came to Japan in 2009 to enhance the
Kendo and knew his wife and married. He says Japan is the
best place to have a kind of life he have, to take care of the
family, training and work and expect to live more years
here, and being winner of European Kendo Championship
in a possible future. And recognizes that must have
something inside the heart to want to live in Japan and he
feels as if he have a Japanese heart.

14. ¡ G. McCallik, 40, Scottish, English teacher, married
Japanese wife, lives in Osaka 10 years ago. Came as a
student of computer science by Monbukagakusho, but the
underlying reason he said was the Kendo. He maintains a
website with information and English translations of
famous papers and books, being an important reference for
Kendo people to make the translation of these and give
several tips about training in Japan and is also an editor of
several books of martial arts. According to him, the
important point is owns a Japanese spirit and it is
something possible, to do with confidence. In addition, this
wouldn’t be a Japanese quality only, since they have to work
on it.

15. About House and Dojo
道場と家 について。

16. House and Dojo
¡ The notion of house have an important connotation for
martial ways, since it is a metaphor for kinship and a sense
of corporality.
¡ About the house, two things are important - the inner
space and the arrangement of elements that recount the
relationship and the relations established with the living
and the dead.

17. House
¡ According to Levi-Strauss (1986, p. 186-187) in Europe
and around the world - as in Japan - the medieval houses
have exactly the same characteristics, defining the
ownership of a domain composed of tangible and intangible
assets - the Honors - among which are located even
supernatural treasures. And the important thing is, in order
to perpetuate then, the 'houses' appealed widely to kinship.

18. 家と家族はハウスですか。
Is possible a comparison between Dojo, Ie, and
notion of house?
It is useful to think the Ie/Kazoku, since consider other aspects
beyond the framework given by corporate groups of kinship.
For the case of Ie, four levels can be considered:
¡ The social entity means dwelling house [unlike Kazoku,
regard to nuclear family] and is sensed as independent of its
members. For each house there is identification with name,
social status and history. This aspect Shimizu calls symbolic
Ie.
¡ The other aspect, which he calls embodied Ie, is established
on 2 levels: Hotoke or the dead and the living, organized in a
corporate group.

19. Ie/Kazoku and House – 家と家族はハウスですか。
¡ Thirty, the basic social unit consists of three generations: older,
seniors and youngers. the important points are the birth, the
nomination and the body's production through training. Inside
the Dojo, we have only one, and that is training and sometimes
the nomination for people who become members of a Dojo, when
in case of non-born in Japan [in case of births in Japan, retraces
up from the family name].
¡ Fourth, and crucially, the Japanese case shows a dimension of
kinship building, in which we could distinguish three - or more
times – of construction. The first, on the relationship by
procreation; the second, for the construction of body itself and
the third through an alignment symbolic or ideological.

20. About Ki
気について
Firstly, there is no real equivalent for Ki in English. The Japanese word for this is 気,
which can be translated as 'vital energy'. Often uses this word in Japan about many
things, including relation to natural phenomena, the condition of human relationships,
about the state of body and mind. From a broad sense, the Ki can be described as
follows:
¡ Source of all things
¡ Vital force
¡ Spirit
¡ Vitality
¡ Element to describe the movement and state of mind
¡ Even if you can not be seen, can be sensed or detected
¡ Have a special relationship with the breathing

21. 気について
¡ From the point of view of Kendo speeches in Brazil that indicates for
practicing Kendo is necessary to discipline the 'Spirit' before the body,
and in this sense they use the word Ki for designate it.
¡ For the other side, in Japan the term in reference to designate 'Spirit'
is 「精神」；however, sometimes we can understand the Ki as
‘spirit’, but in this case the conceptualization is a little bit narrow
compared with 'vital energy' – more broader – because we can feel
and think it in ambience-agency of humans and non humans in
general.
¡ Taking the 'vital energy' as a definition, all living beings have it and
the particularity of Kendo is presented in the attention to make it
bigger. The concept of Ki operates mainly in terms of strength or
weakness of the body. It is also seen as a power that animates the body
and allows the action, carrying in its development intentionality or
'vitality’.

22. 気について
¡ The important thing to keep is the exchange of Ki, 「気が合
う」necessarily involves a form of conduit that allows a direct
sensory mode of exchange of affects. This is different of
feelings mediating by through the mind, in the westerns
thoughts.
¡ Significantly, there is no word for 'mind' in the Japanese
language in common usage. There is, however, a concept that is
larger than (and includes) the mind called kokoro「心」.
Since the referential sphere of kokoro subsumes the micro-sphere
of the mind, this means that Japanese language and
behavior explicitly look at exchange of affects. A process that
pass through mind while at the same time pass through
Kokoro. In other words, a balance between Heart and Mind,
Nature and Culture can be found.

23. Still about kinship – Conclusion
¡ From this point we can see the mistake of anthropologists
and social scientists to think Ie is due largely to disregard
the analysis of what is conceived as a body, Seishin and Ki as
this largely makes the kinship works. The body 「体」 for
Japanese culture is something constructed from birth until
death. The Seishin「精神」on the other hand, what would
be the spirit, need a constant recognition. The Ki 「気」 on
the other side indicates a notion of vital energy, largely
related to elements that are not taken into account in
kinship analysis, continually folding on culture and nature.

24. ¡ What analysts see as kinship as culture, is something folds
constantly on nature in Japan. Is believed that the bodies
are different, the spirits are different, but this difference
does not lie in culture or in nature, but in both at the same.
¡ The question here is admitting in a sense, only with a
balance between a folding nature in culture and a culture in
nature, social life is possible. Kinship is possible. A given
humanity is possible.

25. ¡ What is ‘given’ and what is ‘made’? Depends. Depends on
the relationships from which Kinship is done, as of possible
folds between nature and culture to the case analyzed. All
account for this relationship, not just the blood, the body or
the soul, or the land, the house and the plants and flowers.
The Japanese Kinship puts this kind of problem and
difficulty. It depends; maybe is a graceful and wise solution.
¡ On the other hand, the idea of mutuality of being is quite
interesting to think about the way in which kinship
relationships are made in Japan, including non-Japanese;
persons involved intrinsically in the existence of other
people, living lives of others and share other’s deaths. In
short, and above all, the experience of these people shows
participation into the other’s lives.

26. ¡ The Ie can be socially constructed as genealogically; can be
interpreted as an emphasis on biological, at birth, the role of
man and woman, body transformations, and ancestors and
substances, including the Spirit, blood, semen. In the
postnatal moment: residence, reincarnation, adoption,
friendship, shared suffering. And ideologies such as schools,
lineages, age groups, gods, spirits, etc.
¡ Well, the human being - or ningen 「人間」- is a space
into person. A moment, filled by others, relationships,
family relationships, substance, morals, ways of life, agency,
nature, culture. What would be the Ie, for a kinship? Most
likely a fill through inter mutually involved things and
persons. More than mutuality of being, perhaps would be
more appropriate to think about mutuality of become
relatives. Maybe here is the detail.

27. Thank you very much for your attention
Gil Vicente Lourencao
gilvicenteworks@gmail.com
gilvicenteworks.wordpress.com
ufscar.academia.edu/GilVicenteLourencao
PhD candidate in Social Anthropology
Post Ph.D. candidate – Tsukuba University
ABEJ - Brazilian Association of Japanese Studies
LEM - Laboratory of Immigration Studies-UFSCAR
ABA - Brazilian Association of Anthropology
ABMON - Association of Students Monbukagakusho
日本武道学会- Japanese Academy of Budo