Seiza

Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo at New World Stages. Photo by Russ Rowland

If you ever saw Canadian rakugoka, or traditional comic storyteller, Katsura Sunshine, perform live, you may have heard him use a particular makura, or prelude, to introduce the audience to the various elements of rakugo.

Part of the prologue goes something like this:

“When we perform rakugo, we sit in a special way.

In Japanese, we call this seiza.

In English, we call this punishment.”

Even if this foreigner's perspective makes the audience chuckle, it's probably because they can relate to what he's saying.

In Japan, seiza, which is pronounced SAY-(ee)-zah, is the formal way of sitting. It involves adopting a specific posture in a kneeled position to convey respect. It developed among samurai during the Edo period (1603-1868) and was later adopted by the general population.

Prior to the Edo period, there were no standard postures for sitting on the floor. Although seiza still referred to "correct sitting," it took various forms. The most common way of sitting was agura (胡坐), or cross-legged. In fact, if you look at formal portraits produced prior to the Edo period, you will often find the samurai sitting in this position. Other ways of sitting included tatehiza (立て膝), or with one knee raised and wariza (割座), or sitting to the side. The seiza position we are familiar with today was called kiza (危座).

Toyotomi Hideyoshi portrait (1598), Kōdai-ji Temple, Kyoto. (Public domain)

Sitting in the seiza style requires the person to kneel on the floor, fold their knees under their thighs, and place their buttocks on their heels. Long-term sitting in this posture usually results in decreased blood flow and numbness in the legs. Why then did the Japanese develop this uncomfortable, formal sitting posture that makes it hard to stand up?

In order to understand this, we have to examine what happened during the Edo period.

After defeating the Western Army in The Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) ushered in a period of peace by putting an end to the era of ceaseless civil wars and upheavals. He was given the title of shogun (military governor) by Emperor Go-Yōzei and he proceeded to unite Japan under his control. Ieyasu established the conditions under which Japan enjoyed 260 years of peace and stability.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (Early Edo period). (Public domain)

However, it is not to say that the transition was easy. Ieyasu was always concerned that the feudal lords, or daimyo, might turn against him. He instituted the Sankin kōtai system, which compelled the daimyo to spend several months a year in the Tokugawa capital of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) in order to reduce the likelihood of a revolt. When the daimyo returned to their fiefs, they were required to leave their wives and families behind in Edo. This arrangement guaranteed the daimyo's continuous subordination to the Tokugawa shogunate.

However, Ieyasu remained worried that when the daimyo gathered at the capital and sat facing him, one could boldly charge toward him with his sword drawn. This was when seiza was adopted in Edo. If the samurai sat in this position while meeting with Ieyasu, their legs would be too numb to get up and attack the shogun.

Eventually, what started out as Tokogawa Ieyasu's defensive strategy became standard Japanese manners. These days, sitting in seiza style is used in the traditional performing arts, tea ceremonies, shodō (calligraphy), ikebana (flower arrangement), and Japanese martial arts among others.