Introduction
Approximately 1400 years ago,  infighting broke out within the Yamato tribal clan.  In 592, the fighting ended with Shotoku Taishi as ruler and a new Japan was about to emerge.  Upon becoming ruler, Shotoku opened direct relations with China through which Japan received Confucian morality and law.  A Confucian constitution emerged from Prince Shotoku asserting as its first of seventeen articles that “Wa is most important”, a tenet that is still famous in Japan today (Littlejohn; Wetherall, 1991).  Often defined as harmony, the concept of “wa” has found a home in many aspects of Japan today.  Within the martial arts and the martial art community,  wa has taken on an important role and has expanded to become a cherished national ethic for Japanese society as a whole.

This essay explores how the concept of wa can be applied to not only the martial arts community but also to martial arts itself.  An understanding of the mental aspects of harmony as well as the corporeal qualities can aid the martial artist.  This concept of wa can also carry over to society.  Wa has become a key word in Japan, an ideal which governs their society.  However, the concept has yet to find home in western society.

Defining “Wa”
Since Shotoku’s first article in his constitution over 1400 years ago, wa has been translated as harmony and peace (O’Neill, 1973).  However, prior to the influence of Confucian teachings,  wa was translated as circles.  While on the surface these two definitions might seem very different, the underlying themes of both are similar.  Webster defines circle as “a closed plane curve…, a structure with no set beginning or end point, a continuous form”(Circle, 1995).  Harmony denotes tranquillity, however, the connotation is of a continuous flow, no disruptions or breaks (Harmony, 1995).  When Confucian morality was first introduced to Japan, it was as an imposed article of Shotoku’s consitiution.   It seems highly unlikely that overnight it replaced the original definition of wa (Itagaki, 2001).  A much more likely explanation is that over time the meaning behind wa expanded.  It still held the corporeal definition of a circle but began to take on the less tangible meaning of harmony.  A circle can be viewed as a physical representation of harmony.

Wa Within the Martial Arts Community
Throughout hundreds of years various martial arts have developed, each with different emphases and thoughts on techniques and approaches, however, many of the moral and ethical issues remain the same.  The importance of wa in the martial arts community lies in its universal applications. Wa can be applied in both the physical arena and the realms of thought within the martial arts community.

The less corporeal aspects of harmony are the concepts that are most prevalent in all areas of the martial arts community.  Bushido, the way of the warrior, taught that composure, calmness and tranquillity(harmony/peace) are important to a warrior.  He states that these traits “could not be bothered by any kind of feelings or passions" (Nitobe, 1969).  The mind of the warrior must be at peace, all background  thoughts and emotions should be silenced.  According to Bushido, harmony is not only a physical state but also a state of mind.  Many systems within the martial arts community have tried to incorporate this ideal.

The physical aspect of harmony is as a desired state of community.  The warrior caste in Japan was meant to ensure peace and harmony.  Although this was accomplished through conflict, the force used was just enough to return to the state of harmony and peace. Harmony is one focus of many martial arts and the community is to maintain that harmony.

Incorporating Wa into Martial Arts
The importance of wa in the martial arts community seems to stem from the cultivation of it within the separate martial arts.  It is the impact of wa upon the students that leads them to embrace this ethic and to apply to the martial arts community.  Wa is common ground  among students of the varied martial arts.  In order to incorporate wa into martial arts and ultimately keep its importance in the community, we need to start by cultivating it within the students.  To accomplish this outcome we need to examine wa both at its physical and most tangible as well as its importance in the less tangible arena.

The most tangible aspect of wa within any martial art is found in techniques.  Regardless of the martial art, techniques require a physical harmony to drive them effectively.  As Yokoyama (1910) describes in judo“in order to throw him while you yourself keep your natural posture you must have all your bones and muscles developed in good harmony so that you may have them under control.”

Not only is the physical harmony of yourself crucial but also to be in harmony with your opponent.  A student can view being in harmony with your opponent as a coexisting relationship.  The student should move with their opponent, not waste their strength trying to constantly resist the technique of their opponent.  As we see in the definition of both circle and harmony, there are no disruptions in flow.  Bruce Lee emphasized the concept of becoming the complement of your opponent, absorbing his attack and using his force to overcome him (Hyams, 1982).  It is through techniques that we can begin to impress the importance of wa within students.

As we find in the writings of Bushido, tranquillity or harmony cannot be bothered by emotions.  Wa is a mental state of a warrior not to be disrupted. However, as Hyams (1982) points out “the instant you become conscious of trying for harmony and make an effort to achieve it, that very thought interrupts the flow and the mind blocks.”  Therefore, it is important to point out to a student that harmony is not achieved by focusing on it, rather one must stop being self-conscious and concentrate on the task in front of them. By combining both technique and learned principle, it is possible to begin to integrate wa within the mind and body of the students. Since students eventually define the path which a martial art will follow, it is important that the student is aided in making the transition from mere memorization and physical practice to an integration of wa into all aspects of their lives.

Wa within Society
One of the first areas of society to incorporate wa as harmony was within chado, the Way of Tea.  Harmony along with purity, simplicity and respect are the Ways. When Japanese and Western students of the tea ceremony were asked why take up the art of tea ceremony, the answer was that chado furthered them in their search for harmony.  But what did “harmony” mean to these students?  While the western students defined harmony to mean a sense of inner contentment, the Japanese students defined it as the capacity to get along with others, to give up self for the larger group (Lowry, 1995).  It was this difference in definition that defines why both natives and foreigners often refer to Japan as the “Country of Wa”.

Often, it is thought that this reference to Japan as the country of wa came from a society forced into mutual accommodation by nature of it large population  being crowded into a limited land space. However, wa has been a social guide long before the overpopulation of Japan occurred. Rather society’s tendency toward preserving wa came as a direct result of those early imposed Confucian teachings that guided Shotoku’s constitution some 1400 years ago. Wa has permeated Japanese society since its inception.

The presence of wa in the society and especially the community for the last 1400 years has been credited as the reason why Japan has such a low crime rate. The crime statistics in Japan are much lower than the US, yet Japan has one-third as many police officers per capita, one-fifth as many judges and 1/20 as many jail cells.  Based on the crime statistics in US cities, it would seem only natural that in such a crowded atmosphere that there would be a higher incidence of crime.  Reid (1999) credits a tradition of mutual respect mixed with fear of shame that keeps people in line.  According to Reid (1999), wa can be defined as social harmony; “the mellow feeling that comes when people are getting along.”.  It is this desire to preserve social harmony that dictates the actions of the citizens.  As individuals,  Japanese tend to put the group’s needs ahead of their own.  The group has special significance in Japanese society. The group is your identity, and the groups you belong to make up your identity.  Since everyone in Japanese society is identified with various groups, anything that one person does brings shame to the groups to which they belong.  In Japan, wa tends to win out over all other interests, it is the best way to achieve social harmony, the preeminent social value  (Reid, 1999).

If one does a search on the internet of “wa” and “Japan”, thousands of entries are returned.  The majority of which are the importance of wa in business.  Of all the areas of Japanese society, the area that has become the most vocal proponents of wa was the business community.  The term wa has once again expanded its definition within business.  Harmony has been redefined to mean the “cohesiveness of the team unit”, and is thought to be a major reason for Japan’s economic success (Thuresson, 2000).  The emergence of Japan as a thriving business economy has come in the past half century, and since that emergence the concept of wa has been a business motto.  The concept of wa in business has been taken to such an extent that a large majority of companies have meetings that are predecided.  In order to keep the meetings flowing without interruptions and disagreements any decisions are voted on beforehand.  Decisions to be made are discussed within the company and the best outcome is decided long before the actual meeting takes place (Reid, 1999).  This approach leads to a unanimous outcome, a unified front which makes for the cohesiveness of the team unit (Thuresson, 2000).

One can compare what wa is as a key word in Japanese society to what peace is in Western society, a concept to continually strive to attain.  However, while wa has become the national ethic of Japan, peace has not yet attained that status within Western societies.  Peace is still a word used but not wholly enforced by all aspects of society as the most important goal.  On the surface, the concept of wa as social harmony seems to be the best solution for not only reducing crime but also all other aspects of life, yet why have Western societies not taken a similar path.  One possibility is the threat to individualism.  American individualism is rooted in  a republic tradition where individual participation constitutes public decisions. Socrates symbolized the Western way of thinking in the Criton (Plato, 1999):

“One must not do what one would like to do. Neither must one do what people say. One must do that which upon reasonable examination of oneself proves to be the logos ”.

The concept of wa is not merely an intangible idea but is also rooted within the physical.  The history of the word leaves open to interpretation its meaning within the various aspects of society.  Within the martial arts community, wa is an incorporation of the mind and body.   Within communities, it is a common ethic and state of affairs.  Japanese society has utilized wa in all areas, using it as a guiding principle in running everyday life. Wa has become more than a catch-phrase and gone beyond what peace is to Western society to become a cherished national ethic.

Acknowledgements:  I would like to thank R.K. Hyde and B. Binder for their critique of earlier versions of this paper as well as D. Hofhine for lending out his books.

Works Cited
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