Mokutou! (黙祷）

Tonight on the news I heard the call, "Mokutou!" at least two times. First, it was a moment of prayer by the rescue workers in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, as they have tried to find survivors from the big earthquake last week. Second, the same call was heard as the survivors in Okinawa (NHK video), southern Japan, marked that it is 63 years since the end of the final battle there.

Mokutou means something like silent prayer, or a silent minute. I searched a bit using google and found a nice thread on a judo/aikido blog called E-Budo, where people discuss what this moment of silence means to them. It is often called mokusou in the martial arts world, and could be called "meditation", according to some.

(Another commentator was reminded of "furitama": shaking the balls, an exercise with a specifically religious aim, at least in the beginning.)

Blogger Markaso notes: "In my Dojo, where we practice Go Jyu Ryu, we do a Mokusou before and after a practice. My Sensei in Kyoto, come to think of it nor does my Shihan in Kyushu, really do not tell the student what to think, not think, focus, not focus on, But I used it for many a things. For example I would use it as a focusing time for the upcoming practice, a thanking time to my Sensei, throwing away my stress before a practice time as well as a host of other things. We did not do any kind of mantra or chant. Very silent we were."

I really feel the need for this collective moment of slowing down. On a large scale. Or maybe I just need a summer vacation. As a people, we need opportunities to stop everything we are doing, even just for a short while, and think. And then, to not think. Time-out!

(Photo from the Buddy Sport Club in Yokohama, Japan)