Karada de Oboeru (kah-rah-dah day Oh-boe-eh-rue) 体で覚える

In martial arts circles Americans are introduced to austere training by the introduction of a practitioner or master standing under a waterfall during the coldest time of year or when they are seen sitting immobile in a seiza position meditating for hours at a time every day to gain "enlightenment."

In Japan athletes, martial artists (swordsman, sumo, etc.) practice all the time; daily, until the body is exhausted - completely. They do all this year after year, day after day and for hours at a time to transcend normal bodily ability so they may achieve a level of proficiency, skill and discipline that is on a metaphysical or spiritual level.

You hear of this type of repetitive practice, the repeating of the physical actions at increasing levels of difficulty, until it becomes instinctive/automatic. This is referred to as "learning with the body" or Karada de Oboeru.

Karada de Oboeru over the centuries became the underlying principle for all arts and skills practiced in Japan. It was martial arts and other arts of like kind that Karada de Oboeru contributed to the most, allowing those properly dedicated souls to achieve skills that seem mystical.

The Japanese have exhibited such skills and artistic endeavors simply because of the culture developed over centuries that are all based on "kata." The kata-izing of martial systems is merely a Japanese cultural instinct that permeates all the things they do. They kata-ize everything in the finest of details that are, to our view, obsessive. It is this obsessiveness that allows them to excel beyond almost everyone else.

Bibliography:
DeMente, Boye Lafayette. "Japan's Cultural Code Words: 233 Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese." Tuttle. Vermont, Tokyo and Singapore. 2004.