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13 Things 2008
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]
After sitting for a few minutes in seiza, my back is sounding all sorts of alarms. My legs fall asleep, but my spine wants to be clear that this position wasn't working. Not to mention my toes, which just quiver, shocked by the cruelty.
If you're perfectly comfortable, then you may be thinking that I'm just out of shape or inflexible.
And I may be both of those things, but nevertheless I feel that if an individual's lack of flexibility could make sitting in seiza desperately uncomfortable, then Japan could never have sustained a floor-sitting culture for very long, at least not through a generation's mid-fifties.