Cleaning is one of the most
important traditions of Japanese culture. In Europe rich people had servants
to clean and so cleaning is considered to be a low status job. I noticed
that some Europeans refuse to clean because it is humiliating for them. They
do not mind cooking and making or repairing things but they do not want to
clean.
European
climate is basically hot and dry in summer and cold and humid in winter.
This climate is not very favourable for bacteria so cleaning was not so
important for health. That is why the purpose of cleaning in Europe is to
make things look nice or to be more pleasant.
Japanese
climate is basically hot and wet in summer and cold and dry in winter. This
climate is very good for bacteria and small insects to grow in summer, and
even in winter viruses and the dead bodies of bacteria and small insects can
still cause problems. That is why the purpose of cleaning in Japan was to
create a good environment for health. That is why all Japanese including
poor people had to clean. The difference in purpose also created a different
method of cleaning.
In the
spiritual tradition of Japanese culture, cleaning inside oneself is called
MISOGI and it is one of the main purposes of meditation. It corresponds to
European psychotherapy but with a different theory and methods.
There are many
ways of MISOGI but one of them is cleaning the house or dojo by hand. It is
very important to clean by hand with a damp cloth. There are several reasons
for it.
There is a
common idea that Europe developed dualism. Dualism means yes/no, good/bad,
plus/minus, positive/negative, etc. Almost all Japanese people think that
this dualism can cause conflict inside and outside oneself and they try to
find a solution by unification. The typical idea is, « The absolute universe
is One. Then two opposing forces created the relative world of dualism. »
This shows the typical mistake of most Japanese and Chinese philosophy. This
mistake is a very profound mistake which should be pointed out and
corrected.
It is true that
dualism causes unnecessary conflict and misunderstanding but the solution is
not unification. Dualism is based on the Cartesian coordinate system. If you
make a straight line and put one point on the line, you call the right side
of the point plus and the left side minus. This is the basic mathematical
expression of dualism. Then +1-1= 0 and -(-)1 = +1. This logic came into our
language. Not good means bad. Not bad means good. This is the problem of
dualism.
In the real
world there are three categories, bad, not bad and not good, and good. That
is why not bad does not mean good in the real world. Not good also does not
mean bad. You can see that our language is already based on dualism.
There is an
idea of hygiene. It means to get rid of things which are bad for health.
This idea of hygiene is also based on dualism. They think that they can
create a good environment by getting rid of bad things. They use the logic
of NOT BAD means GOOD. It is surely important to get rid of bad things but
that is not enough. We have to create a good environment.
Life is
basically chemistry. It has to be noted that Science first developed with
chemistry. It is only after Newton that physics became the basis of modern
science. These days chemistry is also based on physics. However real
chemistry is independent of physics. It is a big mistake of modern science
that everything should be justified by physics. Chemistry is based on IONS.
Most life is based on water ions. Water becomes ionised very easily and that
is why water is the basis of life.
2 H2O
becomes H3O+ and OH-. When there are a lot
of water ions in the air, it promotes good health. So the basic way of
creating a good environment is to create more water ions.
Correct
humidity is important for forming water ions. If the air is too dry, there
are less water ions. If the air is too humid, water particles in the air
make a big ball and so there is less surface area in contact with the air,
resulting in less ions. The best humidity is between 50 and 70 percent.
The second
factor is the material inside the house. The materials which let water come
in and go out are wood and plaster. These two materials were used for houses
all over the world. When humidity is high, they absorb water and when the
air is dry, they give water to the air. When wood or plaster give water to
air, they also create water ions. That is why wood and plaster are very good
for health. Plastic often gives a chemical vapour which is bad for health.
Metal gives almost no chemical vapour so metal is not bad but not good
either.
The third
factor is wind. When there is enough humidity in the air, wind can break the
balls of water particles and thus create ions. This is why wind is agreeable
when the humidity is high.
The fourth
factor is cleaning with a damp cloth by hand. The friction of a damp cloth
on the surface of any material creates ions. It is important that the cloth
is not too wet. You have to squeeze the cloth very strongly to get any extra
water out of it. Then it is important to wipe the surface with enough force
to break the water balls. The normal European way of using a wet cloth on a
long stick to clean the floor is useless because the cloth is too wet and
there is not enough friction. Very often you have to use a chemical product
to get rid of dirt and that chemical product is often bad for health. That
is why you have to use only water and wipe vigorously with your hands. You
also have to use both hands to get rid of extra water in the cloth. This is
the traditional Japanese way and it is quite correct scientifically.
It is true that the European climate is so nice that this Japanese way of
cleaning is not absolutely necessary. Still it is always better to create a
good environment for health. Cleaning by hand also gives an opportunity for
meditation. This is MISOGI by cleaning.
DOSHU
道守
(Kenjiro Yoshigasaki)
June 2008
