水の心 mizu no kokoro Heart Like Water

水の心 joins 水, water, and 心, the heart, with の between them. The の keeps it clear of 水心, a swimmer's feel for the water. The phrase holds more than one water. In karate it is a still heart that mirrors whatever comes, the calm its teachers stress. In a judo textbook it is the heart of water that flows without stopping, through every season. In a poem set in Japanese school readers it is water that can only be held gently, in cupped hands, and so is a person's heart. Which water you see in it is yours.

The image is older than the phrase: a 万葉集 song likens a clear heart to cold water. The phrase itself is in a love poem of the 古今集 of 905 whose water's heart runs swift, and a Buddhist poem of 1320 lodges the moon in the muddy water's heart; one school of archers' manuscript, a judo textbook of 1920 and karate's English of 1960 use it of the mind in training, and 高田敏子's poem 水のこころ is in a Japanese fifth-grade reader. The reversed 心の水, the heart likened to water, is the headword in the two dictionaries read, from a poem of 1151.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 水の心.

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