The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of moral education

No competing interests have been declared. Publisher: Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 PL License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/), which permits redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, provided that the article is properly cited. © The Author(s) 2019. Tereza Nakaya


Introduction
T he conference "The Soul in the Axiosphere -The Axiosphere of the Soul", which was held in October 2017 in Warsaw, led me to reflections on what the "soul" amounts to in the Japanese environment. It first led me to rethink what duše means in Czech and soul in English, and what relationship these words have to other words in their semantic group (heart, spirit, mind, etc.); what expressions correspond to them in the Japanese context and, especially, what values they carry and are related to. It became apparent that in the Japanese environment the most suitable concept in the axiological context is KOKORO.1 The following text presents the results of an analysis of axiological aspects of the Japanese concept KOKORO in the discourse of modern moral education. This focus was motivated 1 The entire text uses the following graphic distinction: for the phenomenon denoted -the denotation, a non-highlighted font is used ("kokoro"). The concept related to the denotation is marked in capital letters ("KOKORO"), while the related lexeme -word is marked in italics ("kokoro"). The romanization of Japanese follows the English Hepburn romanization; Chinese is transcribed with pinyin romanization. The order of Japanese names is surname -name. Tereza Nakaya is a teacher of Japanese at the Department of Asian Studies at the Palacký University in Olomouc (Czech Republic). In her research she focuses on cognitive semantics based on theoretical and methodological approaches of cultural linguistics and cognitively oriented (ethno)linguistics. She is a PhD candidate in General Linguistics at the Department of General Linguistics at the same university and works on her dissertation devoted to the reconstruction of the linguistic image of the Japanese concept KOKORO. e-mail: tereza.nakaya@upol.cz

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… Page 4 of 22 emotionality -feeling, experiencing and perception. Kokoro thus often stands in opposition to body (karada, mi); such examples can be found in phraseology, as well as in poetry, etc.
(see Nakaya, 2017). In addition, it stands in opposition to head (atama), although the semantic profiles of the lexeme kokoro include both the emotional and the rational profile. The emotional profile is, however, prevalent in various contexts of common usage of this word in present-day Japanese. Japanese linguist Ikegami Yoshihiko (Ikegami, 2008, p. 186) observes that, in modern Japanese, native speakers collocate the word kokoro with the verb feel (kanjiru), while the verb think (kangaeru) collocates with head (atama); that is, "the Japanese feel with kokoro and think with head" (kokoro de kanjiru atama de kangaeru). Likewise, Japanese researcher Nakano Shigeru (Nakano, 1997, p. 3) mentions that "kokoro leans more toward the emotional sense of heart rather than the 'rational' sense of mind".
In the scholarly discourse the lexeme kokoro is used as a term in psychology and philosophy, where it functions as an equivalent for mind and is defined as "a complex of feeling, thinking, reasoning, remembering, will and interest" (Maeno, 2010, p. 9).

What is in the soul: kokoro in an interlingual comparison
Considering the range of meanings of the lexeme kokoro, it is hardly surprising that it is not easy to translate. In addition, it belongs to the semantic field related to such abstract phenomena and processes as feeling, thinking, experiencing, reasoning, etc. When translated into foreign languages, the word kokoro is rendered by various expressions, but is frequently not translated at all, particularly in collocations and phrasemes.5 In the case of Czech and English, its translation is based on the particular usage and the semantic profile foregrounded in the Japanese source text. emotional profile (CZ: srdce; EN: heart). Bearing in mind that this seeming equivalence will not be fully functional in individual language realizations, it is possible to assign Czech and English equivalents of kokoro (provided in the brackets) within these profiles. This hypothesis has to be thoroughly verified, but only after the verification of the indicated profiles on the basis of systemic and textual data.
On the other hand, when considering the Japanese equivalent of the Czech word duše, one may choose in particular from the expressions kokoro, seishin, tamashii or reikon.
It is, however, important to keep in mind that the Czech lexeme also has various semantic profiles. Czech linguist Irena Vaňková (Vaňková, 2016, p. 277) lists five of them: the physiological profile, the psychological profile, the socio-psychological profile, the ethical profile and the spiritual/transcendental profile. A translation equivalent is, then, selected based on the semantic profile within the semantic structure of duše which prevails in the particular context. If the prevalent profile is the psychological, the socio-psychological or the ethical one, kokoro is one of the possible translation equivalents, another being the Sino-Japanese expression seishin 'soul/psyche'. If, on the other hand, the usage of duše in a particular context is motivated by the spiritual profile, this lexeme will probably be translated into Japanese as tamashii or reikon (soul in the transcendental sense), which -unlike the expressions kokoro and seishin -refer to the "soul leaving the body".

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of…  (Wierzbicka, 1992) deals in detail with the meaning of the Russian word dusha (as well as dukh and serdce) compared to the English soul, mind and heart, and the German Seele, and the difficulty when translating them. She also discusses the changes in the content of those concepts over time and offers their comparative analysis.
She mentions, for instance, that the older English "mind had both a spiritual and a psychological dimension" and "was clearly linked with emotions" (Wierzbicka, 1992, pp. 44-45). As far as the Russian word dusha is concerned, Wierzbicka remarks that "the Russian duša [dusha] is used very widely and can refer to virtually all aspects of a person's personality: feelings, thoughts, will, knowledge, inner speech, ability to think" (Wierzbicka, 1992, p. 52). The wide conception of a person's inner world in the Russian DUSHA is similar to the richness of KOKORO -kokoro refers to emotions, feelings, experiencing, reasoning, will, etc. (see above) and incorporates (some) meanings of the English mind and heart.
The following is a short comparison of the Japanese kokoro with the Chinese word xin.
The word kokoro is usually written in Japanese with the syllabic alphabet hiragana or with the Chinese character bearing the meaning 'heart', derived from a picture of the heart muscle (see Fig. 4). The Sino-Japanese reading of the character is shin (Chinese: xin).

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… Page 7 of 22 Chinese cognitive linguist Ning Yu (Yu, 2009, pp. 302-303) observes that "[t]he heartmind dichotomy traditionally held by Western cultures, in which the heart is taken as the seat of emotion and feeling whereas the mind is the place for thought and reason, does not exist in traditional Chinese culture". He continues to note that "[i]n traditional Chinese culture, the heart is the locus of both affective and cognitive activities. Therefore, it is roughly equivalent to 'heart' and 'mind' conceptualized in English". This categorization, in the Chinese cultural context, corresponds to the concept of the Japanese KOKORO, which is not, however, fully equivalent to the Chinese XIN. The Japanese word kokoro, unlike the Chinese xin, does not include the meaning of the heart as an organ.6 Further differences are apparent even at the level of abstract meaning (for a comparison of kokoro and xin cf. e.g. Morimoto, 1985, pp. 85-86). A comparison of the English mind and heart with kokoro has been conducted for instance by Nakano (Nakano, 1997) and Morimoto Tetsurō (Morimoto, 1985), who also compared it with other English lexemes: heart, soul, mind, spirit. Nakano observes that compared to the English MIND, KOKORO is a more "comprehensive and holistic concept, [as] it covers both mind and heart, i.e. the whole body of the inner-state or psyche" (Nakano, 1997, p. 3).
Like Yu (Yu, 2009), Nakano also discusses the difference between English and Japanese concepts in relation to western-style thinking and different cultural environment.
It is apparent that the conceptualization of the inner state of a human being embodied by the Japanese concept KOKORO is based on the domestic or wider Asian cultural tradition, philosophy and the view of human beings and their inner world. This conceptualization is in many aspects shared by Chinese and Japanese cultures, although there are noticeable differences between their conceptions of the inner life/mental space of a human being. Both Eastern conceptions differ from the view of the inner state of a person in Western thinking. It is nevertheless possible to find certain similarities between the conceptualization of the person's inner world in Russian or Old English and Japanese (and Chinese). The similarity between the Russian DUSHA and the Japanese KOKORO lies specifically in the fact that both languages, and respectively also both cultures, basically combine in one concept what the English environment divides into two concepts, MIND and HEART (and SOUL), and for which the Czech environment uses the concepts of MYSL and SRDCE (and DUŠE). When comparing DUŠE (SOUL) with KOKORO, it is important to realize that the spiritual/transcendental viewpoint is not applied here. A more detailed comparison shall be, also in this particular case, the subject of further research.

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… Page 9 of 22 students. These were attributed among other things to the decreasing morality of students and insufficient moral education. There was an increasing number of cases where students stopped attending school, as well as increasing numbers of student suicides, cases of violence at schools among students and bullying. In this context, Japanese philosopher Takahashi Tetsuya (Takahashi, 2003, p. 28) uses the expression kokoro no are 'a storm in kokoro'.
The state administration began to advocate the introduction of strict moral education at schools as of the 1990s. In this regard, Professor of Sino-Japanese Relations at the University of Leeds Caroline Rose (Rose, 2006, p. 132) mentions not only "moral education", but also "patriotic education". She argues that the state's effort to introduce education focused on this area has to be viewed within the framework of the complete reformation of the Japanese education system taking place as a result of social, political and economic changes in Japan. Like Takahashi (Takahashi, 2003), Rose (Rose, 2006) also mentions the end of the Cold War and globalization as global factors. In relation to globalization, the aim of the new moral education was to raise students to be proud citizens of the Japanese state, loyal to their country and helping Japan succeed in the twenty-first century international competition of the globalized world (Rose, 2006;Takahashi, 2003). It should be added that the promotion of the new moral education and strengthening of patriotism amongst students were sought out at the turn of the twenty-first century especially by conservative right-wing political parties and their supporters or various conservative clubs and associations (e.g. Rose, 2006;Takahashi, 2003). This fact needs to be taken into account particularly in relation to the emphasis these circles place on Japanese traditional culture and values, and domestic tradition. The opponents of this approach and of related study materials note parallels with the pre-war moral education (the so-called shūshin kyōiku) -stressing patriotism and domestic tradition (e.g. Higashi, 2008;Takahashi, 2003) -and with obvious neo-nationalist tendencies.
In view of the social changes mentioned above, emphasis began to be placed on moral and domestic values not only in the area of education, but also in society in general.

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… Page 10 of 22 the decline of social morality and disintegration of traditional values; its objective is to build a sense of morality in citizens and the future generation and to raise the young generation towards social responsibility by fostering a spirit of non-material (spiritual) values.
Another organization worth mentioning, whose establishment in 2015 is also connected with Ishihara Shintarō, is the conservative (ultra right-wing) political party called "The Party that Values Japan's Kokoro" (Nippon no kokoro o taisetsu ni suru tō).9 The first point of its political programme10 declares that the party "shall strive for its own (Japanese) constitution which shall respect the individuality of the country with a rich culture and history, as well as the kokoro of its people; a constitution drafted by the Japanese".11 As can be seen, then, since the turn of the millennium the lexeme kokoro has appeared as a term in various (educational) programmes, as well as in the names of -mostly conservative, right-wing -organizations, including a political party. Typical rhetorical contexts of this discourse concern a turn to real values (attitudes to a person and his/her needs), traditional Japanese values and domestic traditions.

KOKORO in the discourse of moral education (a key word)
Moral education, whose strict re-introduction was promoted in Japan under the influence of social, political and economic changes in the late twentieth century (see above), is referred to in Japanese with the neutral term dōtoku kyōiku or with the euphemism kokoro no kyōiku (literally 'education of kokoro/education of the mind'). Apart from this, within the discourse of the "new" moral education of the early twenty-first century, the lexeme kokoro is also found in the collocation yutaka na kokoro (literally 'rich kokoro'), which is another key concept (discussed in more detail below). In addition, the twenty-first century is referred to in various contexts as kokoro no jidai (literally 'a time of/for kokoro'), that is, a time when kokoro shall be emphasized and the values related to it shall play an important role.
In the discourse of moral education (kokoro no kyōiku), kokoro has been a key word since the turn of the millennium and as such has even been used in the titles of moral education study materials. These include a series of textbooks entitled Kokoro no nōto (known 9 In 2017, the party shortened its name to "The Party for Japanese Kokoro" (Nippon no kokoro). 10 https://nippon-kokoro.jp/ (accessed 10 August 2017). 11 The current (post-war) Japanese constitution was drafted by the American occupation administration and enacted in 1947.

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… In his observations concerning the Kokoro no nōto series, Takahashi (Takahashi, 2003, pp. 108-110) writes about "kind nationalism" (yasashii nashonarizumu) and uses the expression "kokorogy" (kokorojī) or "kokoroism" (kokoroshugi) for the state's strategy aiming to implement the policy for enhancement of nationalism through pleasant and agreeable expressions, such as kokoro, present in these textbooks. Researcher at Miyazaki International College Debra Occhi (Occhi, 2008, p. 204), in turn, observes that the lexeme kokoro appears in Japanese songs and textbooks "as part of an implicit cognitive cultural model for ideal Japanese society" and, like Takahashi, notes that expressions containing kokoro are used in this discourse to promote cultural ideology (Occhi, 2008, p. 207). The study material, Kokoro no nōto, was published in four volumes covering all grades of the nine-year compulsory education.13 They have been officially approved as auxiliary study material for moral education to be widely used not only in moral education and other classes at schools, but also outside school, for instance in the home environment. As for the official aim of the new textbooks, the publisher states that they "were created with the aim of fulfilling the education of kokoro" (MEXT, 2009a, p. 105), that is, moral education.

Page 12 of 22
It is also the wish of the authors "that the children discover their own self and build a rich kokoro" (MEXT, 2009a, p. 105), and they invite the children's carers (teachers, parents, etc.) "to cooperate and collaborate towards making Kokoro no nōto a unique world's treasure" (MEXT, 2009a, p. 105). Developing a rich kokoro is the task of making students become proud Japanese of the twenty-first century, and the Kokoro no nōto textbooks shall raise such Japanese and form their kokoro (mind) (Nihonjin no kokoro) (Takahashi, 2003, p. 34).
The expression rich kokoro (yutaka na kokoro) is a key term in modern Japanese moral education and appears in its methodology, which calls for developing a rich kokoro and structures it as follows (Oda, quoted in Takahashi, 2003, p. 33): (1) KOKORO of introspection (working on oneself), (2) KOKORO of being kind and thoughtful to others, (3) KOKORO of being genuinely touched by the beautiful and the noble, (4) open KOKORO of being altruistic to the world, others and the public.
The structure of Kokoro no nōto follows this methodology and the four volumes of the textbook are divided into four sections: (1) MYSELF (attitude to one's self -raising self-awareness), (2) ME and OTHERS (attitude to others -living together), The textbook series has aroused criticism and is considered very controversial (e.g. Higashi, 2008;Occhi, 2008;Rose, 2006;Takahashi, 2003), particularly in the case of section four, concerning the theme of love for one's hometown and homeland. The critics notice parallels with the prewar Japanese moral education, shūshin kyōiku, and are concerned about covert promotion of neo-nationalist tendencies (Takahashi, 2003). One of the means of implementing this policy is the rhetoric of these textbooks, where the content is expressed in positive or neutral words and phrases with kokoro being the key one.

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The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… Page 13 of 22

Axiological aspects of KOKORO in moral education
It is evident that at the beginning of the twenty-first century kokoro is one of the key words of Japanese moral education (see the above-mentioned expressions kokoro no kyōiku, yutaka na kokoro, Kokoro no nōto). A passage from the introduction to the first volume of Kokoro no nōto, intended for students of the first and second grades of primary schools, reads: "Let us raise beautiful kokoro (for ourselves)" (Utsukushii kokoro o sodateyō) (MEXT, 2009a, pp. 4-5).
The opening motto of volume two (for the third and fourth grades of primary schools) is The analysis follows the structure of the textbooks, which are divided into four sections according to the methodology of moral education (as explained above).

MYSELF (attitude to one's self -raising self-awareness)
The The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… • to observe and discover (one's) kokoro (jibun no kokoro o mitsumeru) In the volume intended for students of the fifth and sixth grades of primary schools (MEXT, 2009c, pp. 36-37), the first section contains the metaphor KOKORO = BICYCLE, accompanied by a picture of a boy and a girl riding a bicycle down the road. Featuring a number of questions, the page encourages children not to be spoiled, to act responsibly and for themselves, and not to rely on help from or rescue by others: Can you control the handlebars of kokoro, the pedals of kokoro and the brakes of kokoro properly? (Kokoro no handoru, kokoro no pedaru, kokoro no burēki, shikkari to kontorōru dekite imasu ka?) According to this metaphor, kokoro is a machine or mechanism that may be controlled and one needs to learn how to control it.

ME and OTHERS (attitude to others -living together)
The second section, which deals with the relationship between the individual and others,

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… In each volume of the analysed series, section two specifically emphasizes the values of thoughtful/empathetic kokoro (omoiyari no kokoro), warm/affable kokoro (atatakai kokoro) and wide/open/generous kokoro (hiroi kokoro). In the volume for students of the third and fourth grades of primary schools (MEXT, 2009b, pp. 40-41), the first one, thoughtful kokoro (omoiyari no kokoro), is described in greater detail as a combination of the following three parts, or three kokoro: • kokoro willing to help (tasuketai to omou kokoro) • kokoro willing to rejoice together (issho ni yorokobitaku naru kokoro) • attentive kokoro = not indifferent towards others (kizukaō to suru kokoro) The second section also includes several metaphors, for instance GREETING (aisatsu) = is not only about using words, and that when communicating one needs to think about one's partner, select words appropriately and convey and receive information with discretion.

LOVING LIFE (esteem and respect for life and nature)
In the third section, students are supposed to learn to respect nature and hold life in high In the third volume of Kokoro no nōto, this section emphasises the relationship between beautiful nature and beautiful (human) kokoro. In particular, it claims that "beautiful nature will make your kokoro beautiful" (utsukushii shizen wa, anata no kokoro o utsukushiku shimasu) (MEXT, 2009b, p. 65). Once achieved, (one's own) beautiful kokoro further influences others, who can thus also become people with beautiful kokoro: "if we encounter beautiful kokoro, our kokoro becomes even more beautiful" (utsukushii kokoro ni deau to, watashitachi no kokoro wa sara ni utsukushiku narimasu) (MEXT, 2009b, p. 67).
A particularly complex expression is "kokoro in kokoro", which stresses the importance of beautiful kokoro and means that the human ability to feel and perceive someone's warm-heartedness and the ability to become touched by something depend on whether we ourselves have a beautiful kokoro, or, more precisely, whether we have a good heart (=good kokoro) in our heart (=our kokoro): "when encountering someone's beautiful kokoro, (our) kokoro is moved (= touched), because there is beautiful kokoro in our kokoro" (hito no utsukushii kokoro ni furete kokoro ga ugoku no wa, watashitachi no kokoro no naka ni utsukushii kokoro ga aru kara desu) (MEXT, 2009b, p. 66).

KOKORO of loving one's hometown and homeland
The last and the most controversial section of the analysed textbooks, which is the most criticised part of the series (see e.g. Takahashi, 2003), is devoted to the individual's relationship to the wider community, such as their (home)town, the region, the country/homeland.
With regard to this section, critics have pointed out the excessive encouragement of patri-

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… Page 17 of 22 otism and the tendency to develop love for the homeland among children, that is, kokoro loving one's homeland (meaning both the region and the country) (aikokushin),14 as well as links to pre-war moral education shūshin (kyōiku) based on the fact that the state strives to control the children's minds (kokoro) and subtly direct their reasoning in a set direction (Takahashi, 2003, pp. 34-35). In the view of the critics, the covert objective of the textbooks is to impose a unified collective mind. This section emphasises love for one 's homeland and domestic tradition, respect and tolerance, compliance with rules and keeping promises, (social) responsibility and morality. These values and their observance create a state of harmony (WA) in society, which is one of the Japanese key social concepts. According to the critics, the intention of the authors (the Ministry) is to use them as a means to mould an ideal, conscientious and loyal (obedient) citizen of twenty-first century Japanese society, who will be fully aware of his/her role in society (e.g. Takahashi, 2003). In the text of the last section, kokoro appears in the following collocations: • kokoro for public morality = the sense of public morality ( 14 Shin is the Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese character used to render the word kokoro in script.

Tereza Nakaya
The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… Page 18 of 22 Although leading students to realize the values of their homeland and to respect its traditional culture might not be wrong as such, the way this is done in the analysed textbooks is too direct and one-sided: they only present selected positive (and stereotypical) aspects and do not mention any potentially negative considerations, or include any call for deeper reflection or discussion. The lexeme kokoro appears extremely frequently in the analysed study material, both in fixed phrasemes or collocations and in a number of instances of its innovative usage. All the verbs and adjectives collocating with the lexeme kokoro carry positive meanings.

Conclusion
Kokoro itself is considered a positive value and the textbooks present the students with the kind of kokoro they should have. In contrast, they rarely mention what kokoro they should not have -what kokoro is undesirable for them. The analysed texts are formulated Tereza Nakaya The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of… (3) character, personality, our essence, character traits.
Out of the proposed semantic profiles of kokoro (see above), it is mainly the psychological, pro-social and emotional profiles that appear in the discourse of moral education.
In the analysed material, the concept KOKORO is unambiguously connected to positive values and occurs exclusively in positive domains. These are the personal level and the related qualities of modesty, purposefulness, (social) responsibility, positive approach, friendliness, kindness and obedience, as well as the pro-social level and the related positive qualities, such as thoughtfulness, helpfulness, gratitude, generosity, altruism, decency and politeness, and the pro-cultural/pro-national, patriotic level, involving values such as loyalty, respect, devotion, responsibility and morality. All these values are expressed through the lexeme kokoro. According to the methodology of the Japanese Ministry of Education, a person possessing all the qualities mentioned is "a person with rich kokoro".
Depending on the context, the Czech equivalents of the lexeme kokoro in particular cases of its usage in the analysed texts would include: postoj, přístup, duch, povaha, srdce and duše. However, some of them would seem unnatural or even forced in translation.
The analysis has presented the polysemy of kokoro and demonstrated that in the discourse of modern Japanese moral education KOKORO can be classified as a key concept.