Japanese sitting techniques and rules

I personally hate Seiza and I think it is bad for your legs. But Seiza is a formal way of sitting during the tea ceremony and other formal events such as martial arts. If you are not used to sitting in this style, you will start to feel the pain..after a few minutes. My non-Japanese mother discouraged us from sitting in this posture because she strongly believed that this was bad for our legs.

I found this product that is incredibly smart..if you use this “seiza bench”, weight in your hips wouldn’t hurt your legs as much..so it is less stressful even if you want to sit in this traditional posture.

If you play martial arts, Seiza is a traditional and formal way of sitting at floor level. Some of my classmates’ parents were making their kids sit properly on the floor, which is to sit in Seiza..of course without this seiza bench. I guess you get used to it as you practice but I don’t even attempt at this point.