Part 2 of 12 構kamae
Form Appears, Yet the Mind Is Not Imprisoned by Form
An image of a body that has a stance without being possessed by it.
By MoroMoro · · 1 min read · moromoro and the Stance of Great Emptiness
The image of moromoro (もろもろ) is particularly fascinating when viewed at the intersection of art history, philosophy, and the Way of the Sword.
What the image seems to express is not simply “a swordsman assuming a stance.” Rather, it presents a body that appears to have a stance without being possessed by that stance.
The shoulders are not raised in rigid tension. The arms are not deliberately arranged to advertise readiness. The torso does not suggest someone merely waiting for an attack. Even the sword itself does not occupy a position that allows us to say with certainty:
“This is an attacking stance.”
or:
“This is a defensive stance.”
This ambiguity allows the image to be read philosophically through one of the central problems found in the 五輪書 (Gorin no Sho, “The Book of Five Rings”): the relationship between form and formlessness, technique and naturalness, control and release, having a stance and having no stance.
A framework, not a doctrine
However, when we use the phrase “Great Emptiness” to describe this image, it should be understood as a philosophical interpretive framework rather than as a claim that moromoro is directly presenting the Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrine of Śūnyatā.
The term 空 (kū) in 五輪書 appears within the context of 兵法 (hyōhō), the Way or strategy of combat, and carries a particular meaning within moromoro’s own system of thought.
But if we allow the two systems to enter into philosophical dialogue, something becomes clearer:
Form may remain, while attachment to form disappears.