An invitation to theorise East Asian pedagogy: bodymind, dark consciousness, kata, and self-cultivation

Building on the theoretical work initiated by Komatsu and Rappleye (Comparative Education Review 61:269–297, 2017), this paper turns to the East Asian and Japanese theories of bodymind (body-mind unity) and learning as a possible theoretical resource for a new appraisal of East Asian pedagogy. To this end, the paper will first delve into the East Asian and Japanese theories of bodymind and learning, drawing on scholarship of comparative philosophers Thomas Kasulis and Robert Carter, Japanese philosopher Yasuo Yuasa, and educational philosopher Tadashi Nishihira. The theoretical account, assembled from these scholarly works, is then deployed in rereading three recent studies on Confucian pedagogical thoughts and practices, based in Edo-Japan, Taiwan and China, that cut across time and space in East Asia. Aligned with Chen’s (Asia as method, Duke University Press, 2010) call for ‘Asia as method,’ this cross-temporal and -regional inquiry is intended not only to solidify the theoretical account of East Asian bodymind and pedagogy but also to suggest a comparative methodology that foregrounds reginal inter-referencing as a mode of theorisation.