Human Drama of the Body (4): "To Ride or Not to Ride" | "The Stuttering Body" by Asa Ito
Well then.
It has been a while since I last covered "The Stuttering Body".
This is the fourth installment.
This book explores the causes of why the act of "speaking"—which usually functions automatically without conscious effort—becomes uncontrollable when the symptom of "stuttering" is added. It does so through a multifaceted and careful perspective, incorporating the real-life experiences of those affected and expert commentary.
Although the book is themed around stuttering, it should offer new perspectives to anyone interested in the mysteries of "language," regardless of whether they experience such symptoms.
I believe "language" can be broadly divided into two types: the static, two-dimensional world of printed text, and the dynamic, three-dimensional world exchanged through time and space, layered with situations, emotions, and other elements.
This book focuses on the latter.
Using the body to "speak" language involves a realistic situation and emotions—a physical movement happening "here and now" to convey something to someone else.
However, when "speaking," something happens that makes it not go smoothly, for reasons unknown.
This is viewed not as a mistake, but as an error of the body.
Why does this error occur?
There is the mind, which has the intention to speak and convey, and the body, which loses its automatic control and becomes uncontrollable.
As you read this book, you learn once again that the body is very dramatic, and that the act of "speaking" is a very delicate and elusive thing.
It teaches us that the mind and the body are separate things.
So, this time, I would like to delve into Chapter 5, which explores the mystery I was most interested in when reading this book:
"Why don't people stutter when they sing?"
First, the beginning of the chapter.
"For some reason, I don't stutter when I sing."
This is one of the "mysteries of stuttering" that those affected say in unison. While stuttering varies greatly from person to person, everyone agrees on this point. The individuals I have met so far have also answered 'yes' with 100 percent certainty.
(Omitted)
They don't stutter when they sing. The reason this is mysterious is that they are not consciously trying 'not to stutter.' They are just singing, yet they are freed from stuttering only during that time. While trying hard to do it well can sometimes make it harder to speak, it works out fine when they sing without worrying about it. Dealing with a stuttering body is truly not straightforward.
— Why don't people stutter when they sing?
If you try hard, it doesn't go well, but if you don't worry about it, it works out.
That sounds like a philosophy of life.
(Deeply...)
Well, moving on.
Continuing, it seems there is another pattern to the "mysteries of stuttering."
Another situation where stuttering is less likely to occur is "acting." While this is not as universally agreed upon as singing, a significant number of people say they do not stutter when they are playing a certain role.
(Omitted)
The power of this "acting" seems to be a major reason why some people do not stutter in high-pressure situations like "speaking in front of others."
Rhythm and acting. What these two situations, where stuttering is less likely to occur, have in common is that while they are immersed in them, they are "riding" the flow. "Riding" does not simply mean being in a high-tension state. "Riding" refers to a unique relationship that arises between intention and the body, and this relationship makes movement easier.
— Why don't people stutter when they sing?
I see.
"Rhythm" and "acting."
So, what exactly is this "unique relationship that arises between intention and the body" that occurs in situations where one is "immersed" and "riding" the flow?
As one symbolic example, a scene where stuttering was resolved through rhythm was introduced on the disability information variety show "Barabara," which aired on NHK E-Tele until March 2025.
Tomohiro Yagi, who appeared in Chapter 2, was also on the program.
(Omitted)
When asked a question, Yagi tried to answer, but experienced a stuttering symptom that lasted for nearly 10 seconds. It was a repetition with a "searching feel," as if moving between multiple sounds, just as analyzed in Chapter 2. When asked about the situation later, he said that he was hesitant about what to answer, and because he was "trying to say something anyway," the stuttering occurred.
However, something mysterious happened here.
The rakugo performer Katsura Bunfuku, who is also a person who stutters, was a guest in the studio. Bunfuku began to click his tongue rhythmically, "tan, tan, tan," toward Yagi, who was experiencing the stuttering symptom.
Bunfuku kept the beat with his mouth while swinging his fan, his tool of the trade. Then, a change occurred as if a spell had been broken. Where had the repetitive symptoms from a few seconds ago gone? Yagi began to speak like a different person. The people in the studio were amazed by the change, which one could truly call "magic."
— Why don't people stutter when they sing?
The shocking Barabara, final scene
This change.
What happened to Yagi's stuttering symptom?
At that time, Mr. Yagi's way of speaking was like this: "It-is-dif-fi-cult-to-get-the-words-out-though."
In other words, he was speaking with a rhythm of two syllables at a time, matching Mr. Bunpuku's "tan-tan-tan" beat.
(Omitted)
From this, we can first understand that when many people who stutter say "I don't stutter when I sing," what is necessary is not the lyrics or the melody, but the rhythm.
(Omitted)
There are various elements that make up a song, and among them, it is precisely the rhythm that has the power to act upon a stuttering body.
— Why don't we stutter when we sing?
"It-is-dif-fi-cult-to-get-the-words-out-though."
Rhythm, huh.
I had assumed on my own that stuttering disappears because we "ride" the melody, but it turns out the key player was the rhythm.
It is said that many people who stutter also testify that they do not stutter during games like the Yamanote Line game, where you answer topics while keeping to a "pan-pan" rhythm.
This use of rhythm seems to be a therapy that is also incorporated in clinical settings.
This way of speaking in time with a beat is also incorporated in clinical settings as the "metronome method." In other words, it is a method that aims to reduce stuttering by training to speak slowly in time with the "tick-tock-tick-tock" sound of a metronome.
— Why don't we stutter when we sing?
"It-is-dif-fi-cult-to-get-the-words-out-though."
However, this speech therapy is apparently not a panacea.
Hmm.
When a bodily error called "stuttering" is occurring, the automatic control function for "speaking" is not in a working state.
In a sense, it is left to run wild.
In the following commentary, the German philosopher Ludwig Klages is introduced.
In his book "The Nature of Rhythm" (1923), written nearly 100 years ago, he was someone who attempted to unravel the mysteries of all rhythms—from the movement of stars, the motion of waves, the growth of plants, and the physical movement of animals, to life, music, color, poetry, and so on—from the perspective of "liberation from inhibition."
The state of riding a rhythm is often spoken of as "liberation from inhibition."
(Omitted)
Indeed, rhythm has the power to remove the things that usually put the brakes on our actions, such as "self-consciousness" or "sociality." If you are thinking "I'm embarrassed," you cannot surrender yourself to the rhythm, and conversely, there may be cases where daily stress is relieved by singing or dancing. Feeling refreshed and as if you have "come back to life" seems to be proof, as Klages says, that "life itself has been liberated."
— Why don't we stutter when we sing?
Is rhythm liberation? Or is it a rule?
However, Asa Ito raises a question about the perspective that the "liberation from inhibition" brought about by rhythm improves stuttering symptoms: "Is that really the case?"
In other words, in the case of repetitions, the body is actually too liberated. As a result of being too liberated, the stuttering of the body that cannot be controlled is revealed just as it is. If rhythm were simply "liberation," it would be impossible to save a body in repetition, which is essentially "excessive liberation," in the first place.
In fact, looking at the earlier example from Baribara, what Mr. Bunpuku's mouth-beating is doing is not so much "liberating" Mr. Yagi's body as it is "organizing" it. Mr. Yagi's speech was "groping" as if wandering here and there. When a beat of "tan-tan-tan" comes there, he begins to speak in time with this "tan-tan-tan" as a standard. As a result, Mr. Yagi's speech acquires a rule. Looking at the actual situation, it is clear that the power of rhythm lies in order, not liberation; in rules, not freedom.
— Why don't we stutter when we sing?
Is rhythm liberation? Or is it a rule?
In stuttering symptoms, "liberation and freedom" cause a state of being unable to control the physical movement of "speaking."
And by applying the stimulus of rhythm to the body that has become uncontrollable from the outside, "order" is born, and through that, the body regains its "regularity."
Is it perhaps the feeling of coming to one's senses when the body fits into a mold?
The Russian literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin, in his work "Author and Hero," which presents an argument diametrically opposed to Klages—who defined rhythm as a "liberation from inhibition"—is said to have defined life as something that "is not expressed by rhythm, but is ashamed of rhythm."
To be ashamed of rhythm is a truly shocking way to put it, but behind that lies a view of "life" that is completely different from Klages's. Klages's "life" is full of harmony. On the other hand, the "life" Bakhtin has in mind is the raw reality itself, open-ended and receptive to all possibilities, but for that very reason, severe.
If life is something that contains such uncertain elements, where you don't know what will happen the next moment, then it would certainly be incompatible with the regularity of rhythm.
— Why don't we stutter when we sing?
Is rhythm liberation? Or is it a rule?
"Life is raw reality," huh...
That really hits home.
In the following Chapter 5, we will delve deeper into the abyss of the relationship between rhythm and the body.
Perhaps the way rhythm creates "order and rules" is something like the body gaining new freedom by acquiring a reliable partner.
The body is profound.
Man, this has suddenly become much more interesting.
But since this has become quite long, I will continue another time.
Asa Ito, "The Stuttering Body," Igaku-Shoin (2018)