hara

Hara is a term with multiple meanings across languages and cultures. In Japanese, the noun 腹 is read hara and means the abdomen or belly. Beyond anatomy, hara is used to refer to the body’s center of gravity, balance, and life energy, especially in traditional martial arts and medicine. The lower abdomen is often regarded as the body’s energy center, and concepts such as hara or tanden describe this region and its influence on posture, breathing, and vitality.

In Hinduism, Hara is an epithet of the god Shiva and appears in compound formations such as Harihara, which combines Vishnu and Shiva in a single form. In secular usage, Hara can be a given name or surname in various cultures, and it may also be used as a place name or organizational name.

The term harakiri, also spelled hara-kiri, denotes ritual suicide by self-disembowelment in historical Japan. The word derives from the same kanji for abdomen (腹) and cut (切り). In English, harakiri has sometimes been used metaphorically to describe a person’s self-defeating or catastrophic action, though such usage can be considered archaic or insensitive.

Summary: hara primarily refers to the abdomen in Japanese, while in spiritual contexts it links to divine epithets of Shiva. As a cultural term, it also appears in names and, in a historical sense, in the practice of harakiri.