In one of the most popular anime of this season, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, before, in the middle or after a battle, the human combatants yell “Rokkon Shojo” or the Princess says it after a battle.
I researched a bit and apparently it means “purification of the six roots of perception” (which is quite ambiguous) .
My questions are:
- It has any other meaning other than the one stated above?
- What is its purpose and why is it used in a situation which involves fighting?
Rokkon shojo does indeed mean purification of the six roots of perception. By my current knowledge there is no other meaning to it.
The usage however that is most known to people is during mountain climbing, or as haikugirl.me phrases it
‘rokkon shojo’ is a common expression often repeated while climbing a mountain, especially Mount Fuji. ‘Rokkon’ (六根) means ‘six senses’ (i.e. seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and conciousness). ‘Shojo’ (清浄) means ‘purification’. So, the phrase refers to purifying your heart of all the bad stuff (desire, anger, fear, depression, etc.) that comes from what we take in via the six senses.
However this would not make a lot of sense in koutetsujou-no-kabaneri. The way ja.wikipedia describes it.
そのため執着を断ち、心を清らかな状態にすることを言う。そのため不浄なものを見ない、聞かない、嗅がない、味わわない、触れない、感じないために俗世との接触を絶つことが行なわれた（山ごもりなど）。
This is a phrase as referred to in Buddhism. Which would roughly translate to something like
Cut of your obsessions, refer to your heart in a pure state. Do not see what is unclean, do not ask, smell, taste or touch. Cut off your contact with the world in order not to feel.
This does fit the series a bit better. By killing of your emotions, it will make it easier to kill. This is something used in the modern day military as wel.
It also fits into the series given that
making refer to your heart in a pure state which I believe can also be interpreted as cutting of ones heart (please correct me if I am wrong) a fair pun of sorts.