Number 9

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The number nine has significance in the ancient Chinese classics and in the Chinese numerology. For this post it involves nine parts. The first part being the foundation on which everything is based (no pun intended). The next five parts deal with a symbolic relation to the five elements, also a part of the Chinese belief system. The five elements being "metal, earth, water, fire and air." The next part is the one that is linked to the mind while the next part is linked to the spirit. The final and important last part that brings it all together into one whole or wholehearted singularity is you, the human or person. 

These nine parts symbolically tell us the story of how one achieves master of any discipline and for our discussion/post the martial arts. It symbolizes how we can achieve a mastery of the fundamental principles of martial systems. It also is representative of the ken-po goku-i. The gokui is made up of eight parts and the ninth being the practitioner while my version consist of the nine parts that symbolically include the practitioner, i.e. the ninth is the sense of touch to coincide with sight and sound. 

Symbology was an important part of transmission of all things. For martial arts of Asia it was a huge part of the belief and cultural systems the Chinese used in their earlier times, i.e. such as the symbolism used in the I Ching or book of changes for divination of the present and future through an understanding of the past, the people and the way of the universe. 

This is an effort to connect the ancestry of modern martial arts. One of its core beliefs is the whole of the parts, to create a holistic one-ness in practice, training and application of the system by bringing all the individual parts, as taught, trained and practiced, into one wholehearted system. Leaving any one part out of the equation results in a different solution that is often skewed or out of sync with the many esoteric principles of martial effectiveness. 

Enso/Ensou [円相]

The characters/ideograms mean "circle painted with a single stroke in Zen calligraphy." The first character means, "circle; yen; round," the second character means, "mutual; together; each other; councillor; aspect; phase; physiognomy." 

A moment when the mind is free to let the body-mind create spontaneously. It symbolizes many things, i.e. absolute enlightenment, strength, the universe and the void, to name a few. As indicated it is associated with Zen and Zen is associated with martial arts, systems or styles in a more esoteric representation. 

In the Isshinryu system enso is represented or symbolized in the kusanku kata, i.e. in the opening move the hands begin at the apex indicating heaven (天[☰])then the hands move outward and down to create a circle, i.e. an enso symbol if you will, to meet at the bottom indicating the earth (地[☷]). The symbolism in the kata movement is to symbolize the universe or world in peace as taught in traditional karate. This is also taught through the saying, "there is no first strike in karate." 

The circle and symbolism of heaven and earth form through the I Ching's characters the one whole for the Universe or as in the I Ching the yin-yang principle of life and the universe. The Isshinryu system also represents or symbolizes esoteric meaning by the two kata, i.e. sanchin and naihanchi, as sanchin = yang while naihanchi = yin, as representing the birth of Isshinryu, i.e. sanchin = father, naihanchi = mother and Isshinryu = son, etc. 

The enso represents reciprocals and compliments within the universe that without we and the universe would not exist, i.e. the one separating into two complimentary opposites of yin-yang. The one, yang, represents the other, yin, by the small opposite colors with each side of the two complimentary halves making for the whole, i.e. the construct wholeness. 

It represents the one as neither opposites nor that they negate one another but rather the two complementary sides make for the one whole of everything within the universe. It is a singular cycle of force that make for opposites as togetherness. 

The enzo symbolized what makes for the very nature of conflict, combat and fighting. Then the one underlying singularity of all martial systems are the principles that are universal  that cannot be taken from nor added to but exist in the absence of principles or non-principles. 

Tatsuo-san tried to convey such things to the first generation of karate students in the late fifties and early sixties by presenting them with a silk paper with the ken-po goku-i written in both kanji and English where the first two set speak to heaven and earth; sun and moon, etc. to provide hints to the more esoteric principles of his system - Isshinryu.