The Gokui - A Different Perspective

The Eight Codes of Isshinryu - The Gokui

Belt Colors - A Philosophical Gokui View

I found this on a Tae Kwon Do site explaining the significance of the various colors. They attribute that to some historical meaning that raised the question on how that could be since this particular martial art is a more modern creation. (Note: two changes were made below to make this more generic, i.e. martial arts from Tae Kwon Do and the "Color Brown" from "Color Red." 

Color White: signifies innocence, as that of a beginning student who has no previous knowledge of Martial Arts

Color Yellow: signifies the Earth from which a plant sprouts and takes roots as the Martial Arts foundation is being laid.

Color Green: signifies the plant’s growth as the Martial Arts skill begins to develop.

Color Blue: signifies the heaven, towards which the plant matures into a towering tree as training Martial Arts progresses.

Color Brown: signifies danger, cautioning the student to exercise control and warning the opponent to stay away.

Black Belt: opposite of white, therefore signifying the maturity, and proficiency in Martial Arts. It also indicates the wearer’s imperviousness to darkness & fear.

(When I read these it brings to mind my philosophical views through the study of the ken-po goku-i. You have a reference to Earth [a person's heart is the same as heaven and earth] and Heaven and of course Man [also a part of the trigrams of the I Ching, etc.], etc.)

What I found interesting here in this explanation is its inference toward the more Chinese spiritual views as might be presented in ancient classics such as the "I Ching," "Tao Te Ching," and others such as those derived from the study of Buddhism, Confucianism and Zen Buddhism, etc. 

Then I would add in that the colored belt system didn't exist prior to the very early 1900's. They were created by Kano Sensei of Judo fame. They were adopted through Funakoshi Sensei influence to Okinawa Karate systems. 

This is interesting and I personally like these explanations of what could have possibly been a color system but history tells us that the significance of the colors didn't exist even in the early days of Judo. Kyu grades, at least in the early 1900's on Okinawa, were actually "white and black" to later become "white, green and black" and in the late fifties and early sixties became, "white, green, brown and black." Even in Judo, the dan grades of black only went up to the fifth level or grade. 

It is interesting to find that stories that attach such significance to things martial arts lean heavily toward a more economic and commercial influence. Especially to the Kyu grades/levels, i.e. with ten levels that only had four colors to all ten having separate colors or certain colors with the stripes added. Even the stripes on the ends was a modern creation because in the mid-nineteen hundreds, say about the sixties or seventies, the three gold stripes that indicated honorary titles such as Hanshi, etc. were used and the west mistook them for representation of the dan levels/grades. There are only three recognized gold stripes on the black belt and they represent the three teaching levels of a master teacher, i.e. Kyoshi, Renshi and Hanshi. 

Again, the institution of those additional stripes to indicate the actual dan levels came from Western influences that were, in my view, driven by commercialism and economic needs. 

Regardless of all this speculation I like the explanations this group provided for these colors for the Kyu grades/levels but if I were to use them it would be more as a teaching tool and a philosophical perspective for a practitioner of martial systems to elucidate and contemplate in the hopes of creating a more "spiritual" view of martial arts, i.e. a more holistic practice developing the mind, body and spirit (not a religious spirit). 

The Eyes Must See All Sides - More than Just Seeing

How do we know what we see is what is true or exists. Often humans tend to see "what they want to see." It is not truly about the eyes but rather the facial expressions that surround the eyes. Our emotions have effects that can begin with certain changes in the musculature around the eyes, i.e. the eyelids, the corners and the lower lids. Since that is connected to other facial musculature the whole tends to send the messages. So, why do they say look into the eyes when actually you look at the eyes and allow your peripheral vision to detect true meaning from the facial musculature results of emotional output from our brains, i.e. be it the Human brain, the Monkey brain or the Lizard brain.

When I read this particular section of the ken-po goku-i I don't just "see" what my eyes can detect both directly and peripherally but what my mind sees as well. Take for instance a person hiking in the woods. They see a shape out of their peripheral vision that the Lizard brain says "looks like a snake!" Your Lizard brain then triggers the instinct to jump back, open the eyes wider, take a direct view on the object (OODA starts here), then decide if it is truly a snake or what it actually is, a stick that looks like the shape of a snake, then you act accordingly, i.e. either run like hell because it was a snake or shake your head, take a deep breath and say to yourself, "wow, glad it wasn't a snake." 

In recent posting I have spoke about perceptions, context, culture and beliefs, etc. that have effects on how we "see" things. This is also part and parcel to the goku-i's meaning. It takes us away from the more obvious and trains us to achieve all levels of seeing, both physically and metaphorically speaking. This applies to all of life, not just martial arts. 

"Seeing all sides" also denotes a very fundamental and basic methodology of martial arts, the learning and application of fundamental principles of martial arts such as the principle of theory, the principle of physiokinetics, the principle of techniques and the principle of philosophy. To truly see all sides of what constitutes a full martial art is to "see all sides within that system," i.e. the principles that drive that system and remain the same principles that drive all systems of martial arts. To only learn about the physiokinetic forms is limiting and results in learning how to dance the martial dance. 

Then there is "seeing all sides" of the self. Seeing both your faults and your perfections equally with the notion that both will contribute to mastery of any discipline including, of course, martial systems. This may be the most important principle of both theory and philosophy that when properly understood and practiced make the principles of both physiokinetics and technique better or more complete. 

So, you can see that taking the literalness of "seeing all sides" as a stand alone meaning simply states that you are not "seeing all sides." Sides are not just a physical manifestation of the goku-i but rather a means to mental training to "see all sides" of all the principles that support and define a true, classical and traditional understanding of martial systems.