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| Kokoro Darn, I am a glutton for punishment! (**;) I have chosen one of the most complicated and difficult kanji to introduce. But I chose this Kanji because in my humble opinion, it is the core and pillar of martial arts or Budo. So what does Kokoro mean? It means a multitude of things. Some of more general translations are are heart, spirit, soul. And essence. Now I do not have a degree in linguistics, so I will stay away from any more translations as it would be impossible to explain the "why?" (^^) Let me steal from Shohaku Okumura's article on the word Kokoro. Shohaku Okumura was ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 1970 by the late Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. He is the head of the Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana. An excerpt follows. "The Chinese ideogram for xin (Chinese for heart) depicts the shape of the heart—the actual organ in the human body. Since ancient Chinese people thought the heart was where psychological function took place, the character conveyed a range of meanings including the heart organ, heart generally, mind, feeling, intention, center, and core. Originally, kokoro refers to all human activities affecting the outside world through intention, emotion, and intellect. Kokoro, then, has three basic meanings: the heart and its functions; mind and its functions; and center, or essence. " Now, can you see the Kanji looking like a heart? So what does "Bujin no Kokoro" 武人の心conjure up? The answer lies in how you practice your martial art whether it is karate, judo, aikido or Iaido. We may all be practicing karate but our "souls" maybe different. To simplify, take the movie Karate Kid, the hero and Miyagi presented the "good kokoro", if you will while the antagonists presented the "sullied kokoro". One was on the correct path while the other on a misguided one. Both possessed the "Kokoro" that they trained in. Each one of us should reflect upon our Kokoro. 押忍！ |
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Kanji for the Month!
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I have not had time to find and read "Kokoro" written by Natsume Soseki I still haven't grasped the meaning and translation of 心, used in so many martial arts school names. I believe that the 武人の心 meaning would be the “warrior person’s heart”. What is in our heart when we practice karate. I think your karate kid analogy is an excellent one.I find some since of solace knowing that you and William, Shihandai still have not mastered its meaning.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if any of the Kesshin Kai students notice the kanji on both your Schools dogi and ours? Kenshin Juku, which has the 心 kanji. IF this is correct, can you tell us how your school got its name?
Sorry for the slow responds ...my hunny do list is long this week...smile.
Aloha, Tony
ReplyDeleteJust returned from Kimura Kindergarten practice!
(^^) It is definitely more challenging than teaching adults or handling challengers to the Dojo. Gahahaha. But, I love it! Perhaps that is why my mental state is always "playing around".
拳心塾is the original name made by Aonuma Shihan when he broke away from Hawaii Kyokushinkai upon Oyama Sosai death. Basically it means the Spirit of the Fist Academy. No real deep meaning to it.
I think Aonuma Shihan wanted to keep it simple.
However simple as it may sound, it actually is complex when you start to think about a fist having a spirit as compared to 正心塾、Academy of the Proper Spirit.
It is easier to understand the concept of a proper spirit, wouldn't you agree? Fufu
正 kanji makes me think of a person standing at attention, tall straight and proper. Ok, I will use whatever can keep the kanji in my little pea brain...Shihan Flynn tells the story of Sosai's daughter finding her father in his study looking at his fist. When she asked, "father are you all right"? Sosai relied "after 60 years, I still wonder if I make a proper fist". I often think of this, as I practice, the same movement over an over...smile. SO to me...understanding either the spirit or the fist...is difficult.
ReplyDeleteTony, you're on the right track! Kanji's origin is pictographs. So the easiest way to remember kanji is to visualize something the kanji reminds you of! For example, 川 (kawa, river) can be three squiggly lines look like a river current; 田(ta, fields)can be seen as sections of fields; 文 (bun, sentence) can be seen as an picinic table with a stick on it.
ReplyDeleteFufufu. (^^) It will be quite interesting to see what images you will be coming up with!!