Category Archives: Kigaku-ho

The ancient pictograms assigned to each of the Trigrams…

…in oracle-bone script, that is, the oldest Chinese characters we have, encode ways-of-perceiving each of the eight directional energies that are older than – and complementary to – most of the commentary collected together by Confucius in the Shuo Kua… 

KEN


   South in the Prior Heaven arrangement…       ‘HI’

OMODARU-NO-MIKOTO

North-West in the Post Heaven arrangement…


On the left, the sun rising through vegetation, with a person bended over – bowing… which, taken all together means ‘sunrise’…and, below, a two-bladed sword, which has always been a showy and exotic accessory... (a)

…or it could be another bended body…(b)

…or a wave of ki-energy, or steam from vegetation drying in the sun… …(the whole kanji, in modern times, has come to mean: ‘to dry’)…(c)

…all of which is as good an example as one could wish of the way some of these ancient symbols seem to morph in the course of time from female gaze(a) to male gaze(b) to Taoist compromise(c)…

Confucius: “The CREATIVE is HEAVEN/the sky.  It is all around, it is the prince, the father, jade, metal, cold, ice;  it is a vivid red,  a good horse,  an old horse,  a lean horse,  a wild horse,  tree fruit.”

* – * – *

DA

        South-East in the Prior Heaven arrangement…           ‘TI’

UHIJINI-NO-MIKOTO

West in the Post Heaven arrangement…


A mouth over legs, inside a tent. That is: the kanji for “elder brother”, inside a habitation… Yet, by the time the commentaries are compiled, “elder brother” has become “youngest daughter”… 

Confucius: “The JOYOUS is the [Alpine] LAKE, the youngest daughter; it is a sorceress; it is mouth and tongue. It means smashing and the breaking apart; it means [fruit] dropping off and bursting open. Among the kinds of soil it is the hard and salty. It is the concubine. It is the sheep.”

* – * – *

RI

        East in the Prior Heaven arrangement…       ‘SHI’

OHOTO-NO-JI-NO-MIKOTO

South in the Post Heaven arrangement…

The whole kanji means “oriole” – though more recently, it was borrowed to mean “to leave, to separate” – and the Chinese oriole is bright yellow and black.  On the left: “bright, brightly colored” – possibly a variant of a yellow, brightly colored “scorpion,” and carrying a hint of “defiance”.  On the right: “bird”. 

Confucius: “The CLINGING is FIRE, the sun, lightning, the middle daughter. It means coats of mail and helmets; it means halberds and swords. Among men it means the big-bellied. It is the trigram of dryness. It means the turtle, the crab, the snail, the clam, the hawkbill turtle. Among trees it means the hollow ones whose tops are dried up.”

* – * – *

SHIN

        North-East in the Prior Heaven arrangement…       ‘KI’

TSUNUGUI-NO-MIKOTO

East in the Post Heaven arrangement…

Rain above a clamshell – which was commonly used as a cutting tool.  So: the energy of cutting-rain, the monsoon, which includes thunder and lightning. 

Later, the kanji for ‘clam’ began to be used also for ‘dragon’…

Confucius: “The AROUSING is THUNDER, the dragon. It is black, it is yellow, it is a spreading out, a great highway, the eldest son. It is decisive and impetuous; it is bamboo that is green and lush, it is reed and rush. Among horses it signifies those which can neigh well, those with white hind legs, those which gallop well, those with white – or a star – on their forehead. Among useful plants it is the pod-bearing ones [i.e. the kind that grows back]. Finally, it is the strong and sturdy, that which grows luxuriantly.”

* – * – *

SON

        South-West in the Prior Heaven arrangement…       ‘MI’

IKUGUI-NO-MIKOTO

South-East in the Post Heaven arrangement…


Two hands offering up a jewel – which later becomes the sign of togetherness – and above that: twisting thread (two of) – remember the fates… remember prayer flags… cloth, of course, being a common offering. 


But they could also be two bended bodies, side by side: spooning.

Confucius: “The GENTLE is WOOD, WIND, the eldest daughter, a plumb-line, a carpenter; it is white, it is length, it is height; it is advance and retreat, the unresolved, odor. Among men it means the balding, those with broad foreheads; it means those with much white in their eyes; it means those that keep close what is profitable, so that in the market they get threefold value. At the end-point of its development, it means impetuosity.”

* – * – *

KAN

        West in the Prior Heaven arrangement…                ‘RI’

OHOTONOBE-NO-MIKOTO

North in the Post Heaven arrangement…

On the left, is a clod of earth – yin – and on the right, a gaping mouth above a pair of legs…

Confucius: “The ABYSS  is WATER, a ditch, and an ambush, bending and straightening out, bow and wheel. Among men it means the melancholy, those with sick hearts, those with earache. It is the blood sign; it is red. Among horses it means those with beautiful backs, those with beautiful courage, those which let their heads hang, those with thin hoofs, those which stumble. Among chariots it means those with many defects. It is penetration, the moon. It means skillful thieves. Among varieties of wood it means those which are firm and have much pith.”

* – * – *

GON


        North-West  in the Prior Heaven arrangement…       ‘YI’

SUHIJINI-NO-MIKOTO

North-East in the Post Heaven arrangement…

This is someone turning around and staring… which later evolved to also mean “note-worthy” or “special”…

Confucius: “KEEPING STILL  is the MOUNTAIN, a mountain path. It means the place where there are small stones. It means doors and openings, tree-fruit and vine-fruit, a gate-keeper, a watchman, your fingers, it is the dog, the rat, and the various kinds of black-billed birds. Among trees, it means those that are sturdy and much gnarled.”

* – * – *

KON

        North in the Prior Heaven arrangement…                ‘NI’

AYA-KASHIKONE-NO-MIKOTO

South-West in the Post Heaven arrangement…

Pure yin… on the left is a clod of earth, and on the right, the ancient way of drawing a bolt of lightning – which looks surprisingly like a qi-gong exercise you might do with your two hands, spreading yin ki over your hara….

Confucius: “The RECEPTIVE is the EARTH, the mother. It is cloth, a cooking pot, frugality [ – it is outside the money economy – ], it is impartial, it is a cow with a calf, a large wagon, the markings on things, the multitude of things themselves, a handle. Among the various kinds of soil, it is the black.”

– tr. Richard Wilhelm, , tr. Richard John Lynn, tr. Alfred Huang

Chi no Kokyu…

Peter-san:

So, Sensei, I was doing Aiki Taiso up on the mountain, and I had the experience that if you achieve for a while a certain relaxation in your legs, then your lower body, moving, feels exactly the same as your lungs do, moving, when you breath. And this has to be why it is called Chi no Kokyu: ‘breath of the Earth’.  And the energy feels the same, too.

Kimbal Anderson Sensei:

So, you have a pelvic floor, and you have a diaphragm floor, and so when you relax your legs, the diaphragm floor’s signal changes, and so then the breath drops, as we say: “the breath descends to the center.”  It goes past your center and to the center of the earth. 

Most people’s study is simply here [indicates hara]: they don’t see it as a metaphor for the other things, but that is true, I think…

If you use the medical model of Heaven and Earth – ‘breath of Heaven’ and ‘breath of Earth’, your diaphragm is basically travelling between the two. If there’s tension in the legs, obviously it can’t go down: it hits something solid. It needs to have that continual descending frequency, that feel. That’s the same energy as this offering-tray mudra that we have been working on… So this is the mudra of that…

I look at Shinto technology describing – like everyone’s technology – the universe. And I find that when it combined with the verbal aspects of Shingon and all that, you suddenly begin to get these explanations of things, that used to be only experimental and experiential and for only a small group of people.  And so it can almost look like they both addressed the story, and together they made a really nice synergistic thing.

O’Sensei no Kuden: Kokyu

Breath out while breathing in, and breath in while breathing out.

– – – reported by Nobuyuki Watanabe Shihan – in Gekkan Hiden,  Aug. 2007.  Interview translated by Christopher Li Sensei,  Sangenkai website.

O’Sensei no kuden: Kokyu(2)

It’s as if the wind is blowing through my body – – –

– – –   reported by Michio Hikitsuchi Shihan in the introduction to Aikido : recherche du geste vrai  by Gérard Blaize,  p.12

O’Sensei no kuden: Kokyu(3)

Aikido is the science of the universe.

– – – reported by  Motomichi Anno  Shihan,   Journey to the Heart of Aikido,   p.281

O’Sensei no kuden: Kokyu(4)

You people [here, training…] your universe is small – [but look, see: ] my universe is big…

– – – reported by Seishiro Endo Shihan Vibration and Connection – The Aikido That I Pursue, p. 71

O’Sensei no kuden: Kokyu(5)

On the in-breath, it should feel as if you are gathering in the miraculous essence of the [natural] universe to inside your body.

– – – reported by Motomichi Anno Shihan,  Journey to the Heart of Aikido,  p.224

O’Sensei no kuden: Kokyu(6)

Prayer becomes divine power…

– – –  reported by Nidai Doshu in A Life in Aikido  p. 214

O’Sensei no kuden: Kokyu(7)

Become one with the universe…

– – – reported by Gozo Shioda Shihan,  Aiki Shugyo,  p. 180

O’Sensei no kuden: Kokyu(8)

You’re heavy. You’re just practicing for yourself. That’s why it’s no good. First, become an iron ball. Next, become a golden ball. Gold melts easily and is soft. That’s why it good to work with.

– – – reported Nobuyuki Watanabe Shihan, Sangenkai interview…