Caveat: Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.
This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding. Oh, and just because I wrote it and just because it sounds reasonable and just because it makes sense, does not mean it is true.)
In a recent comment read from Abernethy Sensei’s Forum dtd Friday, 2015-04-10 at 11:01 hrs he explains his teachings on the subject of kiai. In that explanation he puts forward the example referenced in Miyamoto Musashi’s book or treatise, “Go Rin no Sho or Book of Five Rings,” on the “Shouts” used in battle. He references this as being the ‘sen go no koe’ (before and after voice) [前後の声; voice before and after]. Note: The characters/ideograms with definition in brackets is mine.
Is sen-go-no-koe another ancient way to explain the kiai? We could connect those two since our understanding today infers a type of shout used to bring our energy of force and power toward a particular technique as applied to a particular target. It was also presented that the kiai is also a type of primal shout that is often done by combatants, as inferred in the Musashi quote of shouts, before, during and after a contest such as an MMA fight. He also presents that such cries are indicative of combat methodology (with psychological and tactical reasons).
In my human capacity toward acceptance I can agree with this wholeheartedly but my more cynic side thinks we are associating the two, kiai and sen-go-no-koe, because of the similarities. I wonder if the term Kiai [気合 or 気合い] and sen-go-no-koe [前後の声] are two distinct terms or phrases associated with the particulars as taught according to the times, culture and beliefs of the teachings, i.e., combative vs. the way of modern martial “Arts?” See my article on “Arts vs. Applications,” for more on this. ( http://mymartialselfdefensephilosophy.blogspot.com/2015/05/art-vs-application.html )
I don’t feel on my cynic side that we can completely say with reliability from facts that kiai and sen-go-no-koe are actually the same. For instance, a shout from fear and a shout for combat may sound the same but when you analyze them you hear, see and feel differences that are significant in the applications. Yet both are “Shouts.” Are the different set of characters adequate in determine more directly if the two are the same in application? Are they the same characters/ideograms used for those terms in Musashi’s time, culture and application as well?
Kiai [気合]: The term kiai with these characters/ideograms are defined as, “Scream; yell; fighting spirit.” The first character is defined as “spirit; mind; air; atmosphere; mood,” the second character is defined as “fit; suit; join.”
Sen-no-go-koe [前後の声] The term/phrase with these characters/ideograms are defined as, “Voice before and after.” The first character means, “in front; before,” the second character means, “behind; back; later,” the third character is simply a type of modifier that joins the first two with the last, the third character means, “voice.”
If not for the quote and the book written by the Sword Saint we would be left to find a meaning for his sen-no-go-koe but since he does explain it very well we can associate that phrase with the combat strategy of the three shouts. No where except in Abernethy Sensei’s comments on his forum have I come across the comparison with any concrete proof other than the fact that Abernethy Sensei’s expertise and research that is extensive. I don’t have any reason to doubt that expertise therefore I would tend to lean heavily toward his view on the subject but … my cynic side still asks the questions.
As for the Kiai, I am unable to find when that term actually started, was used and gained acceptance. Like many things karate it may be the modern creation much like Bushido was a modern defined creation of the culture, beliefs and Samurai culture of feudal Japan as converted during the Meiji period when the more combative teachings of martial disciplines became martial arts.
Even the current information on the kiai comes from an understanding that it originated in Japan martial disciplines where those disciplines are named in the modern post-Meiji periods of Aiki, karate, kobu and ju “DO’s” where the suffix for every one of those disciplines is “Do” or “Way” that infers a more philosophical non-combative form of training and practice toward betterment of the person as well as the person with a social responsibility and so on.
There are just no, that I can find, references of historical nature that teach about the kiai so that even the connections made with the go rin no sho are tenuous at the very best. Even so, my mind still leans heavily toward the connection and toward Abernethy Sensei’s explanation of “Kiai.”
No comments:
Post a Comment