Ken-po Goku-i

Kenpō [拳法] Gokui [極意]

拳法極意

1. Chinese martial arts, kung fu, wushu, quanfa
2. innermost secrets (of an art or skill), mysteries, essence, heart

The "Kenpo Gokui"(Secrets of the Fist Way), taken from the Bubishi's "8 Poems of the Fist". 

Shimabuku Tatsuo Sensei reportedly received his Kenpo Gokui from his Goju-Ryu teacher, Miyagi Chojun. 

This document was very important in the developement of Isshinryu. 

Shimabuku Tatsuo would give copies to his early students.

1. A person's heart is the same as heaven and earth. 
2. The blood circulating is similar to the sun and moon.
3. The manner of drinking (inhaling) and spitting (exhaling) is either hard or soft. 
4. A person's unbalance is the same as a weight. 
5. The body should be able to change directions at any time. 
6. The time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself. 
7. The eyes must see all sides. 
8. The ears must listen in all directions. 

Notation: I don’t feel numbering the goku-i is appropriate and tend to provide them as each stands alone for study to be merged into one concept.

“A person's heart is the same as Heaven and Earth while the blood circulating is similar to the Sun and Moon yet the manner of drinking and spitting is either soft or hard while a person's unbalance is the same as a weight and the body should be able to change direction at any time as the time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself and both the eyes must see all sides as the ears must listen in all directions while the mind must grasp all the tactile, olfactory and gustation data not seen on all sides and not heard in any direction.”

The goku-i is also symbolized in the Isshinryu no Megami created by Tatsuo-San in the early fifties with the help of the Marines who were training under him while stationed there before and during during the Vietnam war.

It came to me one day, after years of research and studies, that one concept of yin/yang deals with kyu/Dan-i systems. In these modern times one must study the basics well to be inspired to seek out the critically moral and philosophical of karate regardless of why one first walks through the dojo entrance. Equate it to the mind-body relation which is symbolic of yin/yang.

I believe Tatsuo-San believed this as true because he only provided silk certificates of the goku-i and dojo kun to newly minted young black belts (sho-dan’s). He failed to understand how deep and wide the chasm between Americans and Okinawans because the goku-i and kun in Okinawan hands already had connectivity because of their deep connection with the Chinese and their classics. Americans only in the last few decades have come to recognize the importance of studying, training and practicing karate in this way.

What follows herein is another step along that path by attempting to elucidate on the ken-po goku-i from my perspective, especially after fifty-two years of blood, sweat and tears as well as concerted efforts of study and research to have reached this particular entry along the path that is Tao or, “The Way.” Welcome to the heavens, standing to gaze above the earth we stand on to be exposed to the vasty-ness of the universe our little blue ball shares with all things under heaven and on earth as men of nature and mankind.

Notation: nothing is simple or as it may seem upon one’s first reading of the goku-i and dojo-kun but whatever you gleamed from that first pass is -“A Very Good First Step!”

Let’s begin, shall we!

The first two lines are pointing directly to the classics, i.e., “I Ching: Tao Te Ching: book of odes, book of changes (I Ching), book of documents, book of rights, and the Chunqiu  (Spring and Autumn Annals). Shujing (“Classic of History”), Shijing (“Classic of Poetry”), Liji (“Collection of Rituals”). 

I suggest strongly one find the kanji of this tome of the dojo to translate them to English and take note that one could create a variety of sentences using any set of words to make coherent sentences.

One of many reasons the uniqueness comes from beliefs, experiences, studies, research, understandings and realities of each unique person - this could be what is meant by the first part of that sentence, “a person’s heart,” and that remains open ended for interpretations, all being correct.

Another suggestion is to compare the I Ching, Tao te Ching, Chuan Tzu, etc to get a sense of their interpretation of heaven, earth, sun and moon, etc.

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A person's heart is the same as heaven and earth. 

A person’s heart 💜 being open ended for interpretations, all being correct.

Same is a pointer to the symbolic meaning of heaven and earth. It’s going to take some burning of midnight oil to learn what the ancients meant by heaven and earth. 

Heaven: American 🇺🇸 will likely assume it has religious connotations, heaven and hell, but do the leg work to see what you find of their meaning. Think metaphorically and symbolically but tie that to the time, culture and reality of the social conditions.

As example, one such foray into the classics the following quote is guide:

“Heaven covers all things without personal preference, Earth sustains all things without personal preference, sun and moon illuminates all things without personal preference.” - Li Chi 

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The blood circulating is similar to the sun and moon.

Sun heats, nourishes and illuminates 

Moon regulates all things contained of earth

Each effects the other through gravity 

Pulling and pushing all things of the earth

Effects that of the human body which exists due to the blood circulating due to the heart pumps blood while the breathing feeds the blood 🩸 

As previously mentioned, this is an alternating yin/yang concept that literally provides the life force of all things in the universe we call “chi,” energy’s of the body effected by all that surrounds us.

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The manner of drinking (inhaling) and spitting (exhaling) is either hard or soft. 

I’ve often wondered if it were an American who added in the parans with inhaling and exhaling.

Breathing does matter when one needs hard or soft in taking actions or overcoming psychological defects, etc.

Breathing cycles are like the sun and moon and earth cycles.

How one breathe triggers either yin, relaxed or yang, dynamic tensioning such as when applying the instance of force and power.

Note: I’m not pleased with reference to drinking and spitting so feel they serve no purpose for it fits that inhaling and exhaling speak to applying soft and hard.

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A person's unbalance is the same as a weight. 

We can assume the literal is the only full complete interpretation or we can delve into the metaphorical aging further advantages when it come to self-defense.

Incorrect or inappropriate decisions can result in an imbalance in one’s tactics that can put you in the ER as if you were pulled down using your weight and mass to self-receive force, power and resulting damage.

This is, and other concepts, something to mull over when next sitting mokuso.

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The body should be able to change directions at anytime. 

A critical concept of Tatsuo-San when creating his version ok karate called, “Isshinryu.” 

To assume natural stances to optimize movement is critical in that such stances lowers reactive responses or even initiate responses to their absolute minimum resulting in “lengthening one’s line” or as one would say today, “shortening our loop in the OODA!”

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The time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself. 

To strike doesn’t mean a “fist in the face” strike; to strike doesn’t mean taking the initiative before it’s appropriate; to strike doesn’t mean walking into conflict with certain attitudes; and it can mean turning around and taking a different path away from dangers and so on - getting the picture aren’t we now?

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The eyes must see all sides. 

Few in my day realized that one’s peripheral vision can be more reliable in see in things on the sphere of “looking/seeing” that takes in all physical dimensions of one’s space regardless of where that person is located.

We have to consider our third eye 👁️, the one used to see inward towards the self in regard to morals, attitudes, beliefs and perceptive judgements, etc.

Seeing possibilities long before conflict and/or violence is the trick to seeing all sides (be they situations and methods and methodologies and social standards and social mandates and so-on.

Dive deep my padawan!

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The ears must listen in all directions. 

Our hearing is absolutely amazing and I discovered just how critical that is as I began to lose that ability. 

The depth and breadth of what we hear both directly and indirectly is incredible such as in balance our hearing along with other sensory systems effects our orientation and that our overall balance which you can guess affects our ability to apply actions in life.

In all directions is more than we assume is the same as seeing in all directions because hearing certain things triggers our concept of “orientation” toward possibilities as to sources and  their objectives.

I would feel more comfortable if this line were combined with the previous:

“The ears and eyes must perceive in all directions.” - cejames (line 7 & 8 merged)

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Sensory system of a tactile nature likened to an aura or sixth sense beyond seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting that relies on touching or being touched, the tingling or feeling the hairs on our neck bristling when something triggers our inner mind to that which is sensed as wrong with heavens, moons, sun and earth like when nature storms causing tides to encroach the shores or the lightning to strike or the death to shift felt by the birds in the sky and fish swimming the ocean, river and lakes, etc.