suigetsu no gokui
Peter Boylan
I was reading something you'd written where the phrase "suigetsu no
gokui" came up. There (an old post) you translated this as "the
principle of the moon on the water". That makes perfect sense to me,
what I'm wondering is how "suigetsu" came to mean "solar plexus" ?
Peter Boylan
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Peter Boylan
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David Pan
Location of the "suigetsu" is anatomically the xyphoid process isn't
it? I was under the impression that the xyphoid process is also called
the "solar plexus".
It is also one of the 7 "energy" centers along the center line, where
tanden is the one most people are familiar with...
I think...
David
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Nathan Scott
> > what I'm wondering is how "suigetsu" came to mean "solar plexus" ?
>
> Location of the "suigetsu" is anatomically the xyphoid process isn't
> it? I was under the impression that the xyphoid process is also called
> the "solar plexus".
I've often heard the solor plexus referred to as both "suigetsu" and
"mizouchi" (or also mizuochi). The kanji for these terms is different,
and unless I'm mistaken, the kanji for "mizouchi/mizuochi" literally
translates as something like "dove's tail"(!)
It could be that suigetsu is an earlier term. Mizouchi is in modern
dictionaries as "solar plexus", but I have not seen suigetsu defined as
such yet (in a dictionary).
Regards,
Nathan Scott
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Karl Friday
>I was reading something you'd written where the phrase "suigetsu no
>gokui" came up. There (an old post) you translated this as "the
>principle of the moon on the water". That makes perfect sense to me,
>what I'm wondering is how "suigetsu" came to mean "solar plexus" ?
My best guess is that it comes from a combination of things. First,
there's a acupuncture point called the "suibun" or "mizuwake" ( $B?eJ, (B) that's
in about the same place as the solar plexus. And second, the regular
Japanese word for this point on one's anatomy is "mizo^chi"( $B?eMn (B), which is
a contraction of "muizu-ochi." One or both of these are probably the base
for the adoption of "suigetsu" as bugei code for the solar plexus. This
sort of semi-coded reference to body parts is common in bugei
terminology--the use of "kote" to refer to the wrists, is another
example. It probably was originally an effort to make texts and verbal
explanations less intelligible to outsiders.
The term "suigetsu" is originally a Buddhist reference to the idea of the
Buddha essence existing wholly and undivided in all things, the way the
moon is reflected wholly and undivided in every puddle and water drop under
the sky. Japanese martial art usage of the term as a philosophical
construct (rather than an anatomical reference) usually points toward the
idea of the moon moving with the waves of any body of water on which it's
reflected.