Doka of the day 10 December 2010

The Pine, the Bamboo, and the Plum.
The make up of Ki that we are training to purify
From where do they arise?
The Water and Fire of the change in the self.
Morihei Ueshiba

I like this doka. The reference to the elements of fire and water echoes Miyamoto Musashi in the Book of Five Rings. I talked about these elements in in a blog post on Takeda Shingen's motto: wind forest fire mountain http://www.aikiweb.com/blogs/moon-in...mountain-3961/

I wondered about the significance of the pine, the bamboo and the plum and Carina Reinhardt kindly sent me a quote from O Sensei and an interesting link to a Shaolin Kempo page.

Study the teachings of the pine tree, the bamboo, and the plum blossom. The pine is evergreen, firmly rooted, and venerable. The bamboo is strong, resilient, unbreakable. The plum blossom is hardy, fragrant, and elegant.
O Sensei, The Art of Peace

Sho (Matsuda): Pine
Evergreens live long, young, and healthy lives. The pine symbolizes faithful friendship which resists all trials. The pine represents the religion of Taoism. The Japanese people use pine needles for ornaments on Christmas and New Year.
Chiku (Take): Bamboo
Bamboo represents Honesty. When you cut into bamboo, you find emptiness inside. Nothing evil is hidden within. Also, Kosho Ryu practitioners remain ever empty, and open to additional knowledge, never becoming full of themselves and their accomplishments. The bamboo is the symbol of the application of discipline and the man who remains loyal in all events. Bamboo represents the Japanese religion of Buddhism.
Bai (Baika): Plum Flower
The Japanese plum flower stands for beauty, nobility, and courage. This is because the plum flower puts forth blossoms while the snow is still on the ground. The plum tree flowers before all the others. The Japanese people love the plum fruit. They especially eat plums when they are sick. Plum represents the Japanese religion of Shintoism
Karazenpo Go Shinjutsu (Hawaiian Shaolin Kempo) http://www.bagnas.com/goldenleopard/mon.html

Thanks Niall, your new avatar looks great Your" wind forest fire mountain" post is also excellent, I like everything about the elements very much and also the pine and the bamboo, But here I'd like to share something my yoga teacher told me once about the plum, better I say umeboshi, when you are getting X-rays it is good to suck one to repel them.

(continued)Umeboshi (Japanese: 梅干; literally "dried ume") are pickled ume fruits common in Japan. Ume (Prunus mume) is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot. Umeboshi are a popular kind of tsukemono (pickles) and are extremely sour and salty. They are usually served as side dishes for rice or stuffed inside of rice balls (sometimes without removing their seeds inside) for breakfast and lunch. They are occasionally served boiled or seasoned for dinner.

Pickled ume which are not dried are called umezuke (梅漬け).
source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeboshi

Niall Matthews wrote: The Pine, the Bamboo, and the Plum. The make up of Ki that we are training to purify From where do they arise? The Water and Fire of the change in the self. Morihei Ueshiba

He's talking about sake, wasn't he?

I didn't think of that but you could be right!

About the pine: a few years ago there was a great fire in the pine forest here in Gran Canaria, it reached even a few towns and it was necessary to evacuate persons. Yesterday I made a walk in that pine forest, I still saw the black trunks of the pines, but there were green leaves everywhere. So the pine is also a symbol of recovery also.

I just wrote a blog post on some of these points related to the end of the year/new year as Jim mentioned:

http://www.aikiweb.com/blogs/moon-in...er-green-4092/