骨指三法 kosshi sanpo こっしさんぽ

In keeping with the theme of kihon happo I decided to deal with the kanji that make up the waza of the kihon happo, starting with the kosshi sanpo 骨指三法.  In the Tenchijin the words “kosshi sanpo” are written with these kanji 骨指三法.  However, in Soke’s unarmed fighting book the words “kosshi sanpo” are written with these kanji 骨子三法.  I figured it would be interesting to see the differences in meaning between 指 and 子.  So I’ll explore them both.

骨 kotsu

This is the stroke order for this kanji:

This kanji is also a radical, the “bone” radical.  Strokes 7 through 10 form the kanji for “moon” 月, which is also a radical used to signify a part of the body.  Its onyomi is “kotsu” コツ, and its kunyomi is “hone” ほね(pronounced “hoe-neh”).

This kanji 骨 means “a bone, a skeleton, a frame, a rib, a knack, the trick, hard, difficult”, and its use in compounds suggest the meaning of either bones or something that is tricky.  For example, 骸骨 (gaikotsu がいこつ) “skeleton”,  気骨 (kikotsu きこつ) “moral backbone, spirit, soul, grit”, and the phrase 骨が喉につかえた (hone ga nodo nitsukaeta ほねがのどにつかえた) “a bone has stuck in my throat”, as well as 鉄骨 (tekkotsu てっこつ) “steel frame”, are all ways this kanji is used to signify the idea of bones or a framework.  On the other hand, 骨をつかむ (kotsu o tsukamu こつをつかむ) “to get the knack of”, 蛮骨 (bankotsu ばんこつ) “brute courage, recklessness”, and 骨が折れる (hone ga oreru ほねがおれる) “to require much effort, to be hard to do, to have ones bones broken” all have to do with tricky or difficult situations.  By the way, “kotsu” 骨 is the “ko” 骨 of “koppojutsu”  骨法術 the” bone method art”.

指 shi

This is the stroke order for this kanji:

The first three stokes of this kanji 指 are a variation of the “hand” radical 手 (te て).  Strokes four and five compose the “spoon” radical 匕  (hi ひ), and the last four strokes compose the “sun” radical日(nichi にち).  Etymologically speaking, this kanji is a good example of how many of the kanji are composed of radicals and/or other kanji.  Its onyomi is “shi” シ, and its kunyomi are “yubi” ゆび and “sasu” さす.

This kanji 指 means “a finger, the thumb, a toe, point to, indicate”.  Its use in compounds usually suggest the idea of a finger or something that gives direction.  For example, finger compounds include 親指 (oyayubi おやゆび) “thumb, big toe”, 指貫 (yubinuki ゆびぬき) “thimble”,  and ダイヤの指輪 (daiya no yubiwa ダイヤのゆびわ) “diamond ring”, where as pointing or direction compounds include 指名する (shimeisuru しめいする) “to nominate, designate, or name”, 目指す (mezasu めざす) “to aim at, to have an eye on”, and 指数 (shisuu しすう) “index, index number, exponent”.  The “shi” of “shishin ken”, “shitan ken”, “shito ken”, and “shikan ken” is (you guessed it) 指. 

骨指 kosshi

Ok, so if you put “bone” and “finger” together you get “bone finger”, right?  Before we get to that let’s take a look at the other way Soke spells “kosshi” 骨子. 

子 shi

This is the stroke order for this kanji:

This kanji 子 is also known as the “child” radical.  Its onyomi are “shi” シ and “su” ス, and its kunyomi is “ko” こ. 

This kanji 子 means “a child, an offspring, a kid, a son, a daughter, a baby, an infant”, and its use in compounds generally suggest the idea of a child or something small, though other more unique ideas can be expressed.  Some examples include 吾子 (ako あこ) “my child”, 子育て (kosodate こそだて) “raising children”, 原子 (genshi げんし) “atom”, 厨子 (zushi ずし) “miniature shrine of a temple”, 天子(tenshi てんし) “the emperor”, and 子分 (kobun こぶん) “follower, henchman”. 

骨指三法 kosshi sanpo vs. 骨子三法  kosshi sanpo

Well “sanpo” 三法 is easy enough; 三 is the kanji for “three”, and 法 is the kanji for “way” or “method” (I covered 法 in the post on kihon happo).  So, what does 骨指 mean?  Well, it turns out 骨指 as a compound means “backbone”, though I’m not sure if that means a literal backbone or backbone in the sense of something that provides support.  Regardless, kosshi sanpo 骨指三法 can mean “three methods for attacking the backbone”, which is what you’re doing when you do the kosshi sanpo.  骨子 as a compound means “marrow” or “essence”, so 骨子三法 can mean “three methods for attacking (or maybe “getting to”) the essence or marrow of something”.  Any thoughts are always welcome in the comments.  Ganbatte 頑張って!

The kanji information used to make the above graphics comes from the KanjiVG project. The kanji data is copyright (C) Ulrich Apel 2009 and is used under the terms of a Creative Commons licence. Please see the project page for more details.