Mizu-Gami
The Isshinryu Karate Emblem
( Text by Steve Armstrong )
The emblem is called "Mizu-Gami." Its oval shape originally was designed to represent a vertical fist. It shows a woman who is half sea-dragon with her left hand open ina universal sign of peace and her right hand closed in a fist as used in the Isshinryu Kata, Seiuchin. [Webmaster's note: it is tradionally worn vertically on the left chest area of the Gi, over the heart.]
In oriental mythology the sea serpent is born at the bottom of the sea and ascends into the heavens as depicted by the small dragon above her head. The churning sea and the gray background represents a typhoon, a terrible storm, that happens in the Pacific. Mizu-Gami represents a mother taking care of her small child, calm and gentle as a mother would under these circumstances but ready to unleash the same amount of fury a mother would if the child was harmed in any fashion. The three stars represent the three arrows of Karate, spiritual, physical and mental [Webmaster's Note: these stars may also represent Master Shimabuku's three formal teachers: Uncle (Shuri-Te); Chokotu Kiyan (Kobayashi-Ryu); Chojun Miyagi (Goju style).].
This colorful emblem represents a vision which came to the founder of Isshinryu Karate, Tatsuo Shimabuku, in a dream he had during the time he was developing Isshinryu. The feeling is that the emblem symbolically expresses what he was trying to accomplish in Isshinryu Karate. The word "Isshinryu" when translated from the Okinawan language literally means, "One Heart Method" and "Karate" means "Empty Hands."
This emblem, with its deep and profound meaning, should be worn proudly by everyone practicing Isshinryu Karate.
|