Recently I discussed one of our Okinawan karate katas with a student, called Gojushiho (meaning 54 steps) which is a denomination of 108. I decided to do some research and I learned that it’s meaning had something to do with the number 108.  It’s said that all Buddhist temples have 108 steps, or walks of 2 sets of 54, or 3 sets of 36.  Interestingly they will be a denomination of 108. 

These 108 steps represent the 108 defilements, or character flaws which Buddhist practitioners try to identify and refine in their lives. These come later in the practice of Buddhism, after learning the Four Noble Truth and Eightfold path.  I will leave you, the reader to type 108 Defilements into a search engine and read them for yourself, since time and space don’t permit me the luxury of listing them all in this post.

Buddhism spread from India, to China and Okinawa / Japan.  The famous Shaolin Temple was Buddhist and the school of Shorin comes from the word Shaolin.  T’ai Chi Ch’uan has routines that consist of 108 movements.  There are also 108 major pressure points to be found in Chinese medicine.  Hmm?

Interestingly, Shorin Ryu karate portrays these ideas, embodied within the name of the kata.  It’s a curious propensity of Asian Martial Arts Masters, some also having been practitioners of Buddhism, to hide meanings within not only the application, or breakdown of a kata, but also right in your face – in this case the name of the kata Gojushiho, itself. 

This may be done to remind one of the Buddhist ancestral roots of the kata that they are performing and perhaps cause a student in future generations to pause and ask “What am I doing?  What exactly does this mean?”