GOGYO ¯ OR THE FIVE ELEMENTS

The five elements of ancient Chinese science, wood, fire, earth, metal and water, are known in Japan under the name of gogy), although the way in which they are used, even today, is largely of Chinese origin.

The actual order in which the gogy) occur may vary according to context, which also determines their metaphorical, as opposed to their literal meaning. This is important, for the gogy) relate to any number of sets containing five members,¹⁹ and for some of these they also provide the names. In particular, the five planets known to the ancient world, were named in China after the five elements, and these names were adopted in Japan. It follows that Jupiter is mokusei (wood star), Mars, Figure 3.1 Simple and complex mandala

kasei (fire star), Saturn, dosei (earth star),²⁰ Venus, kinsei (metal star) and Mercury, suisei (water star). The five planets are seen as born of the union (k)g)) between sun and moon, so that in and y) combine to produce the gogy).²¹ The birth of the planets, if but one representation of this mystical union, may still be taken as the archetype.

There is also an essentially mathematical relationship between iny) and gogy). This is based on the principle that both systems are essentially cyclical. With in and y) this causes no difficulty: cyclical order means, in this case, no more than continuous alternation, such as occurs between day and night or winter and summer. With gogy) the position is more complicated, but the basic mathematical principle is that there are only two essentially different orders, which are complementary to each other. This is illustrated by figure 3.2, in which the essential order can be stated in terms of which elements are adjacent to each other. (This means that the order of the mirror image is taken to be the same.) Taking the order in figure 3.2a as the starting point, the only essentially different order is one in which elements previously adjacent to each other are all separated. To see what this involves, one can start with any one of the five elements, say water. The required transformation allows it to remain adjacent to neither metal nor wood, so that these elements must be supplanted by earth and fire. Earth, in turn, may no longer be adjacent to metal or fire, so that with water on one side it can only have wood on the other. So also, fire, with water on one side, must have metal on the other. This produces the order given in figure 3.2b. Repeating the process leads back to figure 3.2a. If the vertices in figure 3.2a are joined in the cyclical order of figure 3.2b, the result is the five-pointed star in figure 3.2c. The star, and the pentagon defined by its vertices, then represent the two possible configurations.

This transformation is not possible with less than five elements, and with more than five elements the alternation between the two figures is, mathematically, no longer essential.²² The Japanese recognised the alternation and gave a positive value to one configuration, which was designated s)sh) to mean ‘harmony’, and a negative value to the other, then designated s)koku, to mean

‘antagonism’.²³ At the same time, the relationships were given direction, as indicated in figure 3.2d. Where it is a case of s)sh), the direction of the arrows indicate that one element is born out of another. How this is supposed to happen is part of the tradition. Wood, for instance, gives birth to fire, since fire is made by rubbing two pieces of wood together. In the case of s)koku, the direction of the

Figure 3.2Gogyo¯

arrows indicates that one element destroys the other, so that wood destroys earth, since the roots of trees break up the ground. At the same time every force implies its opposite, so that every case of s)sh) has an element of s)koku and vice versa. If there is always a cloud on the horizon, every cloud still has its silver lining. If the roots of trees destroy the earth, they can also bind it together and prevent landslides.

Given that gogy) was a multivalent system, capable of indefinite extension, the ambiguity of s)sh) and s)koku made certain that in any context practitioners could always be wise after the event if things went wrong. Gogy), as much as any other of the alternate number systems used in Japan (and generally imported from China), was designed to be a part of applied mathematics, so the applications could prove to be counter-productive.

Figure 3.2d also places one element, do (earth), at the centre, which was essential for allowing the lore of gogy) to adapt and incorporate systems containing four members, such as the cardinal points or the seasons of the year.²⁴ The cycle of in and y) can also be made to include the five elements, by taking earth to be the perfect balance between the two, fire as pure y), water as pure in, wood as in in y), and metal as y) in in.²⁵ This makes it possible in any application combining in-y) and gogy) to use one system to interpret results derived from the other.²⁶

KANSHI

The oldest of all the alternative number systems used in Japan is that based on a series of twenty-two characters or cyclical signs which are to be found among the most ancient Chinese written texts. These twenty-two kanji, as given in figure 3.3, are familiar to the Japanese in any number of contexts, but their most common use is in the almanacs which, every year, are sold by the million in every possible retail outlet.

The twenty-two signs divide into two groups, one containing the ten kan, or ‘heavenly stems’, and the other, the twelve shi, or ‘earthly branches’.²⁷ This is another case of a dichotomy between heaven and earth, such as also occurs in the lore of the five elements. If the original meanings of the signs is lost in antiquity, there is little doubt about how they are now interpreted. The ten kan are known to the Japanese in two forms, both given in figure 3.3. The first is a single on reading, while the second is a reading based on combining kun readings of the five elements, in the order wood, fire, earth, metal, water, with the kanji for older and younger brother represented by the deviant readings e and to.

In the lore of yin-yang, the former corresponds to y) and the latter to in (Yoshino 1983:38). Although, in this way, the ten kan are related to both

Figure 3.3Kanshi Note:The first of the two names for each of the combinations is a combination of the on readings of the two symbols. Note that the combination of ko and shi (number 1) can be pronounced kasshi and that otsu becomes itsu in combination and undergoes other sound changes. The second of the two names combines an alternate name of the stem with the animal name for the branch.

gogy) and ony)d) (which establishes their place in a unified theory of the cosmos), this relationship plays little part in their use in conjunction with the twelve shi.

The twelve shi represent the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, and although each has its own recognised characteristics,²⁸ once again the way in which they combine with the ten kan is what counts in the numerical system. The number of combinations occurring is sixty, the lowest common multiple of ten and twelve. The order is that given in table 3.2. The combined kanshi system is thus appropriate for measuring any cycle containing sixty members, and the system itself has defined any number of such cycles, particularly relating to the passage of time, and its use in horoscopes. These I discuss in chapters 6 and 7.

SONG

The Japanese uta means both ‘song’ and ‘verse’. Although, for reasons given in the Preface, nothing can be said about traditional Japanese music, the best-known verse forms are defined numerically.

These are the 17-syllable haiku, and the 31-syllable tanka, which is also known as waka.²⁹ The former has three lines, with 5–7–5 syllables, and the latter, five, with 5–7–5–7–7 syllables. Originally the tanka was the shortest possible form of a ch)ka or ‘long song’³⁰ which had an indefinite number of 5–7 pairs, ending always with an additional seven-syllable line. At the present day the tanka and the haiku have become the standard verse form, while ch)ka are hardly composed at all. The tanka retains its ancient form, whereas the haiku was only established as an independent poetic form at the end of the nineteenth century.

Compositions in both forms are now produced by both professionals and amateurs. The latter, in particular, have a chance of competing in the annual poetry-reading, which is part of the new year’s celebrations of the imperial household. Members of the imperial family are ardent poets, and the Emperor Meiji is recorded as having composed more than 10,000 tanka. Many Japanese spend the weeks before the end of the year composing haiku for their friends, which are then transcribed in calligraphy on the new year cards which can be bought at any post-office. These are sold by the million; each card has a separate number printed on it, which the recipient may then treat as a ticket in a national lottery,³¹ for which the draw occurs early in the new year.

Table 3.2Jikkan j*nishi (a)The ten stems or trunks (jikkan) (b)How the five elements are combined with yin and yang to give alternate names to the ten stems (c)The twelve branches (j*nishi) Note: The “no” of these combinations is the genetive particle. “Kane” becomes “ka” in its two combinations.

The actual verse form is quite undemanding, so long as the right number of syllables occurs in each line. Two contrasting but related themes are often expected, so the writer must be extremely economical with words. Strict adherence to grammar is not required. Motoori Norinaga, the great eighteenth-century literary scholar, insisted that only autochthonous words (i.e. kun readings of kanji) be used, but only purists would adhere to this rule today. In popular culture, verse, or uta, is more or less synonymous with the 17- and 31-syllable forms of the haiku and the tanka, which are what the two numbers immediately connote for any Japanese.

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