The Meaning of Hyung

In almost every traditional martial art, there are forms or patterns that are practiced and passed down from teacher to student.  Hyung, or kata in Japanese martial arts, are essential in the tradition and identify of many martial art styles and the sheer variety means that everyone has at least one form they consider “their” form.  

Hyung is represented by the character 型.  The top radical 刑 is where the phonetic “hyung” (or “kei”/”kata” in Japanese and “xíng” in Chinese) comes from and in modern times means “guilty” or “punishment”.  This character is a combination of 井 which means “well” (as in a water well or hole) and 刀 which is “sword” (the Japanese character for “katana”).  The 井 character represents around which dirt (the 土 character on the bottom of 型) is formed and packed, after which the metal is poured to create 刀.  In ancient times the 土 was instead a 田 which typically means rice paddy, but in this context represented the pot in which the molten metal was stored and eventually poured into the mold.  This is where the modern meaning of “pattern”, “form” or “shape” for 型 originated from.

So, what does this mean to us and what perspective can this bring to our training?  While the original meaning has little to do with the forms we practice today, we can see some parallels to how the traditional forms were created and how ancient swordsmiths formed their swords.  Through training, experience, and many, many days/months/years of work, an instructor takes the many techniques and applications in their art to mix and form them into a series of moves that could be recognized and repeated for their students, which can then be passed down to the next generation.  While the original shape can still be recognized to this day, the pattern changed as each student added their own interpretation into the process of handing their art, which gave rise to the many variations that exist today.  

A final thought: what do you see in the forms you practice today? Can you recognize the essence of the original pattern? Much (if not all) of the original intent of the forms has been lost to history, and there has been a resurgence of research and activity to understand how and why the techniques exist in the sequence they appear for each form. You may ask: does it even matter? I believe it is important to have your own understanding of what you are doing in your form. If you’ve only done kata as a performance up till now, ask yourself (or better yet, ask your instructor!): what is the purpose of this move? The answer may surprise you!

Sources:

Shirakawa, Shizuka Joyou Jikai Dai Ni Dan(Common Character Analysis 2nd Edition) 2018