INTERNATIONAL SHURIWAY KARATE & KOBUDO SOCIETY

Hanging on the wall in the Seishinkai Honbu Dojo is a framed piece of rice paper with two Japanese characters brushed upon it in black ink. The characters, shown above, are read "O" and "Nin" respectively from top to bottom.

Literally, "O" means to push, shove, press, squash, compress or stamp. "Nin" in contrast means to bear, endure, resist, or put up with. Thus, there is the apparent conflict of forces. One force pushing, the other force resisting.

In Japan, Martial Artists often use the sound "Osu" to express their attitude toward training. "Osu" comes from the first character of the above combination, and is a verbalization of the implicit concept of "O-Nin". This sound is heard during the exchange of greeting between seniors and juniors, when entering the training hall, before performing Kata for review, and after receiving a pointer from the Sensei.

Soke explained that it means to be patient while undergoing the stress of training. Yamanaka Shihan added that it implies an attitude of seriousness and having or showing great self control in adversity, he said "its no trouble, I will do it!"

From the Seishinkai manual by James Herndon

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