The posture of the warrior is known as kamae. The Kamae is meant to embody certain elements of consciousness and attitudes that are specifically useful to a warrior.
Some of these useful attitudes embody intensely alert awareness and readiness (see fig. 1), or the kamae in figure 2, demonstrates a decisive and aggressive attitude.
The kamae pictured in figure 3 indicates a dominating spirit.
And sometimes kamae portray certain strategies or tactics, such as counterattacking (fig. 4)...
...and formlessness(figures 5 and 6).
The end result of practicing these types of martial meditation results in the psychological and spiritual qualities shown in figures 7 and 8.
The first is Hu Erh Cha, a 18th century Imperial bodyguard (fig 7), and Frank Matsuyama, taken in the 1940's(fig 8).
Kamae originated in Europe and the neighboring Near East. Ancient sources such as Martianus Minneus Felix Capella explain that temple priestesses would invoke the gods by gesturing with their fingers with each finger having an alphabetical and numerical value, thus symbolizing the god's sacred name.
Until recent times it was common for Europeans to make gestures with their fingers to ward off danger (fig 9).
A variation of this system is found in esoteric Buddhism and Taoism today.
This Mudra is used by Buddhists to thwart evil (fig 10).
Ancient Greek and Roman deity statues many times show the gods and goddesses in poses very similar to certain kamae practiced in the martial arts today.
Studies have indicated that the Greeks introduced the use of images rather than symbols to portray certain principles of the divine to India (figures 11-13).
The use of divine images spread throughout Asia. Note the similarity of this statue of Buddha with the statue of Athena demonstrated by figures 14 and 15.
The use of the kamae gives the martial artist the ability to mimic and identify with divine attributes and thereby tap into divine power, or KI.
