Last Updated on Saturday, 02 January 2010 21:02 Thursday, 02 December 2004 07:22

The Red Dragon is the protective symbol of Zen Do Kai. It is highly revered by its practitioners, we explain why this is so, here.

The Red Dragon is to Zen Do Kai what the Bushido and Ishoa Crosses are to its warriors. It epitomises everything that Zen Do Kai has represented since its inception in 1970. The mind, body and spirit of Zen Do Kai can all be seen through the eyes of the Zen Do Kai Red Dragon. The name's origins hark from the days when Soke Bob Jones competed in tournaments and was dubbed 'The Red Dragon' due to his ferocious fighting style. 'The Red Dragons' was the name given to Soke's first generation family. The Red Dragon's family mon can be seen on the 'Bob Jones' page in the Zen Do Kai section of this site. Firestorm students wear this mon on the left sleeves of their Gi's to honour the first generation family. The Red Dragon is featured in the centre of the first generation family mon. The final grading form (kata) in the Zen Do Kai system is named, aptly, 'The Dragons Way' (Seipai).

The dragon is one of the oldest mythological creatures. It is visible in the traditions of almost all races, cultures and creeds in history and has inspired curiosity, fear and reverence throughout the ages. Dragons appear in numerous forms but all follow a common theme. Seen as fierce and untamed, protectors and destroyers, they embody the elemental creative and degenerative forces of the universe. They are a symbol of both cosmic order and disorder. Earliest accounts of dragons associate them with the Great Mother, the Water God and the Warrior Sun God, hence their given universal powers. They were believed to live on ocean floors, guarding vast hoards of treasure, often pearls.

The significance of the dragon was its control over the destiny of mankind. Some cultures believe that a rainbow is a giant dragon or serpent that encircles the earth, dividing the ordered material world from the unseen chaos beyond. In the West, dragons came to represent the chaos of original matter. This clashed with man's awakening conscience and a struggle ensued, in that the created order constantly challenged the dragon's power. This type of dragon was considered by many to be the intermediate stage between a demon and the devil and arose in Christian belief. In the East, the dragon was regarded differently. It was fierce but essentially benevolent and was regarded as a son of heaven, controlling the watery elements of the universe. It was believed that the dragon's energy bound together all the phenomena of nature, bringing helpful rains but also typhoons.

Ancient cultures believed that the four elements from which everything was formed - earth, air, water and fire - were symbolically combined in the dragon. It dwells in the earth or the waters, flies through the air and breathes fire. Some cultures believed that dragons inhabit underground or submarine regions and are associated with dark or sinister forces. In psychology, the dragon is viewed upon as a symbol of profound human concerns. As a creature with both benign and sinister attributes, it may stand for the essential duality of the human mind, the interplay of light (the conscious) and dark (the subconscious). In dreams it may represent fear or death.

The dragon has been depicted in Western cultures as a beast made up of the attributes of various other animals and reptiles. The common attributes include eagle's feet with huge claws (claws also protruded from its legs), spiked wings, lion's forelimbs and head, fangs, armour like fish scales, antelope or bull's horns, a serpentine trunk and tail (with a ridge of sharp spines that stretched from its spiked nose to its barbed stinging tail) and an ability to breathe fire which in myth, is capable of devastating whole countries. The dragon's eyes also contain this fiery red quality, which was sometimes believed to reflect the treasures they guarded. There isn't any wonder why Soke selected this most powerful, mystical beast to represent the Zen Do Kai style.

Colour plays a major role in the Zen Do Kai philosophy of Senjo. Red is the first of the seven major colours when white light is refracted through a prism. This is symbolic in Senjo. The same seven colours appear in the rainbow (a metaphor to the dragon myth), in which, red always appears first. In Zen Do Kai, students are taught that the colour red is predominant in the traditions of all peoples. It is the most vital colour in the spectrum and has been given the richest symbolism, being assigned to virtue and sin, love and hatred, patriotism and anarchy - qualities that are contradictory but always intense. The colour Red is therefore a natural fit for the Dragon in the context of Zen Do Kai.