Sui, the Water of the Five Great

Sui, water, is the second of the Godai, the five elements of Japanese esoteric Buddhism, the element of fluidity, adaptability and flow, the formless that takes the shape of its container, associated with emotion, flexibility, and the defensive and yielding that overcomes by adapting. In the gorinto, the five-ring stone pagoda, water is the sphere resting on the cube of earth, its rounded form expressing the element's mobility and completeness.

The five elements came to Japan with esoteric Buddhism, transmitted through China from the Indian doctrine of the great elements, and were systematised especially in the Shingon school founded by Kukai in the ninth century. Miyamoto Musashi named the water chapter of his Book of Five Rings for the adaptable, formless quality a swordsman should cultivate. The Godai are an ancient and continuous part of Japanese Buddhist and martial tradition, and water's attributes of adaptability and flow belong to that inherited scheme rather than to any modern invention.