The Chinese Zodiac is just another result of Chinese miasma, same as neo-Confucian intellectual overlay to martial arts. I'd prefer the Shamanic origins of elbows myself
Interestingly Vladimir Vasiliev of Systema never strikes with his elbow. He doesn't like it - says it makes you too tense. (Paraphrasing from memory from the book 'Strikes'). If you look at all the videos of him online, you hardly ever see him hit with the elbow.
Simon - I do remember reading Scott Phillips rather amazing explanation of the 4 main energies of Ta Chi Peng, lu, ji, an - the square in the circle as an exorcism ritual. He really took it to the next level. Let me find it, hang on.....
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... ah here you go:
"A square inside a circle means a ritual exorcism in traditional China. Called a jing (a well) because ghosts and demons are locked up inside wells during exorcisms. Chinese coins also symbolize this and were used for exorcisms. The movements peng, ji, lu, an, are the sequence used in an exorcism. "an" being the final stage, imprisonment or "pacification."
http://northstarmartialarts.com/blog1/2 ... nding.htmlLarge Chinese coin.