What we know as the game of Rock, Scissors, Paper has been passed down from the Japanese hand game called Jan Ken Pon . Traditionally, as in the present day, two players simultaneously extend their hands as fists (to represent rocks), with the index and middle fingers extended (to represent scissors), or flattened (to represent paper). The winner is decided according to the rules that a rock breaks scissors, scissors cut paper, but paper wraps up rock. Thus, no one weapon or ken (hand form) is universally superior. I find additional fascination in that the fist, our traditional karate weapon, can defeat the blade of scissors, which I liken to the sword of the samurai. That is, the weaponless fist of the karate practitioner can stand up to and even defeat someone wielding a blade, which is how and why karate developed in the first place. Yet, the power of our open hand, be it handshake, an offering of peace, or paper containing the written word, can be more powerful than our natural weapon, the fist. This strength is further typified in the classical Chinese bow, in which an open hand is used to cover our fist.
Classical hand position for bowing. The fist shows power and willingness to meet a challenge, while the open hand covering it shows respect and peaceful intentions.
-Reprinted with permission from Paper Wraps Rock, Infinity Publications, 2005