JAPANESE TERMINOLOGY

Most schools of karate use Japanese terminology for the techniques they practice and my school is no exception. In fact I study Japanese. I have a love of the language and kanji, (Chinese characters used in Japanese writing). Where I differ is, knowing the Japanese terminology is not a requirement for grading.

Imagine an examiner sitting at a desk, issuing commands in a foreign language that he/she has learned parrot fashion, with no concept of the real meaning. This examiner then fails the person being tested because they didn’t understand the words he/she was mispronouncing!

This may seem ridiculous to anyone who hasn’t experienced it, but it happens on a regular basis.

I use Japanese in my classes and encourage my students to learn and pronounce it correctly. However, I believe we mustn’t let “what’s it called” become more important than “will it work”!

With the above in mind I see no point including a long list of Japanese terms with loose English translations on this site. If you want this you can find plenty elsewhere on the web and in countless textbooks. Instead I would like to look at Japanese terminology in a little more detail so you can actually understand the terms you are using.

Lets take a look at yōi. This command is used to call the class to attention and means “prepare”. Notice the o is elongated, it should be pronounced twice as long as the normal vowel. Yoi without a long o means “good”.

Yōi is made up of two kanji. The first, yō, means “employ”. The second, i, means “mind”. If you are using your mind you’re going to be prepared, aren’t you!

I intend to update this section regularly. If anyone has a request as to which karate term I should look into next please e-mail me and I’ll see what I can do. (Don’t be too disappointed if you get the reply "I dunno!")