Japanese in Karate 1 "Karate","1 to 10"

I’ve been practicing karate for a long time, mainly in Japan but also in Australia, New Zealand and now in Israel. Actually, I started my first karate in Australia and I remember that although I did not understand the teacher’s English well, it was easy for me to understand the training since the words he used were all Japanese! I could know what to do just from the words. I thought I was lucky being a Japanese!

On the other hand, it is difficult  for non-Japanese people to understand and pronounce those Japanese words used in karate or any martial art training since they usually don’t know Japanese language at all. Since I am a Japanese and English teacher, I’d love to explain those Japanese words in English. I know that it will help you understand not only the words but also the meaning of the techniques.

Although I’ve trained in some different styles of karate, most of my explanation will be based on Kyokushin training.

I will try to explain as simple as possible but first of all, I want you to understand the system of Kanji (one of the Japanese writings).  You don't need to know how to write or remember them.

空手 These are the kanji letters for karate.  Each letter of kanji has a meaning or meanings. First letter  空 (kara) means "empty" and the second letter 手(te) means "a hand". Karate is a name of martial arts but when you see it in kanji, you can know that it means "empty hands". I suppose everyone knows that it's because they fight without weapons in karate. Now, the second letter 手 (te) means "a hand" or "hands". Each kanji usually has at least 2 different readings and another reading of  手(te) is (shu). The word "shutou" is written 手刀  The first 手(shu) means a hand and the second letter 刀(tou) means "a sword". So you can know that "shutou" is a hand sword.

Shutou 手刀

Many words are composed of 2 kanji characters. So if you know the each meaning, it will help you understand the words.

I will show you more words next time and let's start from something easier.

You know how to count 1 to 10 in Japanese, right?

1(ichi) 2(ni) 3(san) 4(shi) 5(go) 6(roku) 7(shichi) 8(hachi) 9(kyu) 10(ju)

When we count in the training, this is how we say. But 4 , 7 and 9 have another readings which are 4(yon) 7(nana) 9(ku). It's possible to switch them when you just count the numbers. But in cases, you need to use only one of them. Like when you count the degree of the belt, 4^th kyu is always "yon-kyu" and not "shi-kyu".(kyu is a name of the degree) One of kata "Pin-an 4" is  "Pin-an sono yon" and not "Pin-an sono shi" (sono is No. for No. 4)