De Anza Shotokan Karate Club

Japanese Terminology Glossary

The glossary is grouped into different pages that contain related terms. Each page is further divided into three sections, basic, intermediate and advanced.

Each word is listed in the same format on each page. The format will look like this:
romaji (row-mah-jee): English "translation"
The word is spelled in bold using the romaji spelling. After, in parenthesis is a rough pronunciation of the word. Lastly is a brief interpretation of the word or phrase. Note that the translation is not always literal and may vary from dojo to dojo. Also the name of a specific thing may also vary from dojo to dojo. Definitions on this site are for the PCKDA's translations of the terms.

Reading Romaji

The Japanese language can be expressed in writing in many different alphabets. One of the alphabets used is called romaji, or Roman characters. Romaji can be used as a rough phonetic expression of how to pronounce a word. Here are some basic rules.

• Each of the five vowels has one and only one sound:
  • a is pronounced like in awning
  • e is pronounced short like in get
  • i is pronounced like a long e like in keen
  • o is pronounced long like in go
  • u is pronounced long as in Sue
• When two or more vowels are placed next to each other, they blend slightly to make a new sound.
• Pronounce every vowel or vowel combination.
• Consonants are always pronounced hard, for example:
  • g is pronounced as in give
  • c is pronounced as in cat

Of course, these are very rough guidelines. Words spoken using these guidelines will be spoken with a very bad American accent. If you really want to learn to pronounce the words correctly, it is recommend that you take classes in Japanese.

More on Japanese

Occasionally, when speaking to others on topics related to karate, the need to use Japanese words may come up. Here are a few tips on Japanese grammar to help keep you using another culture's language a little better.

• In Japanese, there is no difference in the pronunciation of singular and plural words. For example, the singular for kick is keri. The plural for kick in English is kicks, but in Japanese you still use keri. The context in which it is used should tell you whether the word is singular or plural.
• Japanese names are pronounced family name before personal name. In English, the name of Shotokan's founder is Gichin Funakoshi, but in Japanese, he is called Funakoshi Gichin.
• Titles that you give a person are attached to the end of the person's name in Japanese. So, in English, you may refer to someone as Mr. John Smith. In Japanese, it would be Smith-san or Smith John-san. Likewise Dr. Jones would be Jones Sensei. When using a title such as sensei, one typically uses the person's family name not their personal name, unless it is unclear by context alone.

Japanese for Testing

Learning the Japanese names for techniques is a requirement for intermediate belts and above in the PCKDA. Starting at first purple, a written test is administered and must be passed before a student can be awarded their new rank. In addition, tests at that level are also administered using only the Japanese names for techniques.

Basic terms are terms that all students should try to learn right away because they are used in class all the time. Intermediate terms are terms that should be known by students by the time they test for their purple belt. These terms are more than just technique names, but also include commands, common expressions and fundamental concepts as well. Advanced terms include most everything else and should mostly be known by students by the time they test for their brown belt, and for sure before black belt.

The easiest way to learn the Japanese necessary is to study as soon as possible and to use the terminology regularly. Do not wait until being a second green belt to begin studying the intermediate terms. Do not wait until being a second purple to learn the advanced terms. The distinction between basic, intermediate and advanced terms is only a minimum guideline. Students should learn as much of the Japanese as soon as possible.

There are at least two good methods for learning the Japanese for techniques: First is visualization. The other is word analysis. Both have their uses and drawbacks.

Visualization is learning words by associating them with an image. Kosa dachi, for example, is the cross-legged stance. This is not necessarily easy to remember right off. With visualization, when you think of kosa dachi, try not to think of the English translation. Instead, imagine doing the stance. Then when asked to do a kosa dachi, you will be able to do it quickly because you will have a clear picture in your mind of what that technique is. One problem with visualization is that it does not help you to know what a technique name means.

Often, a technique is named descriptively. In other words, it's name is a clue into the nature of the technique. Word analysis can be helpful in understanding that meaning, and in making it easier to learn new techniques with similar names. If we stick with the kosa dachi example, we know that visualization helped us to be able to perform that technique on demand quicker, but we do not necessarily know what the name means. The name is two words, kosa and dachi. Kosa means cross or crossing. Dachi means stance. When put together, the translation becomes clear, "Crossed stance" or "cross-legged stance." This by itself hasn't gained us much, but if someone told you that you should do kosa uke, you stand a better chance of knowing what that technique, "crossing block", might look like.