Karate and Japanese language

The Japanese language uses a pictographic writing system. It employs a combination of three sets of characters:

• the kana, which comprise the hiragana and katakana syllabic alphabets
• kanji, that is, ideograms of Chinese origin

Kana (hiragana and katakana) are “syllabic alphabets” (or “phonetic alphabets”) expressed in graphic form; essentially, they represent sounds (similar to our syllables) that lack inherent meaning.

Hiragana is used to write words of Japanese origin (e.g., こんばんは / konbanwa / good evening; さようなら / sayōnara / goodbye), as well as particles and verb endings. It is also used to teach primary school children how to read and write before they learn to recognize kanji. Hiragana is sometimes placed above a kanji character (in a smaller size) to indicate its correct pronunciation; in this context, it is known as furigana or yomigana.

Katakana is used to transcribe foreign loanwords, and the pronunciation does not always match that of the original language, since some sounds do not exist in Japanese.
Katakana is used, for example, to transcribe the names of kata in old karate books (or articles): ナイハンチ (Na-i-ha-n-chi), ジオン (Ji-o-n).
It is used by Japanese masters when they write the names of Western practitioners on their belts (or karategi): アレッサンドロ (Alessandro), ヴァレンティナ (Valentina), etc.
Generally speaking, hiragana characters are rounder, softer, and more “feminine”. Katakana characters are more angular and more “masculine”.

Kanji are ideograms that Japan imported from China, designed to represent a concept, an entire word, or just part of a word in writing: they are evolved forms of images. There are 2,136 commonly used kanji, of which 1,006 are learned in elementary school.
For example, let’s analyze the term Heian (typical of the first kata one learns), which is composed of two kanji: 平安.

平 = PÍNG / hei / hira (this kanji depicts a stream flowing into a pond, hence the idea of “flat” and “calm”)

安 = ĀN / an / yasu (this kanji depicts a woman 女 sheltered beneath a roof 宀, hence the meaning of “safe” and “peaceful”)

Therefore, the concept expressed by 平安 / Heian is “peace and tranquility” or “being safe”.

To wrap up this very brief introduction, let’s write a sample sentence using hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

私はビールを飲みます (watashi wa bīru o nomimasu) = I (私) drink (飲みま す) a beer (ビール).

As can be seen from this simple sentence, in Japanese, sentences are structured according to the Subject-Object-Verb pattern, with the subject at the beginning of the sentence and the verb at the end.

ROMANIZATION AND PRONUNCIATION

Japanese characters can be converted into letters of the Roman alphabet (rōmaji) to represent the sounds of words. There are two main rōmaji transcription systems: the Hepburn system and the Kunrei system.
The Hepburn transliteration system is the most common and widely used romanization system internationally: it involves pronouncing vowels as in Italian and consonants as in English. This simple rule covers most cases, so it’s a good idea to keep it in mind at all times. You only need to learn a few rules to correctly read all the terms commonly used in karate!

VOWELS

Unlike English, Japanese vowels are pure and crisp: they do not glide or turn into diphthongs. Japanese lists its vowels in their traditional order: A, I, U, E, O (rather than the English A, E, I, O, U).

• A — sounds like the “a” in father (never like cat or cake). e.g., karate, kata
• I — sounds like the “ee” in meet (never like bite or bit). e.g., hikite, kime
• U — sounds like the “oo” in boot, but pronounced with relaxed, unrounded lips (never like cup or cute). e.g., uke, ushiro, ura
• E — sounds like the “e” in bed (never like me or key). e.g., gedan, Heian
• O — sounds like the pure “o” in for (avoid turning it into the sliding “oh-w” sound of go). e.g., soto-uke

LONG VOWELS & MACRONS

• The macron ( ¯ ) over a vowel indicates that it is held for twice the length of a regular vowel (two beats instead of one).
  • important for English speakers: do not confuse Japanese romanization with English spelling. In Japanese, ō is a prolonged “oh” sound, not the “oo” sound in food. E.g., Shōtōkan is pronounced “hoh-toh-kahn” with sustained vowels, never “Shoo-too-kan”.
• Long vowels can also be written by doubling the letter or combining them: ā = aa, ī = ii, ū = uu, ē = ee (or often spelled ei, as in sensei).
• A long ō is frequently transliterated as ou or oo (e.g., jōdan is often written joudan). Both represent a sustained “oh” sound (“joh-dahn”).

DEVOICED (WHISPERED / DROPPED) VOWELS

In spoken Japanese, high vowels (u and i) are often whispered or dropped entirely between voiceless consonants (k, s, t, h) and at the end of words:

• The initial “U” is always clearly enunciated at the beginning of a word (e.g., uke, ushiro, ura).
• The internal “U” is frequently silenced between voiceless consonants:
  • kōkutsu-dachi sounds like “koh-k’tsu-dah-chee”.
  • shutō uke often sounds like “sh’toh oo-keh”.
  • tsuki sounds almost like “ts’kee”.
• The final “U” is dropped in polite verb endings and copulas:
  • In expressions ending in desu and masu, the final “u” is silent:
    • desu is pronounced “dess”.
    • arigatō gozaimasu is pronounced “ah-ree-gah-toh go-zah-ee-mahss”.
    • onegai shimasu is pronounced “oh-neh-guy shee-mahss”.
  • Note: verbs ending in -ru, -ku, or -oku (like aru, iku, oku) still retain an audible, subtle vowel ending.
• The internal “I” is also frequently dropped in past-tense endings:
  • Words like shita and deshita sound like “sh’tah” and “deh-sh’tah”.(e.g., arigatō gozaimashita sounds like “ah-ree-gah-toh go-zah-ee-mahsh’tah”).

CONSONANTS

• Y — always a consonant sound, identical to the “y” in yes or yellow (e.g., yama).
• H — always distinctly aspirated / breathed out, like the “h” in hat or house (e.g., Heian, Hangetsu, hikite). It is never silent (like in hour or honor).
  • Note: modern Japanese does not have a pure “hu” syllable; the “h + u” sound is pronounced as fu, made by gently blowing air between relaxed lips (like blowing out a candle).
• R — the most common mistake for Americans. The Japanese R is neither the American curled “r” (as in red or car) nor a Spanish rolled “rr”.
  • the American trick: it is an alveolar tap, identical to the “tt” or “dd” flap in American English words like butter, water, city, or ladder. The tip of your tongue lightly taps the ridge behind your upper front teeth (e.g., yoko-geri, arigatō, gedan-barai).
• S — always voiceless and hissing, like the “s” in sun or snake (e.g., suriashi, sen no sen, soto uke). It is never voiced like the “s” in rose or music.
• Z — always voiced, like the “z” in zoo or zebra (e.g., hiza, waza, zenkutsu).
• J — exactly like the “j” in jump, judge, or jelly (e.g., manji uke, jōdan, renoji-dachi, Jion).
• G — always a hard “g”, like the “g” in gate, get, or go (e.g., karategi, gyaku, gedan, age uke, Gichin Funakoshi). It is never soft like the “g” in gem or giant.
• TSU — sounds like the “ts” at the end of cats or lists, blended immediately into the “oo” vowel. Because English rarely starts words with “ts”, practice putting that ending sound at the start of the syllable (e.g., oi-tsuki).
• CH — exactly like the “ch” in cheese or church (e.g., Sanchin, chūdan).
• SH — exactly like the “sh” in ship or shoe (e.g., shōmen, shoshinsha).

RENDAKU

In compound words formed by combining two elements, a phonetic phenomenon known as rendaku (連濁, literally “sequential voicing”) frequently occurs. When this happens, the unvoiced initial consonant of the second word becomes voiced:

• k → g: keri (kick), yoko-geri (side kick)
• k → g: kamae (posture / guard), manji-gamae (swastika / manji guard)
• k → g: kaeshi (returning / reversal), nami-gaeshi (returning wave), kote-gaeshi (wrist / forearm reversal)
• t → d: tachikata (stance), heisoku-dachi (closed-feet stance)
• h → b: hasami (scissors / clamp), kani-basami (crab scissors)
• h → b: harai (sweep), gedan-barai (low-level sweep)

Rendaku can be a real thorn in the side, it is not always easy to predict when it will or won’t occur. For example, in Gankaku (岩鶴, “crane on a rock”), as well as in kiri-kaeshi, rendaku does not take place (the initial k of the second word does not soften into a g).

Before wrapping up, here is an unsolicited word of caution: never say “geri” on its own (or as the first word of a sentence). On its own, geri (下痢) actually means diarrhea…

If you want to say “kick”, always use the root word keri. Save the voiced -geri strictly for compound techniques where rendaku kicks in (such as mae-geri, yoko-geri, or mawashi-geri)!