Opinions on "Japanese" terms in class.

[senseirussell]

but I think the study of any martial art should include embracing the culture from whence it came.

I do see what you are saying here. However, you can only learn so much of a culture from a Martial Art. If I wanted to specialize in learning the culture of a country, I could find it in more intensive study through paths other than the country's Martial Arts.

Its like I have said before; a side kick is a side kick, and if it hits you, it doesn't matter which language it is in.

Yes, but a side kick doesn't equate to karate-do. Someone who has never set foot in a dojo, nor taken a class, can learn a sidekick from youtube. Doesn't make him a karateka, even if he has a great sidekick.

Karatedo is a way of life, and part of that way is the budo philosphy. If you want to learn karate techniques, you don't need the Japanese element — if you want to learn karatedo, I think the Japanese language and philosophy of the art is necessary.

-RB

[bushido_man96]

Again, you are only learning a small part of the culture, and the fact that one uses their native language to refer to techniques does not detract from the philosophical aspect one is trying to learn.

[monkeymorgan]

We have to learn the Japanese terms. Our brown belt (3rd kyu) test is entirely in Japanese. The tricky part is we don't really learn them until right before testing. I'm a couple tests away (was my next test but went up to adult ranks) and have been studying for 9 years and still don't know all of the techniques in Japanese.

[Kodakmint]

At my American freestyle studio, we don't use them

[Jissen]

I don't think they should be mandatory. Japanese people speak Japanese because they're Japanese...it's their native language. We have our own.

I do however think a voluntary study of at least the basic terminology can help remove or clear up many misunderstandings. For example if people understood that the term "uke" does not mean "block" but "to receive" (just like receiving someone into your home, the idea is NOT to stop the attackers momentum. but let them in so their energy is still commited alowing my 4 oz, to move their thousand pounds) ....they'd "get it" a lot quicker.

It also can help unite people. Especially if they belong to the JKA or another Japanese organization, everyone will be using common terminology.

But I also believe that it depends on your goals. If you want self defense only, it's not necessary to master an "art". ..its just necessary to use what works. So really it could go either way.

[JusticeZero]

I use the Portuguese names of our kicks so we can isolate the mechanics of them linguistically as distinct from whatever people might have learned in TKD/Karate/Kungfu/Soccer/Taebo/Whatever.

[ChrisHigashi]

Where I train, we use japanese and english terms. Our instructor calls out the japanese term then follows it with the english if there are lower kyu grades. if its purple belt (4th kyu) + its mostly just the japanese terms