"Oss", The Karate Greeting

[JohnASE]

I find that predominately the only styles that use it are:

Kyokushin (all Variants)

Ashihara (all Variants)

Enshin (all Variants)

Shotokan (not all Dojo's.)

I can't think of ever hearing OSU in a Shukokai/ShitoRyu Dojo before your post.

OSU!!!

I've heard many Shito-Ryu karate-ka use "Oss". My ex-girlfriend is part of Minobu Miki's organization, and people in her dojo used it all the time. I remember them using it as a greeting. I don't remember them using it as "yes" for agreement, but I do remember them using it when acknowledging a command or instruction. I'm sure I've heard people from other Shito-Ryu groups use it and definitely Shotokan. Not sure about Goju or Wado or the Shorin Ryus.

Not all karate dojos use that. I've never heard it at mine. In fact, we don't use much Japanese at all. The whole concept seems a little awkward and a bit silly to me. You don't walk around greeting each other in ancient Greek during track and field practice, why do people greet each other in Japanese for martial arts training? To each his own, I guess...

Many believe that Japanese should be used in the dojo for consistency among countries. The theory is that you could visit a dojo in Greece or Mexico or Japan and train with them because you all know terms like "sensei" and "hajime" and "yame". Or if a sensei comes from a foreign country to give a seminar, it would help if he could give basic commands in a common language. Have you ever spoken English to a Japanese sensei? Some are fine, but some are really hard to understand, even if they've lived in the US for several decades!

[Toad]

Hi!

In Shotokan-ryu the word "Osu" pronounced "Oss" is taken from the Japanese word for good morning "Ohayo gozaimasu". Simply the first letter and the 2 last ones is used. This was used by the military as an godmorning greeting. We used it in the dojo as an greeting to each other, as an confirmation when given instructions that you have understood. This has nothing to do with meaning for suffer etc... as stated earlier. For us anyway.

[holley]

we use alot of jappanese language in our dojo.

i am a yellow belt and i already can count and say the blocks and kicks in jappanese.

i love the japansese language.

eventually i want to got to okanawa japan

[honoluludesktop]

In Japanese, borrowed English words like "fork", are pronounced "forku". Until recently I didn't realize that Americans do the same. Many Japanese martial arts words are spoken in America with an English accents, and Western meanings.

Interestingly enough, the Japanese have a completely different way of writing a "borrowed" word. Once it becomes integrated into their culture, it is written in the way Japanese words are written. The difference is like that of a different font.

[holley]

i agree with u on that one.

i also know some stuff in korean.

i love to learn new languages. so karate and tae kwon do both have helped me alot with learning language

[moriniuk]

I don't really know what it's translation into English is.

Sensei Harada of the KDS (Shotokai) who is the last surviving practicing student of Gichin Funakoshi says that it is rude and only used by low class Japanese. He's lived in the UK for about 50 years so may be out of touch.

I did ask a younger Japanese girl who speaks fluent Japanese and English what it meant. She hesitated for a while and then said, "Yoh".

Regarding using foreign language greetings in the martial arts, in Thai Boxing gyms it is quite normal to greet each other with a 'wai' bow and a "sawatdee", but we don't use much Thai language for the names of the techniques.

[Blade96]

Can't walk through our dojo without hearing an oss.

[kansascityshuffle]

Well you use Japanese terminology when practicing karate because it's a martial art that originated in Japan.

"Osu" (proper romanization) is used in many sports in Japan besides Judo and some karate styles that use it. It's hugely used in Kyokushin and offshoots and also used as "slang" in Japan kind of like a "what's up" that we use here in the USA.

To those that think it's silly to use Japanese terminology I think you're silly because westernized boxing terms in Japan use the English pronunciation because boxing was hugely practiced by us English speaking countries before it was in Japan..you'll regularly hear boxing gyms in Japan say "one, two", "uppercut", "jab", etc. I've also heard the same used in Thailand.

If you ever travel to other countries that don't speak English it's kind of nice to go to other dojo that use the same Japanese terminology as a common ground so you can follow around even if it's not the same style of karate. With that being said I don't speak Japanese fluently by any means but all of the karate I have studied is typically done primarily in Japanese with little English.

Like other said in some branches of shito ryu it is used (in Hayashi ha it was) but I do know that in some Itosu-kai branches they do not say osu. You will also hear it being used in many Judo dojo and kendo dojo.

Osu no seishin!

[evergrey]

In my Kyokushin dojo, the OSUs are pretty constant. It does seem like, from the videos I have seen, they use it a fair amount in the Kyokushin dojos in Japan as well, however.

[bushido_man96]

If you ever travel to other countries that don't speak English it's kind of nice to go to other dojo that use the same Japanese terminology as a common ground so you can follow around even if it's not the same style of karate. With that being said I don't speak Japanese fluently by any means but all of the karate I have studied is typically done primarily in Japanese with little English.

My only issue with this side of the argument is that if you don't speak the entire language, and only know the "Karate" portion of the language, it really isn't going to help you out much more than just following along. If you are going to receive any kind of intricate, more precise instructions on fine tuning technique, either the instructor has to speak to you in the language you speak and understand, or have a translator present.

One of the common knocks to TKD, especially in Olympic style sparring, is all the kihaps that go on. TKD has its kihaps, and Karate has its "Osu."