The kanji above reads in Japanese as “en-bu-sen,” or as it’s normally pronounced as a complete word, “embusen.” (It’s just easier to pronounce “em” in the word than “en.”) Japanese karate players recognize this word as referring to the path or pattern that your steps take when you’re performing a kata. If someone was watching you do your kata from…
Shotokan Karate has lost two of its 10th-dan masters in the last 5 months. Both were 88 years old. Kanazawa Hirokazu died in Japan on December 8. And this past Tuesday (April 21), Okazaki Teruyuki also passed away. I had the pleasure of taking a class from Kanazawa Sensei at a Martial Arts weekend seminar at the International Budo University…
Below is a list of some of the Japanese words and phrases we use in and around the dojo. This is meant to be a work in progress. My plan is to return to it from time to time to add to the notes found in the right-hand column as I get to it, and as I learn more. Also,…
Here at Shuto Karate Club, we strive for authenticity when it comes to all things Japanese. (A unkind way of saying this is that we larp as Japanese when we’re on the dojo floor.) So we are trying to learn and utilize Nihongo more (see what I did there?) during practice and in discussing karate. In the near future, I’ll…