Free guide · 6 min read
Japanese for karate
The dojo commands, counting, techniques and etiquette terms you'll hear in a karate class - what they mean literally, and what you're expected to do when you hear them.
Karate keeps its Japanese vocabulary worldwide, so understanding these words makes you faster to respond and less reliant on copying the person next to you.
Commands you'll hear
はじめ and やめ are the two you must never miss - they start and stop everything, including sparring. Both are plain-form commands, which is why they sound abrupt; in a dojo that directness is the point, not rudeness.
Counting in class
Counting reps uses the native Japanese numbers, not the ones you'd use for prices:
Dojo counting keeps the older し (shi) for 4 and く (ku) for 9, where everyday Japanese now prefers よん (yon) and きゅう (kyū). If you learned numbers from a phrasebook, this will sound wrong at first - it isn't.
Techniques and stances
Technique names stack: まえげり (mae-geri) = front kick, おいづき (oi-zuki) = lunge punch. Learn the handful of building blocks - まえ (mae, front), うしろ (ushiro, back), よこ (yoko, side) - and most compound names decode themselves.
Dojo etiquette
Note the past tense in ありがとうございました - you thank someone for something now finished. Saying the present ありがとうございます at the end of a session is a small tell that you're new.
These phrases get built into real conversation in the90 day course. The first week needs no account.