Karate Basics, Terminology and Okinawa History

Learning Karate is not only about the art itself, but the disciples must also learn about its culture. Karate originated from Okinawa, an island in between mainland China and Japan. The Okinawan people, however, speaks Japanese as the native tongue therefore many of the terms and history of Karate are Japanese. For the first time beginner, as a Karate-ka, let’s involve yourself into this exciting lesson about one of the most famous martial arts system world wide…

Japanese numbers

We count our exercises in Japanese, so you will hear these words often!

English Japanese Pronunciation
one: ichi ee-chee
two: ni nee
three: san sahn
four: shi/yon shee/yohn
five: go goh
six: roku doh-koo
seven: shichi/nana shee-chee/nah-nah
eight: hachi ha-chee
nine: ku/kyu koo/kyoo
ten: ju joo

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