功夫 (“Kung Fu” or Gōng fū”) Origin: Chinese (Mandarin) Pssst…wanna know a secret? Kung Fu isn’t for fighting! Ok, now that I’ve ruffled a few feathers, let me tell you what I actually mean; Kung Fu doesn’t translate to what you likely think it does. Believe it or not, it [Read More]
步 (“Bù”) Origin: Chinese (Mandarin) Today we are changing pace and looking to China for our word of the week. In various forms of Kung Fu, it isn’t uncommon to see this character used when discussing stances such as Horse Stance or Cat Stance. If you study a traditional Chinese [Read More]
Origin: Japanese Ranks are a very complex subject in martial arts. As such they are highly debated. The exact meaning of the coveted “black belt” varies by system to system, and even school to school. Most modern Japanese martial arts, and quite a few others, have adopted the kyu/dan belt [Read More]
Origin: Japanese The definition of a menkyo is a license. In koryu (see previous Martial Word Wednesday), these are certificates that the soke (inheritor of the system) gave to those allowed to teach the art. In some ways, this is the equivalent of a shodan or black belt today. These [Read More]
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