“The most important thing that a Karate-ka needs to succeed in their goal of becoming a Black belt is ambition, this they will get from their desire to achieve and their will to win, these are essential if the Karate-ka is to endure the years of hard rigorous training they will undergo.
Training only at the Dojo is not enough, the Karate-ka must take their lessons home with them and practice each day, only then will the karate-ka grow to be skillful and strong both physically and mentally, as the karate-ka matures with each grade so will their good manners and etiquette, outwardly and even more important, inwardly”.
Sensei Hails 5th Dan – JULY 2001
Important facts about Karate
The language of Karate
Why speak Japanese in the Karate dojo? Karate is no longer “Japanese only,” but because of the international scope which Karate has taken, it is practical to be familiar with the original language of Karate. Karate terms in Japanese should not be memorized from a long list of terms, but should be learned alongside the techniques and concepts as one learns.
For a list of Ishinyru techniques in Japanese together with their English translations and pronounciations, please
click here.
For starters though, and one of the first things you will hear in the dojo, are the Japanese numbers from 1 to 10:
Ich
Ni
San
Shi
Go
Roku
Sichi
Hachi
Ku
Ju
The belts
Japanese Judo was the first martial art to introduce the colored belt ranking system as a visible indication of the students’ progress. The colored belt ranking system was soon adopted by Karate, and was first used by Sensei Gichin Funakoshi and his Shotokan Karate schools.
In the old days each student would only ever have one belt which was simply dyed to a new color. This repeated dying process dictated the progressively darkening order of the colors. The Ishinryu belt system is as follows: