Welcome to our online guide to Karate terminology, compiled by
Sensei Terry Lyon.
Karate is traditionally taught using the original Japanese terms, and this page shall list the most important terms
and illustrate their meaning. You may well find Japanese expressions on this site that you are not
familiar with, and this glossary shall help to explain how we use
each term in the style of
Traditional Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate.
Please note
that the english spelling of Japanese terms is far from standardised, and
you many find that different sources chose a different spelling from the one shown
on this site. Let this not worry you - more important is the
phonetic sound of the term, so that you can recognise it in training or when reading about it on a site like ours.
Please also note that this is an Australian site and thus uses Australian English spelling for words like "recognise" and "colour".
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Karate Terminology
Karate Quiz