© 2009 Northwest Region - Shotokan Karate. All rights reserved.
Fundamentals of pronouncing Romanized Japanese words
Syllables are given equal stress unless an accent symbol is used. Each vowel is pronounced separately. Vowels pronounced as follows:
a - as in father
e - as met
i - ink
o - as in go
u - as in due
* y - given the consonant sound as in "yes"

ADDITIONAL TERMS
KATAS
The following is a partial list of the many terms used in Shotokan Karate with their common English interpretations. Those listed here are only the most common terms. 
Numbers::    
ichi 1 ni 2
san 3 shi 4
go 5 roku 6
shichi 7 hachi 8
ku 9 ju 10
Dachi (Stances)::   
Fudo Dachi   Rooted stance (sometimes called Sochin dachi) 
Hachiji dachi    Open leg stance (a.k.a. - Yoi position)
Hangetsu dachi    Half-moon stance (wide hourglass)
Heisoku dachi    Informal attention stance (closed feet) 
Kiba dachi    Straddle leg stance (a.k.a. - side or horse stance)
Kokutsu dachi    Back stance 
Kosa dachi    Crossed-feet stance
Neko ashi dachi    Cat stance 
Sanchin dachi    Hourglass stance (small)
Shizen tai    Natural stance 
Sochin dachi/fudo dachi       Rooted stance
Zen kutsu dachi    Front stance
Uke (Blocks)::   Uchi (Strikes)::  
age uke rising block empi uchi  elbow strike
gedan barai     down block shuto uchi  knife hand strike
soto ude uke outside forearm block teisho uchi palm heel strike
shuto uke knife hand block tettsui uchi hammer fist strike
teisho uke     palm heel block uraken uchi back fist strike
uchi ude uke inside forearm block uchi ude uke inside forearm block
Home   NW Region Clubs   News & Events   About Us   Photographs