Kata Name?

[FossMaNo1]

Hello, folks. I'm a karate student who is testing for his shodan (1st dan Black Belt) soon. As part of the test, I've been asked to put together a kata that defines, for me, what I've learned and gotten out of karate. I thought about it and pondered and after accepting the fact that shodan simply means you've mastered the basics, I decided to build my kata upon the idea that one of the purposes of karate as a tool of self-defense is not to beat the bejeezus out of the other guy, but rather to stop him from attacking.

This can range from using body language to assert your own self-confidence all the way up to outright physical violence resulting in death. As such, I am naming my kata, "Escalating Defense." The idea is that one should do the minimal amount of violence necessary to stop one's opponent from attacking.

In my basic research, I think the name (translated to Chinese) should be either:

shēngjí fángyù (升級防御)

or

shēngjí zìwèi (升級自衛)

Can anyone help me determine which one is correct, or if another translation would be more in the spirit of my intent?

[renzhe]

Why would you want to name a Karate kata in Chinese?

Don't you think that a Japanese name would make more sense, seeing that Karate is originally an Okinawan martial art and that all its vocabulary is in Japanese?

[anonymoose]

I don't think 升级 is the word you are looking for.

[FossMaNo1]

Renzhe, that is a great question! I've always been a student of words and names. It drives me up the wall when words and names are used incorrectly. For example, the word "bushido" in Japanese is loosely translated to English as "way of the warrior," however if you dig deeper you discover that the root of "bushi" referred to samurai. This means "bushido" is more acurately "way of the noble/samurai" warrior. Well, many karate schools in the U,S, use the words "bushido" in their name and I do not believe they have any right to the claim of "bushi" and so they do not have the right to use "bushido" in their titles. They can, however, use the word "budo" as this is more simply "way of the warrior."

So, anyway, in doing my research I already knew that karate actually originated in Okinawa under the influence of the Chinese military envoy, Kusanku. In fact, Okinawa's "karate" was originally named Chinese Hand. It was only changed to "Empty Hand" after the Japanese conquered the island chain to make the martial art more palatable for the Japanese who didn't particularly like the Chinese (gotta love politics!).

At its heart, however, Karate was originally a Chinese-influenced art. You can see this in the kata series known widely as Pinan (Heian) 平安. In Japanese, the kanji translates to "peace or tranquility." The same kanji in Chinese, however, translates to "safe and sound." The Chinese translation makes a lot more sense for this series of katas that was originally devloped as beginner katas to be taught in school as part of a physical education program.

So, with that said, does anyone know how to translate the English "escalating defense" (meaning, a proportional response to an attacker based on his level of aggression)?

Thanks!

[Hofmann]

"Kata" is written in Japanese as 形, but it's ambiguous and the "kata" meaning doesn't always apply to martial arts. The Chinese counterpart is 套路.

...not that it matters much. Just don't use anything that sounds like zìwèi. 增防...has a military implication. Any other ideas?

BTW, karate was developed partially from Chinese martial arts, and was originally written 唐手.

[edelweis]

(due to moderation, FossMaNo1's answer appeared after Hofmann's...)

what about 升温防御 then?

[Kobo-Daishi]

Renzhe wrote:

Why would you want to name a Karate kata in Chinese?

Don't you think that a Japanese name would make more sense, seeing that Karate is originally an Okinawan martial art and that all its vocabulary is in Japanese?

That's rich! Coming from a guy whose forum handle is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin for the characters for his avatar, a Ninja.

Mr. Miyagi:

Karate come from China, sixteenth century, called te, hand. Hundred year later Miyagi ancestor bring to Okinawa call kara-te empty hand

Kobo.

[renzhe]

That's rich! Coming from a guy whose forum handle is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin for the characters for his avatar, a Ninja.

Hah! You got me!

I'll give you a green arrow