Important words and concepts to understand Japanese martial arts, particularly Kenjutsu or Sports Chanbara 1

Keywords depending on cultural context

I teach Sports Chanbara in Rwanda and Kenya for several years, and I sometimes cannot appropriately translate some keywords to explain quite important teachings for improving techniques or skills of students. The reason why I face such difficulty is simple. Those keywords are developed in the context of Japanese culture, and so it is difficult to share ideas and concepts behind the words if the students do not share Japanese cultural background. In order to give them appropriate teaching, I have to explain meanings of the keywords instead of using the words as I do to Japanese students. I hope that my small article will help those who practice Japanese martial arts to understand it better.

Jushin (Center of gravity)

If your posture looks unstable, your Japanese teacher will give you an instruction, "Jushin wo otose" or "Jushin wo sagero". Literally, it means "Shift your center of gravity lower". If a Japanese student received such word from his/her teacher, he/she will try to make his/her muscle relax, and bend his/her knee little bit. Now, you may understand that "Jushin" is not a physical center of gravity, but it is a kind of imaginary center of body. If you keep your body stiff, and it makes you unstable, a Japanese teacher will tell you, "Jushin ga takai" or "Jushin ga agatteiru". It means that your "Jushin" is too high. In this way, imaginary center of your body can be used for relaxing your body and improving balance of your body.

Suki (Gap or empty space)

 This word is quite important to understand for improving your skill of defense and attack, and this word can be confused with another word which has same sound. This "Suki" is written as "隙", and the other "Suki" is written as "好き" . The latter is more commonly used in our daily life, and it means "like". The former means gap or empty space between objects. In martial arts, this word means incomplete defense. If you learn boxing, a teacher will tell you right position of your fist, elbow, jaw to hide weak points from your opponent. If weak points are not hidden properly, a Japanese teacher will tell you "Suki ga aru". It means that you have "Suki". In the same way, most of Kamae or posture of Spots Chanbara is not supposed to show any "Suki" to your opponent. So, if such Kamae is done properly, you must hide yourself behind your padded sword. Some Kamae seems to have "Suki" because your weak point seems to be open to your opponent. However, if you can respond to avoid attacks from your opponent, it is considered that you do not have "Suki". So, "Suki" does not simply mean physically uncovered weak points. It also means lack of awareness in terms of timing.

Tenouchi (Inside of palm)

If you practice martial arts to deal with weapons, this word or concept is quite important. When you punch a punching bag, you will extend your arm to the bag. You can do this movement because of two joints in your elbow and shoulder. If you observe movement of your limb for swinging a Kodachi or short sword, you will find three joints to work for the movement in your shoulder, elbow and wrist. However, I would like to introduce another joint when you use a staff. The gripping point works like a joint, and I can say that movement of your palm at the gripping point is key to improve your skill of swinging a staff. Before the movement, you have to keep your palm loose, and you hold the grip tightly when the staff reach the hit point. In this way, you can accelerate the staff not only by your arm but also by your palm. Such work of your palm is called “Tenouchi”. However, please be careful that it has another meaning. It also means techniques or tactics which you have not yet used as if you hide something in your palm.

Reason to choose three words

The three words which I explained above have very particular meanings in the context of Japanese martial arts. In spite of that, these words are not even recognized as terminologies because they are very commonly used. This is the reason why I chose the words for Sports Chanbara players who are not native Japanese speakers.