Why do Japanese arts use the Japanese language?

I can't remember who wrote it, but using Japanese or Chinese language in persuits that originate from these places is a form or standardisation. In my day job I am a Horticulturalist, and discussions about plants, we use a standardised latin name for the plant, that uses the genus and the founder, or the country of origin, Chinesis denotes of Chinese origin, Japonica japanese for example. Most gardeners will use the common name, but in the uk a Buddleja Davidii is a butterfly bush, in France the butterfly bush is a different plant, so we always use the Latin name, so everyone around the globe knows exactly what plant we are discussing, Imo same thing in MA

 

but it wont be ' everyone around the globe' it will only be a very select few who have taken the trouble to learn the latin, generally those who can be considered to be scientific or professionals. or at least exceptionally keen amateurs

i know a good deal of latin for legal concepts, but this is of no use at all for communicating with the vast majority of the population, including the police, who regard you as borderline insane if you quote latin at them

 

I was talking about everyone in Horticulture, but I now see what I wrote could be read for everyone around the globe, my apologies principle Jobo.

 

I think it pays homage to your style's ancestry, also regardless of where you travel; you can communicate the style. One further point, it cleans up descriptions such as the "oblique kick" or "Axe Kick".

 

sigh
When do you capitalize words like "mother," "father," "grandmother," and "grandfather" when writing about them? - Everything After Z by Dictionary.com

so '' My mother went shopping ' is not, but '' Later that day Mother went shopping' is

 

Ever notice how some aspects of martial arts are like grammar? And some instructors obsess about trivial details of technique almost like MA versions of "grammar police". Other instructors are more concerned about functionality. In other words, can you get the job done?

 

no that's what I said before you took the trouble of contradicting me, this is your usual mo, of changing your mind when faced with over whelming evidence, but pretending you said something else the n first place

 

I can see one good reason. If you're counting money out to someone who only speaks Japanese, that'd be a good reason. There you go.

 

Japanese: Tomenage -- English: Circle Throw

...still reading...

 

After reading this entire thread, and there's some good thoughts and witticisms in it, I think I agree with Jobo on something. Not so unusual, really. No, I'm not talking about grammar.

Saying "Bungalow" instead of "Single Story House" is where I'm coming from on this.

I learned the names for the judo throws & techniques in Japanese, as just about anyone else does who learns Judo, probably because Judo is so widespread, but pretty well-managed via the national organizations who operate under the international governing bodies. I learned my aikido techniques' names in Japanese as well, as that's how it was taught to me and we were held responsible for knowing that for shodan, as the test would be called out (maybe sometimes) and those ommands would be in Japanese. If you didn't do the right thing, probably not going to pass (just like everyone else, I gather). So, in that sense, if you're a judo player taking to another judo player, barring the accents people speak with which reflect their region from whence they come, the words are generally the same.

Can you translate from Japanese to English and get meaning that way? Sure you can. Tomoenage/Circle Throw... or Ippon Seoinage/1-arm shoulder throw... there you go. But, things get lost in translation, in my opinion.

We could run around in circles talking about nomenclature and meaning, though. Tomoenage means much more to me than does Circle Throw, even though I know they are synonomous (or are supposed to be so, otherwise it's not a good translation... is it.). I think the neural imprinting that takes place during class/practice, when you're talking about a technique (using Japenese) and discussing how the technique is performed (using Japanese), considering the tactics involved in a technique (using Japanese), fine-tuning the technique (using Japanese), and calling out the technique when teaching (using Japanese) all increase the depth and level of "meaning" to the Japanese terms. This could be the situation in a TKD or HKD dojang as well, if (as was my experience down here in Houston) the instructor exclusively used all the Korean terms to teach class... counting, kicks, punches, blocks, movements, left-side/right-side and so on. But, since I'd already immersed myself in those same techniques' English names, that Korean didn't stick and I'd be doing a running Korean-English-Korean translation in my mind all class long.

I find that, for me, the Japanese terms for the techniques have more meaning. I think it's because of the above. So, when I talk about it to someone, it automatically starts to come out in Japanese... but if their eyes go blank I've been teaching long enough to flip it into a simple enough English phrasing to get my point across. Mostly. It's like it's all about compressing time... conveying the largest amount of information in the shortest amount of time, or syllables.

 

When I learned tomoenage, the translation we used was stomach throw.