Kumdo / Kendo terminology

[verissimus]

Hi all,

Some of the members of our club helped put together a glossary of kumdo / kendo terms (Korean / Japanese / English). We have tried to make the list exhaustive; hopefully it will be of help to those whose native language is not Korean or Japanese.

http://kendo.tamu.edu/documents.html

[Neil Gendzwill]

This is a good project as the Korean-English-Japanese translation question is often asked. So I took some time to provide a few corrections on the Japanese side, maybe some of our kumdo friends can double-check the Korean terminology.

The usual translation of "sensei" is "teacher" - master is a term we don't normally use. I thought the Korean equivalent was "sabunim"?

"receiver, in drills" would be a more consistent translation of "motodachi" given your other translations.

I never like simple translations of "sempai" and "kohai", as those two positions only exist in relation to each other and you are both sempai and kohai unless it's your first day in the dojo.

"Kodansha" refers to senior dan grades (usually 6 and up? we don't use the term much here). The term you're looking for is "yudansha".

"Keiko" and "geiko" are the same word, so just list keiko.

"Nukito" and "osameto" are not necessarily related to sonkyo.

"Wakare" means "separate"

"Issoku itto ma" is not the same as "yokote ma" - a better translation is "one step strike distance", the farthest distance you can hit from with one step.

"Toma" is simply "far distance", any distance requiring more than one step to strike.

"Chika-ma" is "close distance", any distance where no step is required to strike. I don't know what to call the distance between issoku itto ma and chika-ma.

Jigeiko is "free practice", not necessarily sparring practice.

Suriage is a sliding upward block, not a twisting block (suri == slide, age == up). Suriage uchi would be sliding upward hit, haven't heard that term before.

Harai means sweep, it's not really a block

[verissimus]

Thanks, I will update the list (after confirming with the original authors).

Other suggestions/edits will be appreciated.

Our idea was to create a list so that we don't end up looking lost when we visit other dojos.

[Oroshi]

Neil's picked up on most of the things I spotted. Here's two more:

'Waki gakame' should be 'waki gamae' (probably a typo).
Putting away the sword is not 'notto' but 'noto' (a common mistake).

Other than that, good job :)

[Wesley Myers]

Hi,

Here are some quick reference to Korean - English titles:

do joo nim : founder (of the art)
kwan jang nim : grandmaster
chung sah nim : chief instructor (or "chief master")
sah bum nim : master instructor - this is more for a master instructor - not for ranks lower than master.
sah boo nim : more intimate and respectful form of "sah bum nim"; literally "teaching father"
kyo sah nim : teacher (also "seon saeng nim") - this is more like just a general 'sensei' term.
sun bae nim : senior student
hu bae nim : junior student
hak saeng : student
suryun saeng : trainee
jeja : pupil
joo sim : referee
bu sim : judge
bae sim : juror
kae sim : time keeper
ki rohk : recorder

[Kendoka]

Hi all,

Some of the members of our club helped put together a glossary of kumdo / kendo terms (Korean / Japanese / English). We have tried to make the list exhaustive; hopefully it will be of help to those whose native language is not Korean or Japanese.

http://kendo.tamu.edu/documents.html

Well done:smiley:

[Kendoka]

Hi all,

Some of the members of our club helped put together a glossary of kumdo / kendo terms (Korean / Japanese / English). We have tried to make the list exhaustive; hopefully it will be of help to those whose native language is not Korean or Japanese.

http://kendo.tamu.edu/documents.html

Go Aggies !

[verissimus]

Hi,

Here are some quick reference to Korean - English titles:

do joo nim : founder (of the art)
kwan jang nim : grandmaster
chung sah nim : chief instructor (or "chief master")
sah bum nim : master instructor - this is more for a master instructor - not for ranks lower than master.
sah boo nim : more intimate and respectful form of "sah bum nim"; literally "teaching father"
kyo sah nim : teacher (also "seon saeng nim") - this is more like just a general 'sensei' term.
sun bae nim : senior student
hu bae nim : junior student
hak saeng : student
suryun saeng : trainee
jeja : pupil
joo sim : referee
bu sim : judge
bae sim : juror
kae sim : time keeper
ki rohk : recorder

Thanks... for the sake of completeness, could you also provide the Japanese equivalents?

[Shawn Dormishev]

Verissimus, nice work I will show this to sabumnim kim..hope to train with you still..

[Shawn Dormishev]

forgot, kirikaeshi is yeon gyeok. dont no if that is spelled right.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Thanks... for the sake of completeness, could you also provide the Japanese equivalents?
Wes' background is mostly in taekwondo, he's new to kendo. I'll give it a shot. If I skip a term, there's no common kendo equivalent that I'm aware of, but others may know of a word.

(various instructor ranks) - we call everyone sensei
(various student ranks) - there must be a generic word for student, we just say kendoka in my club
referee - shimpan
judge - maybe shushin, the main referee alternately shimpan-cho, the head judge overseeing all courts
juror - maybe fukushin, the corner judges?
time keeper - tokei gakari
recorder - kiroku gakari (official scores), keiji gakari (scoreboard keeper)

[Oroshi]

I'm guessing senior student is just 'sempai' (先輩) and junior student is 'kohai' (後輩). A generic word for student in Japanese... well, you can say 'senshu' (選手 - player) or possibly 'dojosei' (道場生). The normal words for 'student' ('gakusei' and 'seito') generally only refer to people in educational establishments.

[Neil Gendzwill]

As I said before, I don't like simplistic translations of sempai and kohai. People then think it is some sort of rank or station you achieve, when really it is just your relationship to those that are senior and junior to you personally. I've actually seen karate dojo where people wear arm patches that say "sempai".

[verissimus]

I suppose it would be fair to use "senior student (in comparison) = sempai", "junior student (in comparison) = kohai", to get the point across?

[verissimus]

forgot, kirikaeshi is yeon gyeok. dont no if that is spelled right.

I've actually come across several acceptable spellings. For example, I have seen the head strike spelt "mo-ri", "meu-ri", or "muh-ri". I think when we yell it all sounds the same ;).

[Newbie]

Sempai and kohai is "awkward" to define. Different things to different people and can change in different situations.


The usual translation of "sensei" is "teacher" - master is a term we don't normally use.

Out of curiosity - how do you define between sensei and renshi if both mean teacher? And in the cases of there being no sensei, then surely a sempai is a teacher as well. I mean, I know the difference and understand them but writing it down is something else.

We've got one kumdo practitioner in our kendo dojo and quite a few Korean kendo practitioners so I reckon this list is a fantastic idea!

[Oroshi]

Renshi, Kyoshi and Hanshi all pretty much mean 'teacher' (with different nuances, obviously - see below). 'Kyoshi' is the generic word used for a teacher. 'Sensei' on the other hand is an honorific term. Therefore if you refer to yourself as a teacher you should really say 'kyoshi,' and not 'sensei.'

Renshi is 錬師 - training/refining teacher
Kyoshi is 教師 - teaching/educating teacher
Hanshi is 範師 - model/example teacher

[Shawn Dormishev]

YUP it all sounds the same to me..

[Neil Gendzwill]

Renshi, Kyoshi and Hanshi all pretty much mean 'teacher' (with different nuances, obviously - see below). 'Kyoshi' is the generic word used for a teacher. 'Sensei' on the other hand is an honorific term. Therefore if you refer to yourself as a teacher you should really say 'kyoshi,' and not 'sensei.'

Renshi is 錬師 - training/refining teacher
Kyoshi is 教師 - teaching/educating teacher
Hanshi is 範師 - model/example teacher
Wrong "shi". The shi in the generic teacher kyoshi is written 師, whereas the kendo shogo uses 士, same shi as bushi. So hanshi (範士) means model gentleman/warrior.

See this article (http://www.koryu.com/library/mskoss9.html) for more.

[Wesley Myers]

The Korean terms are only phonetic translations - and there is no set official way to spell them. Some may say "Gum Do", others "Gumdo", some "Kum Do", others "Kumdo" - but they all relate a similar sound.

Many (most) training in TKD will not be familiar with the Korean terms as the Korean instructors have always translated most terms into the vernacular. They use literal translations (dorachugi means turn (dora) kick (chugi) - so in class it's called 'turnkick', some schools may call it 'turning kick'). The karate equivolent is 'roundhouse kick'.

The learning curve of terminology is not so steep as you don't have learn foreign terms. Even at higher belt levels you only get a brief introduction to the Korean terms. Basic commands (attention, bow, turn) and counting would be in Korean, but the actual technique would be named in English.

So, to be fair, I can't give the Japanese equivalents to all the terms (as I have not learned them yet).

As for Kumdo - pronounced "coom dough" ("Do" meaning and being said the same in Japanese as in Korean) - I do not know if they use more Korean terminology (for everything) like Kendo uses Japanese.

[Shawn Dormishev]

WES we use all Korean terms in class. gradings are hard

[verissimus]

I do not know if they use more Korean terminology (for everything) like Kendo uses Japanese.

Our club does, actually. Hence the need for the document!

[Oroshi]

Wrong "shi". The shi in the generic teacher kyoshi is written 師, whereas the kendo shogo uses 士, same shi as bushi. So hanshi (範士) means model gentleman/warrior.

See this article (http://www.koryu.com/library/mskoss9.html) for more.

You're right, of course! What's happened to my Japanese!!?

[Neil Gendzwill]

You're right, of course! What's happened to my Japanese!!?It's way better than mine. I just look this stuff up. But I always remember Meik's article because I found that really interesting.

[Oroshi]

I agree, that was very interesting.

[cesarekim]

There are a couple of official romanization methods for Korean. I gave up after I realized that I was mixing two different methods in the same sentence... As a side note, my personal experience has been that sabumnim is something that is used up to about 7 dan. The 8dan I've met are usually addressed as seunsaengnim. I guess it would be the difference between instructor and master.

[verissimus]

"Wakare" means "separate"


I am in the process of updating the list. What term would you use if you wanted to halt practice briefly and quickly to explain something?

[bullet08]

Hi,

Here are some quick reference to Korean - English titles:

do joo nim : founder (of the art)
kwan jang nim : grandmaster
chung sah nim : chief instructor (or "chief master")
sah bum nim : master instructor - this is more for a master instructor - not for ranks lower than master.
sah boo nim : more intimate and respectful form of "sah bum nim"; literally "teaching father"
kyo sah nim : teacher (also "seon saeng nim") - this is more like just a general 'sensei' term.
sun bae nim : senior student
hu bae nim : junior student
hak saeng : student
suryun saeng : trainee
jeja : pupil
joo sim : referee
bu sim : judge
bae sim : juror
kae sim : time keeper
ki rohk : recorder

hu bae is called hu bae, not hu bae nim since that 'nim' imply someone of respect. and it's just not done.

pete

[Neil Gendzwill]

I am in the process of updating the list. What term would you use if you wanted to halt practice briefly and quickly to explain something?Yame, "stop". In judo we say "matte" which means "wait", but I haven't heard that in a kendo dojo.

[verissimus]

Well, here's an update:

http://kendo.tamu.edu/terminology.pdf

Everyone is welcome to link to it. Suggestions / corrections are also welcome.

[Shawn Dormishev]

nice, thanks for looking out for us kumdo guys.

[verissimus]

Hey it's not as though we're a particularly oppressed group... :)

[Shawn Dormishev]

NO, but we seem to be the outcast at times:ko: So much fun.
talked to my wife she said I could come up. still trying to talk my
kumdo bud to come with me.

[Wesley Myers]

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't posted very much - we got rid of the internet for the summer months and I can only post at work.

I wanted to ask a few questions about Kumdo. How many kup do you have? (kup is the same as kyu - non-black belt belt level - in case you don't have that in your list) Is it 6 like in Kendo or 10 like in TKD? How are you tests conducted? Do you have a formal test for each kup? Do you learn a new poomse (form - Japanese equivalent is kata) for each test? Do your higher belts do forms with iaitoh (blunted steel swords) for the tests? (I have seen pictures of Kumdo tests and all the students had iaitoh's but I don't know if that's typical and do you have to supply it or the school?) Is your school (dojang - Japanese word equivalent is dojo) a privately owned building or do you just use space (gym) at a health club or school? Do you have seminars like in Kendo where other master instructors (sensei's) from other schools/clubs come and teach or are the students only taught by the instructor's from your school? Do you use bokken (mokgum) for a lot of waza (techniques) practice? Are your forms only the sames ones as the All Japan Kendo Federation forms http://www.yorku.ca/kendo/KendoForms.htm or do you have extra forms on top of them?

[verissimus]

Speaking for TAMU-KDK, we're basically kendo, but with Korean terminology and without sonkyo (although we do use sonkyo for kata practice). We use the university Rec Center (and its nice wooden floors :) ) for practice. We use bokken for kata and sometimes for drills (to get the angle of the strike correct). We have the regular 7+3 kata.

Regarding geup, almost all our club members are unranked, since we are not affiliated with the AUSKF. We've not been able to decide what to do about it; the basic problem is that we don't have a strong, regular member pool since it's a university club in a small town, and people graduate and leave. Those who are ranked, got their rank elsewhere before moving here.

[Shawn Dormishev]

we are the same as verissimus, but we have a dojang. we never use sonkyo.
I like having a dojang. ac in the summer and heat in the winter. I have been doing kumdo for almost two years, 3 to 4 days a week. I have only tested 2 times.

[verissimus]

The document has now moved here (https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B5ePrp0LOcw-MGRkMzlhOTItNzdlMy00MDhiLWFjZTctNGFhZjkyNDNjYTRi&sort=name&layout=list&num=50).

[b8amack]

Wow that's an old style of transliteration. Some of the terms are also different than what I've learned, which is totally normal, different instructors will use different terms, but some are wrong. "Yeon-sup-si-hap", for example, is (literally) a practice shiai (shiai geiko is the term I see being used here), not jigeiko. Also as an example of pronunciation, Kirikaeshi would be pronounced "Yeonggyok" (Young Gyock) not "yung-keok" (Young cock? No thanks!)

[verissimus]

OK, I'll fix it, as soon as I can find the TeX source on my old machine.

I am not too bothered about the spelling, actually. I've seen 'thank you' spelt 'kamsahamnida' as well as 'gamsahamnida'. Not that I have any depth of knowledge of Korean, but I get the feeling that when shouted out, they're fairly good approximations.

Do let me know of any more corrections or additions via PM. I'd like to make this as comprehensive as possible.

[kikisheep]

Thank you thank you thank you for putting this list together! I couldn't find a list of Japanese terms vs Korean ones and the English explanations I was getting were confusing. This is so helpful!