Fighting Styles in Japanese
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Have you ever wondered how a fighting style is written in Japanese? Like boxing... or kickboxing... or chinese kickboxing... or drunken, chinese kickboxing? Or maybe how karate is written in Japanese? Well, worry no more, I've compiled a list of those names for you.
The names below are either in kanji or katakana. For fighting styles from around Japan and China, you'll see their names are in kanji 漢字. The names of other fighting styles become loan-words and are written in katakana カタカナ.
(if you're wondering what jutsu 術 means, check out the meaning of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu)
The names below are either in kanji or katakana. For fighting styles from around Japan and China, you'll see their names are in kanji 漢字. The names of other fighting styles become loan-words and are written in katakana カタカナ.
- Boxing
bokushingu ボクシング
kentou 拳闘 - Capoeira
kapoera カポエイラ - Chinese Martial Arts
chuugoku bujutsu 中国武術
chuugoku kenpou 中国拳法 - Karate
karate 空手 - Kempo
kenpou 拳法 - Kickboxing
kikkubokushingu キックボクシング - Kung Fu
kunfuu 功夫
kufuu 工夫 - Jiu Jitsu
jyuujitsu 柔術 - Judo
jyuudou 柔道 - Muay Thai
muetai ムエタイ - Pradal Serey
puradaru serei プラダル・セレイ - Sambo
sanbo サンボ - Sanda, Chinese Kickboxing
sanda 散打 - Savate
sabbato サバット - Shaolin Kung Fu
shourinken 少林拳 - Silat
siratto シラット - Sumo
sumou 相撲 - Taido
taidou 躰道 - Taekkyeon
tekkyon テッキョン - Taekwondo
tekondoo テコンドー
taikendou 跆拳道 - Wing Chun
eishunken 詠春拳 - Wrestling
resuringu レスリング - Wushu
bujutsu taikyoken 武術太極拳
wuushuu ウーシュー - Zui Quan, Drunken Boxing
suiken 酔拳
(if you're wondering what jutsu 術 means, check out the meaning of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu)
Related Words
Here's a little more Japanese vocabulary about fighting.
- bujutsu 武術
Martial arts. Specially Chinese. - budou 武道
Martial way. Study of the martial arts. - bujutsu-ka 武術家
budou-ka 武道家
Practitioner of bujutsu/budou.
(see ka of mangaka 漫画家)
Win and Loss
- shoubu 勝負
A match. - katsu 勝つ
To win. - kachi 勝ち
kachi 勝
Victory. - makeru 負ける
To lose. - make 負け
make 負
Loss.
Fighting and Brawling
- kenka ケンカ
A quarrel. A fight. - tatakau 闘う
tatakau 戦う
To fight - naguru 殴る
To hit. To strike. - naguriai 殴り合い
Fist fight - ataru 当たる
To hit something. - ataranai 当たらない
To not hit something. - kawasu 躱す
To evade. - kobushi 拳
Fist - panchi パンチ
Punch - nageru 投げる
To throw. - nage 投げ
A throw. - keru 蹴る
To kick - keri 蹴り
A kick.
Outcomes
- itai 痛い
Hurting. Ouch! - itami 痛み
Pain. - taosu 倒す
To make [someone] fall.
To make [someone] go down. - taoreru 倒れる
To fall down. To go down. - kizetsu suru 気絶する
To faint. - kizetsu saseru 気絶させる
To make [someone] faint. - kossetsu 骨折
Bone fracture. - nyuuin suru 入院する
To be hospitalized. - shinu 死ぬ
To die. - korosu 殺す
koroshiteyaru 殺してやる
To kill. - ano yo ni okutte yaru あの世に送ってやる
To send [someone] to the other world.
Other Vocabulary
See also this list of body parts in Japanese in case you want to refer to something exactly, like "hitting [someone's] face," kao wo naguru 顔を殴る, for example.