Culturally Inept

One of the things (one of a million my peers would say) that drives me absolutely nuts is the absolutely incorrect cultural items placed in students heads over the years in the general budo realm.  When I first started training in Taika's system, I was consumed with learning everything.  That included all the little bits of culture that came with it.  Over the years I amassed quite a huge book and magazine collection which anyone dropping by the dojo would see.  I studied these, and spent time studying Japanese in college and Uchinaaguchi a little on my own.   I cannot say that I am an expert at any of it, but I do believe the knowledge I gained over the years help give me a perspective into the world of Taika.  We'd have several cultural discussions over the years, and because I had a basic grasp of certain topics, I'd get a little more cultural candy from Taika which I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

Osu

Now I'm not going to say that everyone should consume their lives with such, but what I am going to say is that you either learn it, or don't pretend to know it.  One common thing that I hear is "Osu!!!" yelled out by people that don't understand what it means, or when it is permissible to use.  I won't go into great detail as someone else did a great job of covering it on their blog below.  But recently, when Taika was sick and even after his passing "Osu!!!" kept turning up on his facebook page and the RyuTe® facebook page.  This is not appropriate.  Learn it or abandon it.

                http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/08/29/appropriate-usage-of-osu/

Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-ite

WARNING - OVER SIMPLIFIED LANGUAGE CONTENT

One of the therapeutic things about blog is just the venting.  So that's what I'm doing.  In my head the whole world is listening and agreeing and I feel better.  In reality, a handful of people read it and maybe one or two agree.  But since I live in my head, I win...

First off, TUITE is actually 1/2 Okinawan and 1/2 Japanese.  That being said, it is truly a Taika made up word.  Tony has blogged about that enough that I won't go into it, but I will go into how Okinawan and Japanese words are pronounced. 

	A	I	U	E	O	If you put together the column vs row in this incomplete chart, you make up all the basic sounds of the Japanese Language.  (Note: The Ryukyu dialect is actually simpler as they have less vowels.)  This is extremely simplified and incomplete, as there are more than what is listed but you get a general idea.
K	Ka	Ki	Ku	Ke	Ko
S	Sa	Shi	Su	Se	So
T	Ta	Chi	Tsu	Te	To
N	Na	Ni	Nu	Ne	No

This is a basic phonetic sound type language.  Each sound has one way to be pronounced.  A is pronounced like the AH sound in father.  Notice I didn't say AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH as in surprise and alarm, back of the throat (Monty Python reference).  Each sound is short.  Unlike in English, the A doesn't have a bazillion ways to pronounce it.  (Ex: Sagging, Father, park)  There can be only one (Highlander reference).

To lengthen a sound there are a couple different things that happen with the characters.  Either a lengthening mark is added to make the vowel long, another character to double it, or a couple other little options.

Tu·i·te is three syllables and most people get that count right.

What we end up hearing is people trying to put the emphasis on the fact that there is an "I" in there and they pronounce it as Tuuuu·i·te by lengthening the Tu.  This is not correct.  The three syllables are ALL short.  The Tui should just be barely detectable as being 2 syllables.  When you elongate the Tuuuuuuuu to emphasize the "I" then it is too long.  With both syllables short, it 'almost' sounds like T'wi rather than Tuuuui and that is why servicemen would giggle when Taika would pronounce it the original fully Okinawan way, Tuidi which sounds like Tweety as in Tweety Bird.  So keep it short.  It is more like T'wite if I was to Engrishize it.

Many do the same thing with the word Ryu.  They were probably explained at one point that Ryu is actually putting together or Ri and Yu.  So what we end up hearing is Riiiiiiyu as in Riiiiiyu  Kiiiiiiyu Island or Riiiiiiyu Te.  Again, the Ri and yu that make up Ryu is more like R'yu, very subtle.  Don't lengthen it.

Karate vs Karati

Well, technically our style is Okinawan and they would of said Di or Ti.  You hear a lot of people that don't train in the art call it Karati or Karaty in Engrish.  I've actually heard Karateka (people training in the art) correct people saying it is pronounced Kara TE.  Well, it all depends.  Before Japan took over the Ryukyu Islands, the people there had their own language which also used Chinese characters and also had a lot of similarities.  BUT, they didn't use the 'E' sound.  So words that had that sound in Japanese were pronounced with "I".  So for our style, Ti or Di would be more correct.  If this was a Japanese style of Karate (which actually came from Okinawa to begin with) they would say TE.  So why all the confusion?  Well, when the U.S. occupied Japan and Okinawa, some servicemen came back with Karati and other came back with Karate.  These same people either studied from a Sinsei or a Sensei.  Incidentally Sensei (Japanese spelling/pronunciation) is actually 4 syllables.  Se·n·se·i.  BUT, you don't pronounce it Saayyyyyyyyn Saaaaaaaaaaay like some people do either.

/rant off

あ-   I feel better. (hint, that is how you'd do a LONG 'A'.