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Sōke
, pronounced , is a Japanese term that means "the head family ouse" In the realm of Japanese traditional arts, it is used synonymously with the term '' iemoto''. Thus, it is often used to indicate "headmaster" (or sometimes translated as "head of the family" or even " grand master".) The English translation of sōke as "grand master" is not a literal translation but it does see use by some Japanese sources. It can mean one who is the leader of any school or the master of a style, but it is most commonly used as a highest level Japanese title, referring to the singular leader of a school or style of martial art. The term, however, is not limited to the genre of martial arts. Sōke is sometimes mistakenly believed to mean "founder of a style" because many modern sōke are the first generation headmasters of their art (''shodai sōke''), and are thus both sōke and founder. However, the successors to the ''shodai sōke'' are also sōke themselves. Sōke are generally considered th ...
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Grandmaster (martial Arts)
Grandmaster and Master are titles used to describe or address some senior or experienced martial artists. Typically these titles are honorary in nature, meaning that they do not confer rank, but rather distinguish the individual as very highly revered in their school, system, or style. History Asian martial arts traditionally use terms that are usually translated as "teacher" and the use of " master" was a Western invention derived from 1950s United States war veterans returning home with stories of the incredible martial feats of certain individuals and groups. Subsequently, they found their way into martial arts culture as marketing tactics to the extent that the titles are aligned to the 'elderly martial arts master' stock character. In Asian countries, such titles are more commonly reserved for religious leaders and saints. Modern use The use of "master," "grandmaster," etc. is decided within an individual art or organization. The use may be self assigned; for example h ...
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Japanese Language
is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language. There have been many Classification of the Japonic languages, attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as Ainu languages, Ainu, Austronesian languages, Austronesian, Koreanic languages, Koreanic, and the now discredited Altaic languages, Altaic, but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Ja ...
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Iemoto
is a Japanese term used to refer to the founder or current Grand Master of a certain school of traditional Japanese art. It is used synonymously with the term when it refers to the family or house that the iemoto is head of and represents. The word is also used to describe a system of familial generations in traditional Japanese arts such as tea ceremony (including ), , Noh, calligraphy, traditional Japanese dance, traditional Japanese music, the Japanese art of incense appreciation (), and Japanese martial arts. and Go once used the system as well. The system is characterized by a hierarchical structure and the supreme authority of the , who has inherited the secret traditions of the school from the previous . Titles An may be addressed by the title or , or by the title or . In English, is often translated as "Grand Master". The 's main roles are to lead the school and protect its traditions, to be the final authority on matters concerning the school, to issue ...
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Japanese Martial Arts Titles
The Japanese language makes use of a honorific speech in Japanese, system of honorific speech, called , which includes honorifics (linguistics), honorific suffixes and prefixes when talking to, or referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while prefixes are attached to the beginning of many nouns. Honorific suffixes also indicate the speaker's level, their relationship, and are often used alongside other components of Japanese honorific speech.Reischauer, Edwin O. (2002). Encyclopedia of Japan. Tōkyō: NetAdvance Inc. Honorific suffixes are generally used when referring to the Interlocutor (linguistics), person someone is talking to or third persons, and are not used when referring to oneself. The omission of suffixes indicates that the speaker has known the addressee for a while, or that the listener joined the company or school at the same time or later. Common honorifics The most common honorifics include: ''San'' ...
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Martial Art
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preservation of a nation's intangible cultural heritage. The concept of martial arts was originally associated with East Asian tradition, but subsequently the term has been applied to practices that originated outside that region. Etymology "Martial arts" is a direct English translation of the Sino-Japanese word (, ). Literally, it refers to "武 martial" and "芸 arts". The term ''martial arts'' was popularized by mainstream popular culture during the 1960s to 1970s, notably by Hong Kong martial arts films (most famously those of Bruce Lee) during the so-called " chopsocky" wave of the early 1970s. According to John Clements, the term ''martial arts'' itself is derived from an older Latin term meaning "arts of Mars", the Roman god of w ...
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Menkyo Kaiden
is a Japanese term meaning "license." It refers to the license to teach used by practitioners of various Japanese classical arts and martial arts certifying some license within the school or ryū. The ''menkyo'' system dates back to the 8th century. Koryū Tradition Although it is most commonly thought to be used for classical martial arts and ways, it can also be used for other arts such as painting ('' sumi-e''), tea ceremony (''chadō''), flower arranging (''Ikebana'') or calligraphy (''shodō''). Different martial art '' ko-ryū'' use different license; one outline is: * ''Okuiri'' : enter into art. * ''Mokuroku'' : certificate, and entered into official rolls. ** ''Sho Mokuroku'' ** ''Hatsu Mokuroku'' ** ''Go Mokuroku'' * ''Menkyo'': License. ** ''Shoden Menkyo'' ** ''Chuden Menkyo'' ** ''Okuden Menkyo'' ** ''Hiden Menkyo'' * ''Menkyo Kaiden'': Around thirty years' experience. Menkyo Kaiden , (めんきょかいでん) is a Japanese term meaning "license of total tr ...
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Hiragana
is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", as contrasted with kanji). Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems. With few exceptions, each mora (linguistics), mora in the Japanese language is represented by one character (or one digraph) in each system. This may be a vowel such as /a/ (hiragana wikt:あ, あ); a consonant followed by a vowel such as /ka/ (wikt:か, か); or /N/ (wikt:ん, ん), a nasal stop, nasal sonorant which, depending on the context and dialect, sounds either like English ''m'', ''n'' or ''ng'' () when syllable-final or like the nasal vowels of French language, French, Portuguese language, Portuguese or Polish language, Polish. Because the characters of the kana do not represent single consonants (except in the case of the aforementioned ん), the kana are r ...
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Iemoto
is a Japanese term used to refer to the founder or current Grand Master of a certain school of traditional Japanese art. It is used synonymously with the term when it refers to the family or house that the iemoto is head of and represents. The word is also used to describe a system of familial generations in traditional Japanese arts such as tea ceremony (including ), , Noh, calligraphy, traditional Japanese dance, traditional Japanese music, the Japanese art of incense appreciation (), and Japanese martial arts. and Go once used the system as well. The system is characterized by a hierarchical structure and the supreme authority of the , who has inherited the secret traditions of the school from the previous . Titles An may be addressed by the title or , or by the title or . In English, is often translated as "Grand Master". The 's main roles are to lead the school and protect its traditions, to be the final authority on matters concerning the school, to issue ...
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Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ...
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Kanji
are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequently-derived Syllabary, syllabic scripts of and . The characters have Japanese pronunciations; most have two, with one based on the Chinese sound. A few characters were invented in Japan by constructing character components derived from other Chinese characters. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan made its own efforts to simplify the characters, now known as , by a process similar to China's simplified Chinese characters, simplification efforts, with the intention to increase literacy among the general public. Since the 1920s, the Japanese government has published character lists periodically to help direct the education of its citizenry through the myriad Chinese characters that exist. There are nearly 3 ...
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