As traditional groups re-open their doors to an informed public, they must avoid the temptation of compromising the core values of their art for the sake of attracting members. In reinforcing the differences between what is peddled by shallow flash-harry McSensei’s and what is properly taught by traditional Instructors, one thing we can do is think more about the language we use to describe what we are doing.

Karateka refer to their activities as training or as practice. They talk about how much training they have done or need to do in preparation for a grading or a tournament but in the same sentence they will talk about their practice as if there’s no difference between the two. The Australian Oxford Dictionary defines the words as follows;

training Noun: Activity leading to skilled behaviour
practice Noun: Systematic training by multiple repetitions

The word training is actually used in the definition of the word practice. From this (and a quick look through any thesaurus) we can conclude that they are very close. If there is a difference, it is that practice is simply training in a certain way. The problem for us is that neither word adequately describes Karate. We are using two English words that have come to mean the same thing to describe a traditional pastime from a very different culture.

In Japanese, the words keiko and renshu are used interchangeably, and translated, both also mean to practice or to train - but there is more to it. In the practice of Budo Karate, there is a definite distinction between training and practice as a closer look at the meaning of these words explains:

As a general rule, keiko is used for traditional Japanese arts such as the martial arts and flower arrangements, and renshu is used for sports. Renshu means to prepare or train the body; and keiko, is the word which means to train or prepare the spirit.

The word keiko is written as two Chinese characters. The first character "kei" means compare and study, the second "ko" means old. The original meaning of keiko is to learn the logic behind matters by studying old matters deeply, ie reflecting on the past. Keiko is applied to cultural activities where the spiritual aspects are of fundamental importance. Keiko imbues training with a reflective character, consisting of respect toward the maintenance of the best of past traditions while preparing the spirit to learn.

On the other hand, the word renshu is also written in two Chinese characters. The first character "Ren" means; to improve quality by repetition. The second character "shu" means; make it natural by copying repeatedly. The meaning of renshu is to study an art or a discipline repeatedly, which in turn means to try if it works before it is officially applied.

In the trend back to the core values and traditions of our art, it may be impractical to use a word like keiko when “training” and “practice” simply come up too often in general conversation for us to stop using them. But this shouldn’t stop us from understanding and occasionally applying words that better describe Karate. JKA of Australia dojos now recite the Dojo Kun in full in Japanese, true to the original - so let’s go further and bring as much of the language of Budo to the fore as we possibly can.

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