Yeah, to those that don’t know, ‘Ous’ or ‘Osu’ is a pretty common exclamation/vocalization in Karate (and likely other Japanese martial arts), that serves this function, or also just generally is used to indicate ethusiastic compliance with a command.
Roughly, it translates to something like ‘Spirit Shout’ or more literally ‘Spirit Unification’.
To try to de-woo or de-mystify it a bit… it makes you more aware of your own breathing, it forces a repeated pattern of usage of your core muscles when executing a strike.
The core muscles… that in particular is very important.
An attack does not simply come from or involve only your arm or leg.
It is an entire kinetic and kinematic manuever that involves every part of your body; every muscle group, every joint, contributes at least something to the strike, or even block or dodge or feint.
In my training, there was an incredible amount of emphasis on using your hips, your waist, to act as … basically the origin point of a crack of a whip, where the particular hand or foot doing the attack is the tip of the whip… your entire body is the whip, despite the seeming external simplicity of many basic attacks and blocks.
Ous/Osu is … generally seen as a kind of brutish/meathead/dudebro/gymrat kind of word, by many Japanese who are not martial artists.
Its… not like everyone in Japan is a martial artist.
Ous/Osu is a word that, to myknowledge, is only really used seriously by martial artists, most others would only use it ironically, to pantomime being a big strong fighter person.
If you were just in an orgy in Japan, using ous or osu would be something like you performatively acting like a chud, something like that, kind of.
That’s my personal take on it, anyway, here is another:
The increasing use of the word ‘Osu’ (or ‘Oss’, or a million other incarnations) has become strangely common. It’s often used as a catch-all greeting or acknowledgment. However, this broad usage overlooks important cultural and historical nuances.
Many people misunderstand it and use it as a universal Japanese greeting, but its origins tell a more specific story. The term is not rooted in Okinawan culture – the birthplace of many traditional karate systems – but rather in mainland Japan. It originated in military and sports contexts.
In Okinawa, however, the term is often considered militaristic, reflecting the influence of Japan’s early 20th-century militarization.
To many Okinawans, the term can carry connotations of dominance and rigid hierarchy that feel out of step with their values and traditions. While they may not openly express discomfort (out of politeness), using the term in an Okinawan dojo or when addressing an Okinawan instructor can be seen as disrespectful.
…
Outside of your dojo, its use can sound casual and with a very masculine tone, which may not be respectful in certain situations. Its history with militaristic contexts can sometimes make it feel out of place or unintentionally exclusive.
I read on mobile. I didn’t say it wasn’t fine, it’s definitely fine, I said it could be different. And in my opinion, that difference would make it slightly better. It just reads kinda stilted and disjointed to me, like separate unrelated thoughts, when it’s actually just one point being made.
I (and my fellows) were taught to start with just either ‘osu’ or literally verbalizing the kiai as ‘ki-ai’, but were also told that many different sounds can work, do what works for you after you get the basic concept down.
Some stuck with osu/ous or kiai, others ended up with something like hai or sai or ee-sah or 'tsah or 'tsuh or 'tsuu…
Many possible variants… i remeber hearing ‘go with your gut’, entirely unironically.
EDIT: Now that I think about it more, if you kept track of who was making what kind of kiai sound at a tournament, you could probably be reasonably confident as to which dojo they were from, at least at beginner to intermediate levels, hah!
… its… kind of sort of related to Tae Kwon Do, but also has influence from Shotokan Karate and… Taekkyeon?
Oh lordy, the ‘family tree’ of martial arts just never gets any simpler…
I learned Shito-Ryu… which as far as I can tell, has no Korean influence, but eventually everything goes back to Okinawan Te and Chinese Kung Fu, in some manner or another…
To be honest, it was a local neighborhood place run by a white guy, ostensibly Tae Kwon Do, and we called the main teacher kwanjangnim Joe (though we pronounced it “kwah-ja-nim”)
Yeah, to those that don’t know, ‘Ous’ or ‘Osu’ is a pretty common exclamation/vocalization in Karate (and likely other Japanese martial arts), that serves this function, or also just generally is used to indicate ethusiastic compliance with a command.
The concept itself is ‘Kiai’ (key-eye):
https://karateexplained.com/vault/kiai-in-karate/
Roughly, it translates to something like ‘Spirit Shout’ or more literally ‘Spirit Unification’.
To try to de-woo or de-mystify it a bit… it makes you more aware of your own breathing, it forces a repeated pattern of usage of your core muscles when executing a strike.
The core muscles… that in particular is very important.
An attack does not simply come from or involve only your arm or leg.
It is an entire kinetic and kinematic manuever that involves every part of your body; every muscle group, every joint, contributes at least something to the strike, or even block or dodge or feint.
In my training, there was an incredible amount of emphasis on using your hips, your waist, to act as … basically the origin point of a crack of a whip, where the particular hand or foot doing the attack is the tip of the whip… your entire body is the whip, despite the seeming external simplicity of many basic attacks and blocks.
Is “ous” applicable if end up subbing at an orgy in japan then??
… probably not, no.
Ous/Osu is … generally seen as a kind of brutish/meathead/dudebro/gymrat kind of word, by many Japanese who are not martial artists.
Its… not like everyone in Japan is a martial artist.
Ous/Osu is a word that, to myknowledge, is only really used seriously by martial artists, most others would only use it ironically, to pantomime being a big strong fighter person.
If you were just in an orgy in Japan, using ous or osu would be something like you performatively acting like a chud, something like that, kind of.
That’s my personal take on it, anyway, here is another:
https://www.adamcarter.us/respecting-cultural-context-osu-it-isnt-always-appropriate/
Hell yeah, thanks. I love languages and you got my gears turning is all
You’re allowed to put more than one sentence in a paragraph, encouraged even, especially when those sentences are all very directly related.
I write on mobile, its formatted fine for mobile.
I read on mobile. I didn’t say it wasn’t fine, it’s definitely fine, I said it could be different. And in my opinion, that difference would make it slightly better. It just reads kinda stilted and disjointed to me, like separate unrelated thoughts, when it’s actually just one point being made.
In karate when I was a kid, we learned to say “pay”, though I doubt that is how it was spelt.
I (and my fellows) were taught to start with just either ‘osu’ or literally verbalizing the kiai as ‘ki-ai’, but were also told that many different sounds can work, do what works for you after you get the basic concept down.
Some stuck with osu/ous or kiai, others ended up with something like hai or sai or ee-sah or 'tsah or 'tsuh or 'tsuu…
Many possible variants… i remeber hearing ‘go with your gut’, entirely unironically.
EDIT: Now that I think about it more, if you kept track of who was making what kind of kiai sound at a tournament, you could probably be reasonably confident as to which dojo they were from, at least at beginner to intermediate levels, hah!
Oh yeah, I’d guess the vocalization was very kwanjangnim dependent lol
… Kwan Jang Nim?
You learned… Soo Bahk Do? or Moo Duk Kwan?
I’ve never even heard of that.
… its… kind of sort of related to Tae Kwon Do, but also has influence from Shotokan Karate and… Taekkyeon?
Oh lordy, the ‘family tree’ of martial arts just never gets any simpler…
I learned Shito-Ryu… which as far as I can tell, has no Korean influence, but eventually everything goes back to Okinawan Te and Chinese Kung Fu, in some manner or another…
I wonder if we have in common any Katas.
Seienchin, perhaps?
To be honest, it was a local neighborhood place run by a white guy, ostensibly Tae Kwon Do, and we called the main teacher kwanjangnim Joe (though we pronounced it “kwah-ja-nim”)