Isshinryu Dragon Academy

Moderator's note: this thread is derived from How to write KANJI車CAR.

@JapaneseLily : HAJIME MASHTE DOZO UROSHKU. Congratulations on being so proficient with KANJI. Could you help me with translating an English phrase into ROMANJI? A friend and I are starting a martial arts school in America and our students speak English. My brain still doesn't do well with KANJI. Our school name is the ISSHINRYU DRAGON ACADEMY. Do you know what would the ROMAJI phrase for that be in Japanese?
Thank you. ARIGATO GOZAI IMASU

LuckyGrunt372 said:

@JapaneseLily : HAJIME MASHTE DOZO UROSHKU. Congratulations on being so proficient with KANJI. Could you help me with translating an English phrase into ROMANJI? A friend and I are starting a martial arts school in America and our students speak English. My brain still doesn't do well with KANJI. Our school name is the ISSHINRYU DRAGON ACADEMY. Do you know what would the ROMAJI phrase for that be in Japanese?
Thank you. ARIGATO GOZAI IMASU

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Thank you very much for watching my video. Do you want to write mi your Academy name in Romaji? Romaji is like ABC... So actually I don´t understand why you want me to write in Romaji. It is ISSHINRYU DORAGON ACADEMY..... This is the way how to write in Romaji (The pronunciation in Japanese way)
But is this what you wanted me to write ? If I misunderstood you, please let me know it

JapaneseLily said:

Thank you very much for watching my video. Do you want to write mi your Academy name in Romaji? Romaji is like ABC... So actually I don´t understand why you want me to write in Romaji. It is ISSHINRYU DORAGON ACADEMY..... This is the way how to write in Romaji (The pronunciation in Japanese way)
But is this what you wanted me to write ? If I misunderstood you, please let me know it

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I am reading your message again and now maybe you want me to translate in Jpanese but writing in Romaji so that you can pronunce it these two sentences.
A friend and I are starting a martial arts school in America and our students speak English.... TOMODACHI TO WATASHI WA AMERICA DE BUDO NO DOJO WO HAJIMEMASHITAGA, SEITOTACHI HA MINNA EIGO WO HANASHIMASU.
WATASHI WA MADA KANJI GA YOKU WAKARIMASEN.
友だちと私はアメリカで武道の道場を始めました。生徒たちはみんな英語を話します。私はまだ漢字がよくわかりません。

Our school name is Isshinryu Dragon Academy
WATASHITACHI NO DOJO NO NAMAE HA ISSHIRYU DORAGON ACADEMY DESU.
私達の道場の名前は一心流ドラゴンアカデミーです。

I guess this is what you want me to do, right ?

Thank you so much. You are very kind. Please allow me to explain.

I am looking for what a Japanese person would use for the word DRAGON and the word ACADEMY. I think Dragon equates to TATSU, Academy equates to GAKKOO or GAKKOU, and ISSHINRYU is already a Japanese word (Okinawa origin) meaning ONE HEART WAY.

So, I think the romanji of this phrase might include this: TATSU NO GAKKOU ISSHINRYU

WATASHITACHI NO DOJO NO NAMAE HA TATSU NO GAKKOU ISSHINRYU DESU

Maybe yes? Maybe no?

The Headmaster of ISSHINRYU Karate is O'Sensei Kichiro Shimabuku from URUMA-CITY, Okinawa, Japan. Sometimes O'Sensei Kichiro comes to USA and I get to introduce some of my students. I would like to be able to speak the name of my school in Japanese without causing a humorous reaction, well more than my redneck accent which sounds a little funny when I speak Japanese phrases.

I took two semesters of the Japanese Language and was just getting started writing and reading the Katakana and Hirigana, but I didn't keep up that exercise so now I would have to look those characters up again.

Thank you again for your time.

Lucky - Tenjikurounin

Tatsu no gakkō could also be interpreted as "school for dragons".

And, in addition to the above, 龍の学校 just sounds cheesy and a little cringey.
You want something more like 飛龍学院 or 飛龍学園 (Hiryū Gakuin or Hiryū Gakuen). Both are slightly less cheesy than Tatsu no Gakkō.

LuckyGrunt372 said:

Thank you so much. You are very kind. Please allow me to explain.

I am looking for what a Japanese person would use for the word DRAGON and the word ACADEMY. I think Dragon equates to TATSU, Academy equates to GAKKOO or GAKKOU, and ISSHINRYU is already a Japanese word (Okinawa origin) meaning ONE HEART WAY.

So, I think the romanji of this phrase might include this: TATSU NO GAKKOU ISSHINRYU

WATASHITACHI NO DOJO NO NAMAE HA TATSU NO GAKKOU ISSHINRYU DESU

Maybe yes? Maybe no?

The Headmaster of ISSHINRYU Karate is O'Sensei Kichiro Shimabuku from URUMA-CITY, Okinawa, Japan. Sometimes O'Sensei Kichiro comes to USA and I get to introduce some of my students. I would like to be able to speak the name of my school in Japanese without causing a humorous reaction, well more than my redneck accent which sounds a little funny when I speak Japanese phrases.

I took two semesters of the Japanese Language and was just getting started writing and reading the Katakana and Hirigana, but I didn't keep up that exercise so now I would have to look those characters up again.

Thank you again for your time.

Lucky - Tenjikurounin

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I understand you now better. Dragon can also say RYU 竜. I think RYUU is better in this case, speaking about Martical Arts. TATSU is mainly used to say about chinese horoscope as Dragon.
As you say SCHOOL is 学校 GAKKOU but in your case you are not talking about elementary school, Junior high school, High school... and the word Acadeny isn't usually used to say about Martial Arts. So Japanese Translation in this case, in my opinion, DOJO may be more suitable.
anyway everyone can understand the meaning even if you say Gakkoo 学校
Nice to know you are going to re-study Hiragana and Katakana writings
I think this list can help you to practice again. I am uploading these videos i hiragana ato first but I wil continue with Katakana just afer HIragana

Majestic said:

Tatsu no gakkō could also be interpreted as "school for dragons".

And, in addition to the above, 龍の学校 just sounds cheesy and a little cringey.
You want something more like 飛龍学院 or 飛龍学園 (Hiryū Gakuin or Hiryū Gakuen). Both are slightly less cheesy than Tatsu no Gakkō.

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Majestic: Thank you for your reply.

The new school will be teaching small children (elementary school) teens (high school) and adults, of which about half will be parents of the kodomodachi. So, I think the "cheesy and cringey" meaning of "school for dragons" would actually be better for marketing, since we would be training Little Dragons (TATSU-NO KODOMODACHI) up to Teen Dragons (TATSU-NO SHISON) and then Adult Budo Dragons. I hope to have a cute baby dragon graphic for the GI of the Little Dragons.

I have been teaching Martial Arts at the University since 2008, which are all adult college students 18 and up. I have been teaching Isshinryu Karate to adults since 1977 as well as learning more and honing my skills.

Peace and all good.

Lucky

JapaneseLily said:

I understand you now better. Dragon can also say RYU 竜. I think RYUU is better in this case, speaking about Martical Arts. TATSU is mainly used to say about chinese horoscope as Dragon.
As you say SCHOOL is 学校 GAKKOU but in your case you are not talking about elementary school, Junior high school, High school... and the word Acadeny isn't usually used to say about Martial Arts. So Japanese Translation in this case, in my opinion, DOJO may be more suitable.
anyway everyone can understand the meaning even if you say Gakkoo 学校
Nice to know you are going to re-study Hiragana and Katakana writings
I think this list can help you to practice again. I am uploading these videos i hiragana ato first but I wil continue with Katakana just afer HIragana

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JapaneseLily:

Thank you for your reply.

I look forward to your lessons in Hiragana.

The new school will be teaching small children (elementary school) teens (high school) and adults, of which about half will be parents of the kodomodachi. So, I think the "cheesy and cringey" meaning of "school for dragons" would actually be better for marketing, since we would be training Little Dragons (TATSU-NO KODOMODACHI) up to Teen Dragons (TATSU-NO SHISON) and then Adult Budo Dragons. I hope to have a cute baby dragon graphic for the GI of the Little Dragons.

ISSHINRYU was founded by Master Tatsuo Shimabuku, who was already a master of a few Okinawan styles of karate and of Kobudo. Some of the Okinawan katas have origins in China and some have origins in Japan. Master Shimabuku took Tatsuo as his name after combining the best and most effective of the many styles to create ISSHINRYU. He is represented in a graphic of a Chinese dragon with three stars above his head, meaning Best Dragonman. So, TATSU works well in the school name.

I have been teaching Martial Arts at the University since 2008, which are all adult college students 18 and up. I have been teaching Isshinryu Karate to adults since 1977 as well as learning more and honing my skills.

Thank you again for your help.

Peace and all good.

Lucky

Sorry for nitpicking, but I want to point out that this might be one of the reasons why Japanese sounds a little funny.

LuckyGrunt372 said:

HAJIME MASHTE DOZO UROSHKU.

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Hajimemashite. Dōzo yoroshiku.

As you wrote "GAKKOO or GAKKOU", this "oo/ou" is a long vowel, and you need to distinguish it from the short vowel "o" strictly in Japanese. The first o in "dōzo" is a long vowel, too, whether it's written as dōzo, doozo or douzo.

LuckyGrunt372 said:

ROMANJI

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Romaji("n" is unnecessary)

LuckyGrunt372 said:

ARIGATO GOZAI IMASU

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Arigatō gozaimasu ("Tō" is a long vowel. "I" before "masu" is unnecessary.)

You can't use Arigatō gozaimasu in advance in Japanese. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu is equivalent to "thanks in advance".

LuckyGrunt372 said:

kodomodachi

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kodomotachi (Rendaku doesn't occur on "tachi" here, unlike tomodachi.)

LuckyGrunt372 said:

The new school will be teaching small children (elementary school) teens (high school) and adults, of which about half will be parents of the kodomodachi. So, I think the "cheesy and cringey" meaning of "school for dragons" would actually be better for marketing, since we would be training Little Dragons (TATSU-NO KODOMODACHI) up to Teen Dragons (TATSU-NO SHISON) and then Adult Budo Dragons.

Click to expand...

"Tatsu no gakkou" is not just "cheesy and cringy" but more likely odd/unusual/inappropriate for a school name, as already explained.

Shison means "descendant" as the antonym of "ancestor".

I would use 幼龍 yō-ryū very young/infant dragon, 若龍 jaku-ryū young dragon and 成龍 sei-ryū mature dragon for those three categories, respectively. (Notice that ryū is a long vowel, as majestic-san wrote in his post. Actually, speaking strictly, Isshinryu should be Isshinryū since this "u" is also a long vowel.)