Kata names

Please can anyone help with these two names of kata.
'Shimpa'

A kata name that I want to use for myself is
'memei' does this have any meaning to anyone?
Thank you friends.

So these are kata you are creating? Do you have kanji in mind for them? Shimpa/shinpa sounds a bit like a kata, but memei sounds a little odd in that context to me.

nice gaijin said:

So these are kata you are creating? Do you have kanji in mind for them? Shimpa/shinpa sounds a bit like a kata, but memei sounds a little odd in that context to me.

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Hi there, I've been searching for the kanji in my old notes and found this. I was led to believe it meant early dawn... Memei.

As for Shimpa', it is a kata that already exists in karate..I just can't find it's meaning.

Grey shifu said:

Hi there, I've been searching for the kanji in my old notes and found this. I was led to believe it meant early dawn... Memei.

As for Shimpa', it is a kata that already exists in karate..I just can't find it's meaning.

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Memei sorry.

Grey shifu said:

Hi there, I've been searching for the kanji in my old notes and found this. I was led to believe it meant early dawn... Memei. As for Shimpa', it is a kata that already exists in karate..I just can't find it's meaning.

View attachment 116914

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Ah, so 未明 (mimei) does mean early dawn (literally "not yet" and "bright"). It's transliterated correctly in this image


Unlike English where a vowel can be pronounced in several different ways, Japanese vowels are pretty simple and transliterated consistently as
A: an open, central "ah", like in "father"
I: a high front vowel like in "eat"
U: a high back, unrounded "ooh" as in "good,"
E: mid front "eh", like in "bed"
O: a mid back, rounded "oh"




So when you wrote "memei" you were perhaps thinking like the English "me," but in Japanese spelling it this way would create a different sound and a completely different word (as the possible kanji that could apply changes), hence my confusion.


I looked up Shimpa and found this page with offers a few different ways to write it



シンパー "Shimpā," in katakana, with a long vowel at the end, which is probably closest to the original pronunciation by the Okinawan masters

It offers 心破, 新破, and 侵破 as possible kanji for the name, but everywhere else I have looked favors 心破. This video is the Shito-ryu version

Thank you @nice gaijin, that is useful and I appreciate your help.