Martial Artist solo titles & their meaning

[Vlain]

Now this is interesting:

source:

Kanryo Higashionna (1845 - 1915), known as Kensei (fist saint), was thought to be the greatest master of Naha-te in the history of Okinawan karate.

Born in Naha, he later worked for a tea merchant who took him to China. There he worked for a fellow tea merchant and friend of his employer who happened to be an expert martial artist. Higashionna studied in Fuzhou, China, for possibly 20 years under the ch'uan-fa master Liu Liu-Ko. He was also one of the top students of the famous Shuri-te master Sokon Matsumura. In 1902 karate was made part of the physical education curriculum in Okinawa, changing its history of secrecy there.

another source:

Kanryo Higaonna is now bestowed with the title "Kensei (sacred fists) Kanryo Higaonna" a title which is eminently fitting. His name is synonymous with Okinawan martial arts and Naha-te, and his spirit is destined to live on forever as a great and valued treasure within Okinawan culture.

and another:

Kanryo Higaonna was historic founder and the highest authority of Naha-Te in Japan. To many he was regarded as a Saint of Karate, honoured with the title of "founder of Okinawan Karate". People of Naha named him "Kensei", which means "Sacred Fists". Gradually, the art of Higaonna Sensei became known as "Naha-Te", meaning "Naha hands".

yet another:

A modest, quiet man, Master Higashionna stood only five foot one inch tall, but was very strongly built. He was called "Kensei" ("Sacred Fists") on Okinawa and was known for his extremely fast footwork and low kicking techniques. However, Higashionna believed that the integral purpose of the martial arts was to help society, not to hurt people. This philosophy was passed on to his students, especially to Miyagi, on whom the lesson was never lost.

regarding Naha-Te Karate:

Naha-Te is the name of the particular type of Okinawan martial art that developed in the port town of Naha, the modern-day capital of Okinawa. The martial art that indigenously developed in Okinawa was called Te (”Hands”), and the continuous chinese influences that incorporated Chinese Boxing (Chuan Fa, nowadays known as Kung Fu) were eventually reflected by nameing the Okinawan martial arts To-De, “Chinese Hands”.
Credited for the early development of Naha-Te is Kanryo Higaonna (1853-1915).

Doesn't karate focus on empty handed combat? ...and yet here we have a real life karate (Naha-Te) founder & master labeled as kensei. They even translate kensei to mean "fist saint" or "sacred fists". And there are literally dozens of other sources saying exactly the same thing, so no chance to label it as false or a fluke. One of Higaonna Kanryō's student's, Chojun Miyagi, who founded the Gōjū-ryū (Japanese for "hard-soft style") style of karate, is also recognized as Kensei.

A true karate practicing, Okinawan Kensei. Hmm...now that's gotta hurt - kinda blows up your whole argument into tiny little pieces.

I think I'll just take all those little pieces, and bake them into a nice fluffy victory cake.

The fact that Naha-Te karate has extremely strong ties to Chinese Kung Fu is just icing on the cake.

Mmmm, so tasty.

[Aratink]

Ya know though, maybe you're right, and they should actually switch to the titles you suggested after all - you know, stuff like blue tiger, silver eagle, or gold dragon...

Those are advys, not MAs!

[Vlain]

Those are advys, not MAs!

That's what I said!

Btw, I updated the OP to include the Okinawa translation of Kensei as "sacred fist" and/or "fist saint".

[Aratink]

Btw, I updated the OP to include the Okinawa translation of Kensei as "sacred fist" and/or "fist saint".

But, but, but!!! Now it excludes MAs who use SoFC!

[Scotty]

But, but, but!!! Now it excludes MAs who use SoFC!

Omg and I use Piercing Evil...now I want musketeer titles!!!

[Bolen]

I was gonna post something in support of what Vlain's said, but he seems more than capable of defending his position.

Thinking about this led me to think about the evolution of Funcom's ideas about martial artists using weapons as all. It used to be that we had things like hazangerine claws (ma/piercing), torturing tools (ma/1hb), and parry sticks (ma/1hb) (all using physical init at least, and the first 2 profession locked for us), but in the last few... er years (wow, it's been a while), they decided it was ok to give us 100% ma weapons, resulting in the blades of boltar and dreadloch shen sticks. It seems to me that it would not be unreasonable at some point to give us a sword that is 100% ma.

It could be non-dual-wieldable, and have stats making it good for some cases, but not others. Maybe something like damage equivalent to 1 shen stick, but meleeac to eat through absorbs (making anvil fists even more appealing... it could even buff BM and SI slightly to help with casting it). Or less damage, still meleeac, but with sneak attack. Maybe that would be unbalancing. Maybe equip time could be bad, so that you'd get SA essentially for free, but would have to give up hotswapping a bow. High max and crit but low min damage might be reasonable. Anyway, I think it could be interesting to try to come up with a weapon that would be generally inferior for pvm, but nice for pvp, and maybe nice for pvm in rare cases (some of the RK bosses have meleeac holes, for example).

Plus if there was such an item, even the sword meanings of the final titles would be fine.

[Vlain]

But, but, but!!! Now it excludes MAs who use SoFC!

Omg and I use Piercing Evil...now I want musketeer titles!!!

*sigh*

I guess FC gonna have to come up with separate titles for every weapon.

[Vlain]

Here's an interesting piece of trivia using the kanji for "Ken", meaning fist:

The kanji for 'Iron Fist', is Tetsu-Ken, which is read Tekken in Japanese, which is where the title of the video game series of the same name is derived.

[Vlain]

This link probably got lost amidst the argument, but it is definitely worth checking out.

That guy is frickin amazing!

Seriously, if you like martial arts at all, check out that vid.

[Yue]

I think I'll just take all those little pieces, and bake them into a nice fluffy victory cake.

The fact that Naha-Te karate has extremely strong ties to Chinese Kung Fu is just icing on the cake.

Mmmm, so tasty.

i lol'd.

so mean... :P

This link probably got lost amidst the argument, but it is definitely worth checking out.

ow nice.

[Medithor]

Good jobe

wow, those sound really chinese name ! but the meanning isnt always ok with MA spirit :S



well its better than Engis title, wth TS have to do with solo :P

I agree.

Good Jobe.

[Vlain]

This necro goes out to Odyceus in honor of his recent promotion to Shugyosha - a title I will sadly never achieve. Cheers mate!

And hugs to all my former fellow MA's, miss you guys!

[McKnuckleSamwich]

great thread. GJ on research!

[odyceus]

whoa nice, I remember looking some of these up a while back... this is much more clear lol

[Valour]

should rework these titles imo, at some 'te in there, as it means hand, and karate = open hand - as an open hand is more deadly than a fist from my own personal experience, as you look at martial arts higher up, there are no punches, only open handed techneques

edit- but on a side note, good job for looking these up

for all those who dont know, martial arts originated in greece>turkey>china>okinawa>japan>US>UK>Europe

all started from the art of stick fighting and defensive techneques practiced in dances and artistic shows due to the secracy of it.

that vid of the guy doing the 540 kick, all it would take to take him down is to step forward and punch him or kick him in the groin and hes down? seriously... show karate (shotokan etc) is not the self defending way, its just the sport part of it which was invented so people can score points

personally partaking in goju-ryu myself open handed techneques cover everything, only thing that open handed techneques are not used for are Ippon's which are your first 2 fingers outstreched sticking away from your hand but not fully extended to strike at the throat like a snake's fang

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best way i can show it ^^