And what are the characters? Just curious.
Thanks.
No, there’s no Chinese translation.
OK, I think it might be 柔術.
roushu-rou as in soft and shu as in wushu
edit-whoops beaten…yeah, that’s it
[quote=“chainsmoker”]roushu-rou as in soft and shu as in wushu.[/quote]I got there first! 
But cheers for posting the Pinyin. It would have taken me a while to look up, as I’m not much good with radicals.
I guess it’s rou2shu4; at least that’s what the Oxford Dictionary on my PDA says, though it’s not always very accurate about tones.
I thought Shu was 3rd tone.
[quote=“Tyc00n”]I thought Shu was 3rd tone.[/quote]I’m sure you’re right. I’ve just edited my post above to point out that the Oxford C-E/E-C dictionary, at least the version on my PDA, isn’t always great with tones.
4th tone…not that i’d know…dr eye told me…
yep… I just checked it is 4.
4th tone…not that I’d know…dr eye told me…[/quote]CJKOS is telling me 4th tone too, and I usually trust that more than the Oxford Dictionary regarding tones.
Here are some more:
Judo rou2dao4 柔道
Karatedo kong1shou3dao4 空手道
Gojuryu gang1rou2liu2 剛柔流
Shotokan song1tao1guan3 松濤館
Keishinkan qi3xin1guan3 啟心館 (included because I used to do it!)
Aikido (hapkido in Korean) he2qi4dao4 合氣道
Kendo jian4dao4 劍道
Shorinji Kempo Shao4lin2si4 quan2fa3 少林寺拳法 (included because I used to do it!)
Bujutsu (or bujitsu) wu3shu4 武術
Budo wu3dao4 武道
Bushido wu3shi4dao4 武士道
Samurai wu3shi4 武士
Dojo dao4chang3 道場
4th tone…not that I’d know…dr eye told me…[/quote]
Most definitely 4th tone; there are no exceptions to this, not even any obsolete readings, in my scholarly sources. It means an art, skill or method, and is in terms like wu3shu4 武術, martial arts, and yi4shu4
藝術
, art (as in fine arts).
EDIT: For its etymology, see this thread.
rou2shu3 could mean “soft mouse” or perhaps “to massage a mouse”. 
Dear all,
Way of the dance?
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.
Dear all,
Those characters are for “bushi”. The character for “samurai” is 侍.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.
[color=green](Mod edit: etymology bit moved to this thread: http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=61931) --DB[/color]
to Kobo-Daish,
I think 武士 for Samurai is more common in Chinese. 侍 may be the Kanji used in Japanese. Use the Japanese link beside the wikipedia page you give. You’ll see the Japanese Kanji also using 武士.
[quote=“Kobo-Daishi”]Dear all,
Way of the dance?
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.[/quote]
That’s must a typo. 武道
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budo
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A6%E9%81%93
Yes (now corrected). It arises because in Taiwan-standard Mandarin 舞蹈 and 武道 are confusingly both pronounced wu3dao4, whereas in mainland China 武道 (martial arts, budo) is wu3dao4 but 舞蹈 (dance) is wu3dao3. Originally I corrected the dao but missed the wu.
Dear DoD,
[quote=“DoD”]to Kobo-Daish,
I think 武士 for Samurai is more common in Chinese. 侍 may be the Kanji used in Japanese. Use the Japanese link beside the wikipedia page you give. You’ll see the Japanese Kanji also using 武士.[/quote]
I thought we were going by the Japanese pronunciations since the list by Juba was of Japanese martial arts.
In the first column was the Japanese martial art in Japanese pronunciation.
In the second column, the kanji or hanzi.
In the third column the Chinese pronunciation for the characters in pinyin.
The characters 武士 would be pronounced “bushi” in Japanese not “samurai” whereas the character 侍 would be pronounced “samurai” in Japanese, also “ji”.
The character 武 may be pronounced “bu” or “mu” in Japanese.
And 士 is pronounced “shi”.
From the Far East Chinese-English Dictionary:
武士
- a brave man of fighting skill; a warrior
- a samurai
- a knight or cavalier
From 汉英大辞典 (Chinese-English Dictionary) from 上海交通大学出版社 (Shanghai Jiaotong University Press):
武士
- (宫廷卫士)(宮廷衛士) palace guards in ancient times
- (有勇力的人) man of prowess; warrior; knight
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.