Anyone who really knows about the Japanese martial art of karate probably won’t watch the Karate Kid films or the Cobra Kai spin-off series to get helpful tips. Netflix’s martial arts comedy isn’t particularly realistic in this area – and that’s completely fine.
But there is a linguistic error that has been confusing Japanese experts for 40 years and perhaps that is why it remains uncorrected as an inside joke in the series. We are talking about battle cry “Aitsu!”.
Cobra Kai has been repeating the wrong Japanese battle cry for 6 seasons
Heard for the first time is Aitsu! or Ait! (because U is a lost vowel in Japanese that is often not pronounced) in the very first Karate Kid film from 1984, when Daniel-san (Ralph Macchio) comes to John Kreese (Martin Kove) in the dojo. The villainous sensei lets out the battle cry while teaching his Cobra Kai apprentices led by Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). But what’s wrong with that?
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In short: Four decades ago, someone transcribed the Japanese あいっ made a mistake and read it as あいつ. For direct comparison:
Do you see that the last syllable (tsu) is smaller in the first example than in the second case? This is because it is not the syllable tsu but a similar looking consonant doubler or ejaculatory sound that can indicate a harsh break at the end of a Japanese word. You need this character in the middle of two syllables to mo and to the word motto (more) to do. Or to make exclamations like ai-! to give an abrupt bang at the end.
The complete Martial Arts Screamwhich also occurs in other disciplines such as Kendo and Aikido, is Hello! The ki stands for the inner energy, which is sometimes called Chi. It is the same character (気) as in the Japanese word genkiwhich means something like “healthy” or “energetic”.
One of the first Aitsu! examples in Karate Kid from 1984:
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Why the Karate Kid mistake is even funnier
What makes the matter even more amusing is the fact that aitsu of course also exists as a Japanese word. It translates as something like “that guy there”, or somewhat derogatorily “that guy there”. So a karate training in Cobra Kai sounds a bit like the sensei reciting the German rap hit Die da!?! by the group Die Phantasien Vier in Japanese.
By the way, Cobra Kai is on 15 November 2024 when the second half of season 6 hits Netflix. The third and final part of the season, which concludes the series, will be released sometime in 2025.