Understanding the Meaning of OSS/OSU

In martial arts, specifically the martial arts of Japanese origins, you will hear your instructor and/or fellow martial artists exclaim “OSU!” or “OSS!” (both pronounced, Ōss) at various times during class and training.  And if you are like me, you may have a general understanding of what’s being said, but may have heard it at times and thought … why are we saying it now? So what exactly are you saying and when should you say “Oss!?”  Oss is exchanged as a “hello,” a “good bye,” after being given instructions as well as before and after sparring.  So what is being said, because some of these times may seem contradictory to one another.

Oss is Japanese (guess you saw that coming) and derived from the phrase “Oshi Shinobu.”  “Oshi” means to “push” and “Shinobu” means to “endure.”  Together Oshi Shibonu means “to endure even when being pushed.”  Martial arts are not a physical discipline that can be acquired in an instance (Contrary to what you saw in “The Matrix.”) or without a massive amount of patience while having to endure great resistance.  Martial artists have to push forward against the resistance of their own physical and mental limitations.  In addition, much of that resistance and pushing will be performed against fellow martial artists while they are literally and proverbially pushing back.  There are only two ways to respond to the pressure of learning martial arts and that is to endure and continue to push forward (hence – OSS) or cancel your martial art school contract and find a less demanding hobby.  The idea of persevering (OSS) during complete exhaustion and pain instead of retreating is the general idea during combat and explains the mindset that is shared when greetings martial artists (whether goodbye or hello), after class instructions and surely before and after sparring and must be embraced and exercised to learn and enjoy the art of fighting.

I was teaching a friend and life-coaching client, Jay, some BJJ-inspired self defense.  He’s a very successful businessman and definitely pushes himself professionally but he is unfamiliar with the concept of “oss, ” at least on the level of a martial artist.  While doing some light live-action sparring he stops, unannounced, and sit on the edge of the mat with his back to me.  He responded to my inquiry if he was feeling ‘ok,’ with that he just ‘needed to catch his breath’ and I told him if this were a real self defense moment, he had to push through the fatigue.  This was not a timed set of jumping jacks, but a self defense session. I then asked, “if I were an assailant ‘raping’ your family right now, would you stop to catch your breath?” I told him that if he allowed himself to stop training when he felt a ‘little winded’ or pained, he would be training his body and mind to stop fighting in a situation when he most needed to continue fighting.” He looked over his shoulder at me and jumped back in to finish our round of sparring.  Whether he actually knew or ever heard the term “oss” wasn’t as important as the lesson he learned at that moment, which was to push when you have nothing left with which to push.  Great job Jay! So to my fellow warriors, whether you wear a gi or necktie…OSS!!