JBQM18

What is the literal meaning for kyusho? (I'm interested in the chinese equivalent and it's literal meaning as well.)

Cheers Tapir.

Kyusho (Kyūsho, key point, Vital point) - 急所 from Japanese Go Terms. Is this the term that you are looking for ?

Yes. I know key point / vital point are the equivalents, but is there any different literal meaning?

unkx80: In Chinese, 急 = urgent, 所 = place/venue/house. I think the meaning is similar in Japanese.

Reminds me that in Japanese trains, they use 特急 tokkyu to mean express service. We Chinese can understand this without knowing Japanese. I can't help but to pick on 宅急便 takkyubin. While all kanji, these three characters read very funny in Chinese.

Bob McGuigan: 急 literally, i.e. from a dictionary, means: "emergency; suddenness; danger; haste; steep" 所 "place; spot; site;locality; district; room; distance; address; point; feature; passage(in a book); part; thing; time; moment; extent; matter of course" The combination means "vital point, vitals, tender spot, vulnerable spot, secret, key (to)". In Japanese the meaning of a combination of characters is not always the conjunction of literal meanings of the individual characters.

tapir: Thank you all.