Recently I dropped an e-mail note to Sabine — who is currently teaching English in rural Japan — to say good morning. Of course, I couldn’t just say “good morning”. That would be far too ordinary. I had to try it in Japanese: “ohayo gozaimasu!” the subject line said.
As it turns out, “ohayo gozaimasu” isn’t said so much by the men, who prefer to use something that sounds like “uuushhhh!”, according to Sabine. Huh? Is that even a word? I hate to be culturally ignorant, but to me “uuushhhh” sounds a bit like a toilet flushing.
It seems odd, but on the other hand, what morning would be complete without the splashy punctuation of the toilet flushing? If you think of the toilet as the herald of the new day, then “uuushhhh” is probably the most appropriate greeting that I can think of.
After a quick Google, it seems that karate dojos in North America have borrowed the greeting, as explained on this page.