Meaning of Kachi and Ki

[Ygge]

Hello!

I would like to know what are the meaning of the words Ki and Kachi? Also, I would like to know similar japanese words that describes a Samurai. Might be useful to my mod. Thanks in advance.

[Hazzard]

Ki is a sort of inner force, it's basically Ki if you've ever seen any sort of film with a Chinese man who talks about being at one with himself, that's Ki.
A lot of karate styles believe in using Ki to enhance your techniques, but that's never been proven it exist. It's about as provable as a soul.

[Ygge]

But why is the cavalry in FotS named Ki?

[Plan C]

But why is the cavalry in FotS named Ki?

EDIT: iqwerty explained it better

[Larkin]

There isn't really a direct translation, it's a sense of inner power.

[iqwerty]

They are just kidding... This Ki is 騎(cavalry trooper) instead of 气/気 (gas, spirit, etc). Many Chinese characters/Japanese Kanji have the same pronounciation.

And Kachi is 徒士, it means foot samurai.

[Cruzz]

Kachi were low ranking samurai, during the Edo period the lower ranks of the Hatamoto and vassals were not allowed to ride horses.

Ki should be understood as a shortening of Kiba(horseman/men) or Kibatai(cavalry).

[O'Hea]

Kachi were low ranking samurai, during the Edo period the lower ranks of the Hatamoto and vassals were not allowed to ride horses.

Ki should be understood as a shortening of Kiba(horseman/men) or Kibatai(cavalry).

I've also heard Kihei (mounted warrior).

Regarding the Ki/horse and Ki/gas difference, Japanese has relatively few sounds compared to Chinese so it's full of homophones. Lots of distinct words have the same pronunciation, and so are Romanized the same way even though the Japanese writing system makes them visually distinct.

[Ygge]

Thanks for your answers. This helped me alot!

[iqwerty]

Indeed, cavalry in ancient Japan is often called Kibatai (騎馬隊). Kishi(騎士) was used exclusively as the antonym of Kachi(徒士, notice they share the term "士"), otherwise rarely used until the modern era when it refers to the knights in foreign cultures. Though I'm not too sure, Kihei(騎兵) seems to be a relatively modern term, usually used to describe cavalry regiments.

Although from what I have seen in books, the most common word for cavalry is the word Ki(騎) on its own, sometimes even used to describe the samurai on foot.