joesteph

The "te" character does mean hand. As for "kara," there are two characters in Japanese that are pronounced that same way, one meaning "China/Chinese," the other meaning "empty." It was originally China (or Chinese) hand, but, in a nationalistic reaction, the character pronounced the same way but changing the meaning to empty hand replaced it. In English, think of the metal, lead, and the verb, led. They're pronounced the same, but spelled differently. Another example would be "the bough of a tree" and an actor "taking a bow" before an audience.

There is a form I had to learn for a promotion that includes twice standing on one foot while performing other actions. I discovered that my balance improved as I brought the non-supporting leg closer to the supporting leg. I found that by doing this, the weight distribution is centered better. I've also concentrated on avoiding digging my toes into the floor in an effort to balance. It doesn't balance; it sabotages the stance by compromising the base. As for practice, just getting into the required position smoothly is part of balance, and holding it stationary for a count of a five at the start, then a bit more until you hit ten, is a good start before you perform other actions. I've had to learn tricks like this because I have one hip a half-inch higher than the other. Fortunately for me, my shoulders and spine are straight, and I have no limp, meaning the body compensated during the formative years.

Wasn't there the term "rabbit punch" used years ago? I wonder, since I remember that it had to do with striking to the back of the neck, if it resembled this kind of strike, so would have been familiar to Americans in the past.

Congratulations, Still Kicking. You mentioned not receiving the promotion last time. I recently earned first green in my art, but I'll likely skip the next testing time for second green to be more proficient for when I feel I'm ready. Keep on training!

I was reading an interesting article in the Black Belt magazine "Archives" section, "Close Combat" by Robert Bolt, found here. It so happens that I came across a hand position that I was warned not to use when performing a knife hand: one with the thumb sticking straight out. The reference to the "edge-of-the-hand" (not "knife hand") says: "To execute it, open your hand and tighten its muscles . . . Your thumb should point up as you strike . . . "The biggest difference between [this] strike and the traditional martial arts version is the perpendicular orientation of the thumb. Holding it that way increases tension in your hand and firms up the striking surface." (emphasis mine) I was warned that thumbs out have a good chance of breaking, and, as for increasing tension and firming up the striking surface, I wonder if it's true. I use a slight cup when I strike with the knife hand, whether palm up or palm down, to ensure impact with the fleshy pad, not that bone between the little finger and the wrist. But one of the claimed benefits of using this perpendicular thumb is that: "It also prevents your hand from cupping on impact, which merely dissipates your force." I've never heard of force being lost from a slight cup of the hand. Is this edge-of-the-hand strike a straight/flat palm position? Does the author mean that a deep cup position dissipates the force, or that any cupping is a negative? Any ideas?

Good list and good examples. Thanks, Alex.

Hi Adam. Welcome to Karate Forums. May's not so far away . . .

This is generally taught in most dojos, however due to the power of the kick I rather side shift out of the way and counter from an angle. Do either of you try to trap the leg? If you do, do you try from either side of the kicking leg, or just from the "back" side of it?

I'm not up on Japanese terminology, Kuma. Is this a knife hand striking with the "pad" of the hand, or is it a ridge hand? I found on the Internet that its usual targets are the temple and neck. With all due respect to the fact that the ridge hand can deliver a strong blow, wouldn't the knife hand striking with the pad generate too much force at impact to be safe?

When someone does a side kick, say to kick with the right leg, the body is turned so that the right side is facing the opponent/target while the kicking leg (the right leg) is in chambered position. When doing a side snap kick, the kicking leg (in this case the right leg) is chambered like a front kick, the lower leg hanging straight down in the chambered position, with the outer side of the thigh and lower leg "facing" the same way as the right side, against the opponent. Then the kick is snapped out at him, with the supporting leg's foot turning so that the heel is aimed at the opponent. But instead of having the chambered kicking leg close to the side of the body, Brian, my teacher had us have the "front kick position" of the chambered leg midway between the side of the kicker's body and the location of the opponent. That "diagonal" position is the 45 degree angle I referred to. In both the side kick we've been doing all along and this 45 degrees placement, the kicking leg snaps out at the opponent, but the speed of executing the snap kick, and I've found for me the accuracy of the kick, is increased using the latter.

Congratulations, John. I'll bet it wasn't as "physically demanding" because you well prepared for it. December will be here, soon. Keep going strong with that training!

Last night, my teacher introduced us to an optional way of doing the side kick. She's been strict that, in the art, we lift the rear leg up like a front kick, but turn the body sideways, so that when we kick out to the front, we snap the kick out--a side snap kick, as opposed to a side thrust kick. The supporting leg's foot is still turned away from the target, and the preference is to have the heel strike. But last night the optional change she introduced was small but important. We must still raise the rear leg up like a front kick, but at a 45 degrees angle to the body turned sideways. We then follow through as above. After some practice, I asked her if it were for speed, and she said it was faster, such as in sparring. After practicing more, I asked her if it were more accurate, and her response was that it depends on the individual as, of course, our bodies are all not the same. This was an important improvement for me in the side snap kick, not just in speed, but I felt better balanced, and became more accurate when striking the kick shield.

I view someone pushing me as an assault. It is an attack. I have the right to defend myself through the use of force. The force must be appropriate in terms of proportion to the threat (the "reasonable man," aka "What would any reasonable and prudent person do?"), but the use of force to respond to a physical assault is something I do not question. I believe a physical response to a physical act, a push, is ethical and legal. Each of us has a right to the integrity of our bodies.

And how many strikes are beyond (a tough call), way beyond (it's self-evident overkill), what is necessary? How many strikes to a particular area (two strikes to the midsection do not equal two strikes to the throat) are acceptable?

Have you tried simple ankle weights on your legs, Minesweeper, trying to raise your legs straight out to the same height as you've been doing w/o them? When you do that motion again w/o the ankle weights, it should be that you can go higher. The weights don't need to be heavy at all, as it's sets and reps that count, and the trick with ankle weights is not to "swing" the leg but to lift it. They're an inexpensive investment and, if nothing else, can only strengthen your leg muscles, particularly the quadriceps.

This was an interesting suggestion, Brian. Before I picked up the boys from after-care, I did a form slowly, saying each move with its Korean name. When the boys had karate tonight, I helped by saying the moves of their new form in Korean while guiding them. At home, we did those new moves again, using the Korean names. I think it'll help me remember the moves I'm to do when we have "Ki Cho" exercises (our teacher or the assistant instructor calling out two-three move combos in Korean). Sometimes the Ki Cho moves appear to be tossed together, but other times I know they're right from a form.

Very true. And a "win" can also be that you--and perhaps those with you, such as family members--can get away.

Sounds like a well-run dojo/dojang, where there's mutual consideration, mutual respect. Your teacher must be running a tight ship and setting a good example.

I know that at my height, 5'6", an art that emphasizes kicking, especially executing high kicks, isn't best suited for me, and I've been able to compare some past experience with Isshinryu (as a hand art) with past experience of TKD (emphasis on kicking). However, my children take Soo Bahk Do, which, though there are many hand techniques that are practiced (as TKD has many as well), emphasizes kicking when sparring. In a Soo Bahk Do tournament, kicks may be done below the belt, but there are no points scored. Not worrying about tournaments, I feel free to infight, which is what my height tends towards, and not just meaning punching, but more easily kicking away at the legs of the taller opponent. It's a non-contact art, so if I'm free-sparring in the dojang, I can even aim about knee-high and not injure anyone while practicing what's more of a street shot. Knees and elbows aren't permitted in my art's sparring, probably because it's too easy to connect, but an infighter can have a field day with those weapons. If I'm against a taller opponent, I expect head and ribcage shots, and work on blocking them and closing the distance. I tend to use front kicks and Muay Thai roundhouses, although the latter isn't in my art. I did discover when I took self-defense JuJitsu (based on Vee Arnis JuJitsu), height (my sensei was 6'2") in what we were doing was not an advantage against me, and technique was a compensator for weight differences. I weigh 180, but the things we were practicing could take a chunk out of someone who outweighed you by forty pounds.

I looked it up on Wikipedia under Capoeira techniques. (Click on 4.5 on the list.) That's some shot she's learning.

Try rolling the belt and letting it stay that way overnight, if only to break the stiffness of being so straight when not in use. Give it a try. It can't possibly hurt the belt material.

There's a gentle curving of the fingers, my hand almost--not exactly--cuplike, and the thumb against the outer base of the index finger. When striking horizontally, with the palm down, the striking pad is higher than the ridge hand side. When striking horizontally with the palm up, the pad is lower. Blocking can be tricky, to ensure that the pad is doing the blocking, not the hand bone it's connected to. Moving while executing helps preserve the integrity of the almost cuplike knife hand.

In a way, I'm experiencing the same concern, Sushi. ("sushi_error"? Under General Chat, there's a place where you're invited to explain where your nickname comes from. You can click here. This has to be a good one! ) What's happened with me is that, although I have my basics down, the three newest forms are beginning to blend with one another. I've regularly practiced them in the order in which we're to present them, the only pause being when I end one form, move to ready position, and then begin the next one. But though I've passed my latest test, in class, when my teacher had me start with the third one, I mixed it with the second. Then when I did the second, I mixed it with the first. I've been practicing and thinking of something special about each one, meaning that at the point in which I'm most likely to make a mistake, I pause and remember what I have to do to "introduce" the special following moves. It slows me down, and I've had to remain after class to practice, but a higher belt who was watching me told me I was doing them right--and I was practicing "out of order." A newer student in my school has told me that he can't remember all that he has to know, although he did work hard and received a promotion. In working with him, I've found that he has to slow down, that he's moving so fast, he's mixing old and what's now new. I know that no one likes to slow down, Sushi, but the mind has to digest so much, especially if you've just gotten a promotion. I've been repeating everything on my own, going at a slower pace, and it's been a big help to me. I really think that we sometimes can't remember because we're thinking two thoughts at the same time, canceling one another out. I think that a combo of practice and slower speed is helpful for the memory. After all, going faster when things are smooth again will always be there. Edit was to add "in class" for clarity. The error didn't occur during testing.

On Thursday night, a fellow student stayed after class with me to work on a sparring combo that we'd done last week and was kind of fun. The last part of it was the roundhouse kick, and though in Soo Bahk Do the Muay Thai shin kick isn't in the art, since it was after class, our teacher had no objection to us practicing it. I found that the height difference between my friend and me worked to my advantage, in that, being shorter, when I did the shin kick, it was more natural to me as an infighter, but when he executed it, I was better able to block it by placing my hand against his knee. The "business end" of his roundhouse, whether instep or shin, was blocked by a simple hand motion, not even a leg raise on my part.

I had to think about this for a couple of days to express myself without being or appearing to be judgmental. I've chosen to limit the extent of desensitization that I am willing to permit myself to undergo. The line I've drawn for myself falls short of this level of intensity.