Going for the Neck Break

[Johnlogic121]

I read that Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, used to travel around with what was essentially a "gang" of jiujutsu artists. He would say goodbye to his mother and father every evening before going out because he wasn't sure if he would get in a street fight that he could come back from. In his group, you weren't considered a black belt until you could drop an opponent in a fight with one blow from the edge of the hand against his neck. These guys were so rough they didn't care whether you just stunned the other guy and defeated him or actually broke his neck! I think every karate enthusiast has felt a controlled chop to his neck to feel the stunning power of the move. How hard does the forum think it is to actually break the neck with a karate chop? Does anybody have access to the real research about how many pounds of force are required on average? I have heard some force estiamtes for breaking the collar bone (14 pounds), and breaking the side of the knee (6 pounds), but I don't know how much force it takes to break the neck. I have heard that a preliminary hammerfist to the crown of the head helps break the neck because it compresses the vertebrae. Is this really harder than it would seem, or is it relatively easy by anyone with enough physical power?

[MMA_Jim]

First off, your story of Kano is a fabrication-Kano was anything but a bully. He picked up Ju Jitsu in response to being bullied as a kid. One of the reasons he created Judo was to help reinstill the image of martial arts in Japan, namely ju jitsu. Ju Jitsu students had a habit of fighting often in public then (as they kind of do now) and had a reputation as thugs and brawlers. Kano created Judo and with it a code of honor which forbade interschool challenge matches and more or less turned it into a tournament format.

As far as breaking someone's neck with a karate chop, its not going to happen, certainly not the way you're envisioning it anyways.

The only circumstance in which I know of a broken neck in a fight was when Frank Shamrock fought Igor Zinoviev and slammed him to the ground. Neck breaking techniques are perfectly legal in mixed martial arts and plenty of people have taken shots to the neck in these tournaments. I would blame the whole "broken neck theory" on many 80's ninja and chuck norris movies

[bushido_man96]

First off, your story of Kano is a fabrication-Kano was anything but a bully. He picked up Ju Jitsu in response to being bullied as a kid. One of the reasons he created Judo was to help reinstill the image of martial arts in Japan, namely ju jitsu. Ju Jitsu students had a habit of fighting often in public then (as they kind of do now) and had a reputation as thugs and brawlers. Kano created Judo and with it a code of honor which forbade interschool challenge matches and more or less turned it into a tournament format.

I agree with this statement. Jigoro Kano was very much against challenge matches, and did not want any of his students fighting in them. When Maeda went to Brazil, and began teaching his style to the Gracies, he called Jujitsu as opposed to Judo, because he knew that Kano did not like his students to enter challenge matches, and therefore called his style Jujitsu instead of Judo.

Had this not been the case, then perhaps we would all be witnesses to the rise of Brazilian Judo as opposed to BJJ.

As for the neck break, I think the only break you are going to get is by attacking the vertebrae directly, and even then, you will have to most likely support the head, to keep it from moving.

[yingampyang]

Yes the statment made by "MMA_Jim" , is true and i agree with it.

[NightOwl]

I can tell you that this story is fake. There were no black belts during Kano's youth when he trained at the jujitsu schools. He invented it later to distinguish beginner and advanced students after he founded judo.

[Throwdown0850]

I can tell you that this story is fake. There were no black belts during Kano's youth when he trained at the jujitsu schools. He invented it later to distinguish beginner and advanced students after he founded judo.

yeah.. he was very person that "invented" the ranking system... and at first it was white and brown from what I hear.. then there was black? but that is what I have heard.. I have his book and he doesnt mention it so I could be wrong..

[CloudDragon]

After working several years as an EMT and Firefighter and seeing the effects of people smashing their heads into windshields, I can tell you the hammerfist would most likely not work, the problem is the disks between the neck that would absorb the impact. It would be more likely that this move would simply break the skull and injure the brain before it broke the neck.

[FitOrDie]

It sounds like one of those crazy fantasy stories with no basis in reality beyond the names of the characters that are all to common in martial arts today, particularly mcdojos.

[Daisho]

we often train at peak aliveness, which in case your not familiar is full contact, and full and creative resistance.

Throughout my training I've often caught my partner with some hard shots to the sides of the neck (never intentionally), and have yet to break, or ever witness the breaking of a neck.

Also what the above poster said is correct. many MMA artists in sanctioned matches such as UFC and K-1 have landed full shots to opponents necks, and I can't recall it ever resulting in a broken vertebrae.

I would assume it would take a tremendous amount of force, to actually fracture a vertebrae into an actual break.

[Bushido-Ruach]

I myself have never heard of breaking the neck with a chopping technique, the most I have heard is attacking the side of the neck where certain nerve centers can be struck as a knock-out. These nerve centers react to being hit really hard by sending so many pain signals to the brain that the brain is actually being overwhelmed by the electrical information to the point that it has to shut down...aka, "KO"