Ikken hissatsu-To kill with one blow

[bushido_man96]

What does this maxim mean to you? How do you interpret it? How does this idea affect your training?

To me, it means to strike hard, but to not assume that one strike will end the altercation.

[boyo1991]

to me it means if you pour your heart into the fight, and you keep coming at it with ALL ur might, you will reach the focal point of perfection.

[The BB of C]

I always interpreted it as a death touch technique.

[tallgeese]

Interesting. I would interperate it to mean total commintment to attack. Leaving all behind to damage the opponant.

I'll have to bounce this one off a friend of mine who is fluent and see what he has to say.

[bushido_man96]

I always interpreted it as a death touch technique.

I have heard this opinion before, and wonder if perhaps it tends to be a bit misleading to some. It is a plausible way of looking at it.

[crazyferret]

What does this maxim mean to you? How do you interpret it? How does this idea affect your training?

To me, it means to strike hard, but to not assume that one strike will end the altercation.

It is an interesting concept. I think it was born of the samurai with Katana, and was carried over into Karate.

If you were katana wielding Samurai, then to kill with one blow is an act of mercy. When you are killing and executing mere peasants it would be cruel to kill with multiple wounds when you are a trained warrior with a 3 foot piece of razor sharp steel in your hands.

I think when applied to hand-to-hand, it is much like you suggest.

What I tell our guys when we are working on striking is that they should always be looking to take their opponenent out of position and knock him out (look to attack the chin and the liver..)

In other words, I don't want their only game plan to be to hit him over and over. I want their game plan to be to expose his chin and hit it - hard.

I think this is similar to your quote.

[Chikara]

There are certain areas where it is possible to kill with only one punch. I interpret it as finding the weakest area and hitting it as hard as you can. And kill doesn't have to mean kill, it can mean incapacitate. I've often heard that if you're injured in battle, then you might as well be dead.

[tenshinka]

To end an altercation, as quickly as possible, with as little effort as possible...

Does not necessarily refer to the killing of your opponent, but rather the killing of the attack, or the spirit to continue fighting...

[bushido_man96]

To end an altercation, as quickly as possible, with as little effort as possible...

Does not necessarily refer to the killing of your opponent, but rather the killing of the attack, or the spirit to continue fighting...

Very nice. I like this way of looking at it.

[DWx]

We have a thing in ITF TKD of only wrapping the belt around the waist once (rather than the double wrap a lot of other styles use) to signify this philosophy. We also say "one technique, one defeat" rather than "one blow, one kill" so ending an altercation doesn't necessarily have to be fatal. For me it means you have to constantly strive to improve your techniques so that each and every single block, strike or kick gets closer to being able to bring about that one technique defeat. Every technique needs to be honed so that it has maximum power and is delivered with accuracy and you shouldn't ever be satisfied that you've got the most out of that one technique because it can always be improved. That's why I see the maxim as something to work towards but something that is not always attainable in an altercation.