Shotokan's Secret

This is just a note to register shuto-uke (knife-hand block) as yet another technique that changed dramatically during the period when the Shotokan katas were being tuned up as performance art. The old knife-hand block swung both hands in the same direction at the same time, using old-style hip rotation as a power source. It often appeared as a lower-level block, too, for instance at the end of pinan nidan (heian shodan). The new version is a mid-level block with the hands going in opposite directions, in a "brush-pass" type deflection, entrapment, and counterstrike.

The "brush-pass" technique is an honored self-defense technique. I have no objection to it as a practical tool, but it is very different from the technique in the original katas. This is another shotoism.

is there any training or video that I can watch for this new registered technique?



“Take things as they are. Punch with steel shot gloves when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.”

I looked on YouTube for videos of the knife-hand block (shuto uke). (There are certainly a lot of people who should not be posting videos on YouTube!)

This is a nice technical demonstration of the shuto-uke dance move as practiced in Shotokan.

This is a decent exposition of the "brush-pass" or "brush-grab-strike" application. This is the true, practical application of shuto-uke as practiced in Shotokan today. I had an issue with this demonstration, though. The uke (receiver) keeps blocking the final neck strike with his hand. That's a good drill, but bad video instruction. They should have shown the viewer the completed neck strike at least once.

The second half of this clip shows the traditional Shotokan explanation of the move. Compared to the previous clip, this demonstration seems very out of touch with reality. This is the kind of teaching that karate-jutsu people have rebelled against. We don't want to be taught by "experts" who can't recognize common fighting techniques.

Notice that the hands are moving in opposite directions at all times in the previous clips. That's the revised, "modern" version of the block.

In contrast, this is a video of Jim Sindt of Matsubayashi Ryu performing Pinan Nidan (Heian Shodan). This is the original technique before it was modified in Shotokan. Note that both hands swing in the same direction, not opposite directions, and that the original technique was a lower-level block. (I can't think of any convincing application for this move. I hope I bump into it some day.)