Inside vs. Outside Block: Which is which?
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:58 amThis is a brief excerpt from Shotokan's Secret, the First Edition. It was one of the passages I cut from Shotokan's Secret, Expanded Edition:
- The naming of the inside block vs. the outside block is a perennial point of confusion in Shotokan. The block that sets up next to the ear is called soto uke, soto ude uke, outside ude uke, or outside block by Nakayama, Nishiyama, Kanazawa, Enoeda and Ertl; uchi ude uke (inside forearm block) by Okazaki and Sugiyama; and uchikomi by Funakoshi. The block that sets up next to the opposite shoulder or hip is called uchi uke, uchi ude uke, inside ude uke, or inside block by Funakoshi, Nakayama, Nishiyama, Kanazawa, Enoeda and Ertl, and soto ude uke (outside forearm block) by Okazaki and Sugiyama. I use the conventions of Nakayama’s ubiquitous Best Karate series to avoid confusion. By this convention, Heian Sandan begins with uchi ude uke, inside forearm block.