Uke, To Block or Recieve?

I remember years ago when studying Ed Parker’s American Kenpo, we would always use our blocks as strikes. It became a thing that we would attempt to cause pain, even with our friends (especially with our friends), when we blocked anything incoming.

Having been blessed with unnaturally hard and sharp bones in my forearms, I got to be very good at making people yelp.

Imagine my surprise though, when I changed to a Japanese style of Karate, before I finally found the style that suits me best, Meibukan Goju Ryu. It was there that I discovered that the term for “blocks” is Uke in Japanese. Uke comes from the verb ukeru which means to receive. For someone as well versed in belting that incoming strike away, the whole idea of receiving was foreign to me. In fact it took me many years and a few seminars with different systems and styles of martial arts before I made the connection.

Previously, when I’d been taught to use two hands to “block”, the first hand was basically a check that let me know, where in time and space the target was, so that I could belt it. Now I was being taught that the first hand redirected the strike to (a) Take the strike off line to the target, and (b) put the striking arm where it needs to be so that I can “receive” it, and make it part of the retaliatory process.

This, in turn, allowed me to make use of the Hikite, the chambering hand that non karate ka comment about as “no one punches like that” or “if you punch like that in a real fight, you’ll get hit” when they see it in kata or ippon and nihon kumite.

Granted, it is a hell of a lot easier to belt the incoming strike, than to redirect and catch and manipulate it, but the control you get over your opponent and the ability to manipulate and unbalance has the potential to make your defence more effective, as well as making it more appropriate.
It will allow you to dial the intensity up and down as needed, and gives the opponent less chance to re-set and go again. It also gives you the opportunity to find Kuzushi.

Wikipedia describes Kuzushi as:  “a Japanese term for unbalancing an opponent in the Japanese martial arts.” In his book, Karate Jutsu, Gichin Funakoshi wrote “Hikite is to use the opponents incoming punch and pull on it beyond its reach and to twist it at the same time, to throw the opponent off his balance. To cause your opponent to lose balance is the very essence of Kuzushi.”

It also increases the chance of simultaneously counter punching, because you’re still allowing the attacker to come into your striking range, while protecting yourself from the actual attack. I have found that many of the two handed “blocks” we see in Kata, could also be be the “uke” type of “block” whilst striking to the opponents vulnerable areas at the same time.

If you have read my post /principles-of-motion, you’ll know that Kuzushi is extremely important in the way I teach Karate to my students. Since developing my understanding of Uke when it comes to “blocking”, my understanding of Kuzushi has increased exponentially, and as stated in one of my previous posts, my training partners seem to find the ground, more easily.

Another benefit I have found, as an instructor, is that students don’t get as scared off, when they’re not being hit or hurt. 😁

I am a huge fan of questioning everything.

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