The Way of Least Resistance

Introduction There is a sentiment that I’ve often come across in the martial arts to the effect that “all blocks are actually strikes”. If they aren’t strikes, then they are “locks, holds, throws” – in fact anything other than “blocks”. To my mind this is a modern slant brought about by a misunderstanding of how “blocks” actually work. In this article I propose to explain exactly why traditional blocks are actually (mostly) deflections . To the extent that they can be used for other purposes (in particular, strikes), these are secondary, and to interpret them otherwise is to miss out on a vast and important part of the traditional fighting arts arsenal. Blocks can be strikes – but that doesn’t mean they always are First, I need to get this out of the way. Yes, you can employ blocks as strikes. There are many situations where I would do so, and I support the general notion of “inclusive” bunkai (kata application) analysis. But there is a modern trend that goes much furt...

Introduction Over the years I have written extensively about various basic techniques, but it recently struck me that I have never sought to include a kind of "online lesson" of such techniques in my blog. Accordingly I will make this entry about "how to perform basic blocks". You will note that I generally use the term "block" but this is a force of habit: a more correct term would be "deflection", "parry" or "interception". Generally traditional blocks are used to intercept and redirect attacks rather than stop them dead in their tracks. In karate and other Japanese/Okinawan arts these techniques are classified as "uke". "Uke" comes from the Japanese word "ukeru" meaning "to receive". In this article I shall focus on the 4 main forearm blocks. I propose to deal in later articles with the question of why the forearm is the principle tool for deflections (rather than say, the...