Crack the Heian Shodan

The Heian Kata Foundation of Shotokan Katas

by Bruce D. Clayton, Ph.D.

1 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

 The founders of shotokan karate devised survival skills to overcome impossible odds. When the king of Okinawa found himself
trapped between samurai occupiers and U.S. Marines, his Shuri bodyguards answered these threats by creating the cornerstone of
hard-style karate: the heian kata. Modern masters have pass down these technical forms to their students, but their martial applica-
tions remained a mysteryuntil now.
In the expanded edition of the acclaimed Shotokans Secret: The Hidden Truth Behind Karates Fighting Origins, author Bruce D. Clay-
ton cracks open the kata with new insights into their meaning and purpose. The new edition analyzes the enemies that unarmed
Okinawan bodyguards like Sokon Matsumura and Yasutsune Itosu faced. From there, Shotokans Secret delves deeply into the heian
kata, revealing how each heian form contains the key techniques for defeating Okinawas adversaries.
The following is an exerpt taken from this book and includes a mini glossary.

THE SHURI BODYGUARDS HAD WELL-KNOWN

fights with other martial artists on the streets of Naha. Some of
HEIAN SHODAN WAS REVOLUTIONARY
Shotokan students learn heian shodan as their first kata, or
these fights were life-and-death bouts, but usually they were possibly the first real kata after the taikyoku kata. Either way,
contests where no fatal or maiming injury was contemplated. their introduction to karate is based on front stance, front punch
Their challengers were fighting for reputation, like the teenage and high-speed stepping around the room. We do one-step
boys who challenged famous gunfighters in the Old West. sprints all over this kata. Since it is our first kata, it never occurs to
The old strategy was strength and toughness. The Chinese us that this is bizarre.
approach encouraged toe-to-toe slugfests where the fighters To gain some perspective, have a look at George Alexanders
stood in relatively upright stances with the knees turned in to Hakutsuru, Secret of the White Crane,3 or the similar hakutsuru
protect the legs and groin.1 They exchanged a rapid series of video by John Sells.4 The white crane kata is thought to be an-
blows to vital points that gradually wore the opponent down. cestral to shotokan. Compared to Matsumuras dynamic karate,
To prepare for these fights, the Chinese artists beat their own hakutsuru performers are standing still. Each dignified step in-
bodies with split-bamboo clubs until they could no longer feel troduces multiple hand techniques, as many as 20 per step. In
the pain of impact. They performed sanchin kata for hours at a comparison, shotokan white belts charge around the room like a
time while holding weighted jars by their fingertips to develop
shoulder muscles and a strong grip. People still undergo this kind
of training in old-fashioned styles like uechi ryu.
The essence of Shuri-te was Matsumuras discovery of mo-
mentum power. He charged in at high speed, using his body mo-
mentum to knock the opponent off his feet. From that point on,
you didnt need big chest muscles to win at karate.
No more weight lifting! Instead, we do deep stances to de-
velop our leg muscles. No more short, mincing steps! Instead,
we leap forward on the attack. No more standing still like a tree!
Instead, we charge at the enemy and use the kinetic energy of
the collision as our power source. Oi-zuki, with body momentum
behind it, can literally make a man airborne. When I was a white
belt, Sensei Ken Osborne proved this to me more than once. His
front punch could lift me off the ground and throw me several
feet backward to hit a wall. I felt like a bug on a windshield.2
If we believe the legends, Matsumura used his new technical
invention to overwhelm and humiliate his traditional (Chinese-
trained) rivals. A linear punch or kick has enough impact to knock
a fighter out of his rooted stance and throw him to the ground. In
this kind of friendly fighting, the goal is to roll the opponent in
the mud. Hell have to walk home covered in his loss, and all his
friends will know. After repeated loss of face, Matsumuras rivals
Figure 61: Ranking of Karate Styles, median kata of each style ranked
refused to fight him anymore.
by the linear ratio. The linear ratio ranks the styles in an intuitive sequence
This is the kata about fighting the weight lifters from Naha. from soft Chinese styles (left) to hard Shuri-te styles (right). Heian shodan
The kata shows us Matsumuras secret weapon: momentum. (far right) is the hardest kata in any of these systems by a wide margin.
Matsumura and Itosu wanted us to understand this principle. (Chart design by David LaVerne.)

3
Alexander, George, Hakutsuru, Secret of the White Crane, Yamazato Videos,
1
Think of shotokans sanchin dachi and hangetsu dachi. 2002.

2
Thank you, Sensei Osborne. 4
Sells, John, Secrets of the White Crane, The Martial Source, 1996.

2 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

pack of howling jackals. Another place where the kata differ is in the three up blocks
To determine how heian shodan differs from earlier forms, I (steps 7-9). Some shotokan groups do normal beginner up
collected 121 videos of kata performances from multiple Oki- blocks here (fist closed). Other groups do an up block, and then
nawan karate styles. I also added a few forms from white crane open the hand into shuto- position at the top of the block before
and wing chun. I studied the videos frame-by-frame, over and stepping forward. The shotokai group does shuto- up blocks only.
over, looking for an objective way to measure the difference be- The 1924 shotokan students did normal up blocks that opened
tween hard systems and soft ones. into shutos. That appears to be the original technique.
After weeks of experiments, I discovered a simple way to do Matsubayashi ryu6 and seito shito-ryu do their front punches
this. I ranked the kata performances by the number of linear-im- in a stiff, upright stance that kills the forward momentum. (Thats
pact techniques (techniques where the body moves rapidly for- Kyan again.) All shotokan groups, and near relations like robukai,
ward at the moment of impact) and divided by the total number use the deep front stance we would normally expect.
of moves (mostly hand techniques). I called this the linear ratio. The 1924 video of a Funakoshi student demonstrating heian
This ratio crudely estimates how much the kata relies on Shuri shodan has a curious oddity at step 17: the punch at the sec-
momentum instead of Chinese strength. ond kiai. We would expect a front stance and oi-zuki here, but
Every style had a few outliers, but there was a visible trend. If this student delivered the third punch in shiko dachi, punching
you apply the linear ratio to all the kata of a style and then plot to the side!7
the median (average) score for that style, you get an interesting The modern shuto- uke technique, where you pull one hand
bar graph. back to your chest while striking with the other, was introduced
A plot like Figure 61 conceals a multitude of statistical sins, and very early in shotokans history. One of the 1924 videos shows a
yet there is no doubt that the linear ratio sorted the Chinese styles student doing the older, swinging type of shuto- uke. In that ver-
to the left and the hard-style Shuri styles to the right. When we add sion, both hands swing forward at the same time.
heian shodan to the graph, it stands alone at the extreme right. Most groups do mid-level, knife-hand blocks at the end of the
Heian shodan is a very different kata. Thats the key to un- kata, but matsubayashi ryu, seito shito-ryu and wado ryu do knife-
derstanding why hard-style, linear karate was such a departure hand down blocks instead.
from traditional chuan fa. Nahas Chinese teachers must have Even noting these discrepancies, heian shodan (pinan nidan)
been astonished to see people performing heian shodan. They is pretty much the same kata everywhere you see it. It is all about
had never seen anything like it. charging around the room doing front punches.

VARIATIONS IN HEIAN SHODAN (PINAN NIDAN) HISTORICAL APPLICATIONS OF HEIAN SHODAN

Now lets look inside heian shodan to see where people have It is clear that heian shodan is mainly about using body mo-
been tampering with it. mentum to knock people over with oi-zuki, the pursuing punch.
Comparing shotokans heian shodan to its counterparts in Shotokan teachers are well-versed in teaching that kind of appli-
other styles, we note immediately that the enbusen (floor plan) cation. That doesnt mean that theres nothing more to say, how-
of the kata is different. Shotokan, and styles derived from sho- ever. When you add some jujutsu to the kata, heian shodan takes
tokan, use an H-shaped pattern.5 Other styles use Itosus original on some startling new qualities.
enbusen, which looks more like a double-headed arrow (). The Steps 1-2 (down block, front punch) exactly match a well-
wings of the kata were originally performed at a steep angle. known throw from aikido.
The branches of heian shodan all look a lot alike, except in
a few places where someone has meddled. For instance, some Step 3 (the first turn) can be used to teach a wrist lock, a hair
groups begin the kata by turning to the left and shifting back- throw and a neck crank.
ward on step 1, recoiling from the threat instead of leaping to- Steps 4-6 demonstrate three deadly combinations of jujutsu
ward it. You can see that in matsubayashi ryu and in seito shito- and karate techniques.
ryu. This is because of revisions by Chotoku Kyan.
Steps 7-10 (up blocks, kiai, turn) exactly match the tai otoshi
There are changes visible in step 4 of the kata, too, where
throw. There is not much doubt that this is the original appli-
we pull back, swing our fist in a circle, and then attack with a
cation for this sequence.
hammerfist. All branches of karate begin this sequence in a front
stance and down-block posture, and then pull back to a semi- Steps 11-14 repeat steps 2-5 (hair throw, neck crank).
upright stance. Some branches remain in the upright stance Steps 15-17 are the core lesson in how to use oi-zuki. A suc-
while executing the hammerfist; other branches give power to cessful attack requires a timing change.
the hammerfist by dropping the hips into front stance again.
Step 18 repeats steps 9-10 (tai otoshi throw).
Dropping down is a shotoism added after 1924. Non-shotokan
styles dont drop back into front stance, and early shotokans Steps 18-21 demonstrate the true use of shuto- uke, ending
didnt, either. with ami uchi, a very useful throw from aikido.

5
Thomas, 1988. As mentioned in section 2.3, some of taekwondos forms are 6
Nagamine, 2002.
based on the heians. Their H-shaped pattern and numerous other shotoisms
demonstrate that they were derived from shotokans heians. 7
Warrener, 2003. Credit to David LaVerne for noticing that detail.

3 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

 A B C

D E Figure 62: Tanjuu nigiru, the pistol grip. This

grip is the generic tool for applying various types
of wrist locks (A). Wrap the middle, ring and little
fingers around the edge of the opponents hand,
gripping either the first or fifth metacarpal bone
(B, C). Use your thumb to secure the other edge
of his hand. Keep your index finger extended. This
grip can be applied to the hand in multiple ways,
as seen here (D, E).

STEPS 1-2: A B
IKKAJO AND HIJI ATE
In traditional shotokan, they tell you
that step 1 (gedan barai) blocks a kick,
and step 2 (oi-zuki) knocks the enemy
over on his back. This is an example of
restating the obvious (this is a block;
this is a punch) as if that explained the
application. We need to rise above that
level. We can use the block and punch
to teach a very important lesson about
karate jutsu.
The first two moves of heian shodan
can be explained as a subtle but very C D
effective throw (Figure 63). Aikido stu-
dents know it as hiji ate kokyu nage, the
elbow-pressure breathing throw. It
looks exactly like a down block and front
punch.8
Begin the kata with your partner
standing in front of you, holding your
wrists. As you stack up for the down
block, reach across with your left hand
to grasp his left hand in the jujutsu pis-
tol grip (tanjuu nigiru, with your middle,

8
Combes, Sam and others, Aiki-do, Volume 3, Figure 63: Hiji ate, heian shodan, steps 1-2. The down block uses an ikkajo wrist lock to lock the
DVD 54 minutes, Black Belt Video, 1999. opponents wrist and elbow, forcing him into a vulnerable position (A, B). The punch hyperextends his
elbow, either breaking it or throwing him on the floor (C, D).

4 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

ring and little fingers wrapped around the little-finger side of his
palm). As you start the down block, peel his hand off your right
wrist and push it out ahead of you as you step to the left. This
rolls his arm into an ikkajo arm bar and wrist lock. It also forces
him to stagger an awkward step to the west with you.
As you begin the second step (the front punch), his arm is
stretched across your path. Punch through the space below his
arm, and use the fold of your elbow to put pressure against his
elbow joint as you step through. Maintain your grip on his hand
as you rotate your punching wrist and straighten your elbow for
full extension on the punch. This rotation puts sudden, painful
pressure on his elbow joint. Done with shotokan power, this will
dislocate the elbow and sprawl your partner on his face. Aikido
students do it more gently, giving the partner an opportunity to
Figure 64: Kami nage, heian shodan, step 3. The down block while
do a forward roll and save his arm. stepping to the rear is perfect for teaching the hair throw. You dont have
In Total Aikido, Sensei Gozo Shioda points out that forearm ro- to be big and strong to make it work. 374
tation and elbow-snap are the ingredients that make this throw
work.9 This is exactly what we mean by futi in shotokan. Wrist- the hair and the other on the opponents chin to execute atama
rotation and elbow-snap are the elements that make the front makikomi, the head winding throw.12 The Bubishi, the ancient text
punch work, too. This is true in both arts because they use the of Okinawan karate, calls this technique a general holding a seal/
skeleton for biomechanical advantage. What works for one art stamp, and then shows the same technique a few pages later as
works for the other. beautiful woman wearing makeup.13 (Sometimes there is a nar-
This throw isnt the historical application, but it is important row line between ancient wisdom and ancient senility.)
that we learn it and teach it. Why? Because if the front punch can There are multiple variations on the simple idea of grabbing
be a throw, then anything can be a throw. I use this as a tool for the enemys hair and taking his head around and down. The
prying open closed minds. technique is very appropriate to beginners.
If you still hunger for the real application of steps 1 and 2,
consider this. The opponent isnt kicking. Hes punching at your STEPS 4-5:
face with his right hand. The stack up before the down block IKKAJO, NIKAJO, TE KAGAMI, TETTSUI UCHI
is really the outside forearm block that defends your face. The Steps 4-5 of heian shodan find us pulling back from a down-
downward swinging gesture sweeps his arm down and out block posture, swinging the right arm in a large circle, and drop-
to the side, leaving his center open and vulnerable. You lance ping down into a tettsui uchi hammerfist strike. After the strike we
through the opening with oi-zuki. step forward and execute a left front punch.
It seems so obvious once someone points it out. In traditional shotokan, they tell us this is a wrist release fol-
lowed by a hammerfist strike to the collarbone, arm or head. This
STEP 3: explanation frees your hand, but it is a tactical blunder. It returns
KAMI NAGE, ATAMA MAKIKOMI
In the third move of heian shodan, we make a long step to
the rear, turning 180 degrees to the right, ending in gedan barai.
In traditional shotokan, they tell you that you are blocking a kick.
Imagine that at the end of the previous move (the punch),
your opponent successfully avoided your attack. Your right fist
sailed over his left shoulder next to his head. Grab the hair at the
back of his head and execute step 3. Step back, turn around and
down block. Hell sprawl on his back at your feet (Figure 64).10
This is kami nage, hair throw, which I learned from Briggs
Hunt at UCLA in 1972. Probably every street fighter in the world
knows this move, which is why they shave their heads. You can
see Iain Abernethy demonstrate it in the second cluster of pinan Figure 65: Te kagami, the hand mirror. The opponent is on the right.
nidan in his Bunkai Jutsu DVD.11 George Kirby uses one hand in He grabs your wrist. Turn your hand up so you can look into the palm like
a mirror. Reach under and secure his hand in the pistol grip.

Shioda, Gozo, Total Aikido: The Master Course, Kodansha, 1996, p. 154-155.
9

10
The photo is from Jein Do: Self-Defense for Young People of All Ages, Teachers
Kirby, 1983, p 57.
12
Guide, by Bruce Clayton, Jein Do LLC, 2010. Used with permission.
McCarthy, 1995, p. 169 and 175.
13
11
Abernethy, 2006. See pinan nidan (second cluster).

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 you to a neutral position against an alert, up-
A B
right enemy. We pretend that the hammerfist
attack would be effective, but any black belt
would block it, dodge it or preempt it. There
has to be more to this story.
In fact, step 4 of heian shodan can be used
to teach three devastating wrist locks, each of
which sets up a crippling or killing blow. Thats
the kind of fighting we would expect to find in
the Shuri Crucible.
Te kagami: You did a right down block, and
your opponent has caught your right wrist with
his left hand. Pull your arm gracefully (no jerking)
C D
back toward your left hip and swing it up until
you can look into the palm of your open right
hand. This is the setup for the te kagami (hand
mirror) throw as practiced in aikijutsu, aikido, and
hakkoryu jujutsu.14 (Te kagami is a variant on the
te nage hand throw. See Figure 65.)
This move inverts his left hand so that you
can reach under it with your left hand and se-
cure the jujutsu pistol grip on the back of his
hand. Your middle, ring and little fingers clamp
around the base of his thumb so you can ap-
ply a very painful wrist lock. Once you have the
Figure 66: Te kagami, heian shodan, step 4. The opponent is on the left. She grabs your right
wrist in her left hand (A). Use te kagami to free your hand and apply a wrist lock (B). Tighten the
grip, it is trivial to pull your right wrist free of
wrist lock to distort the opponents posture (C), until you can use the hammerfist against the right his grip.
side of her neck, killing her (D).379 You can dial in the posture you want by adjusting the wrist lock. Do not throw your opponent over! Simply
apply pressure with the wrist lock to break his
posture. You can dial in increments of pain to
A B twist him into more and more awkward pos-
tures (Figure 66). In one of those awkward pos-
tures, he exposes the right side of his neck to
your downward tettsui strike. Its a lethal strike.
The tettsui will shear his neck vertebrae.
Twist his wrist to make him helpless and
vulnerable; then unload the full power of your
shotokan training against a vulnerable point.
He cant dodge, block or counter. This isnt just
an effective self-defense technique. It would
be murder to do this in real life.15
Matsumura took every advantage. If you
C D grabbed his wrist, you died.
Ikkajo: The opponent has your right wrist
grasped in his left hand, as before. Bring the
fingers of your right hand up to the outside
of his wrist so you can grasp his left forearm
just above the wrist (Figure 67). Now make
the sweeping pull back to your left hip, as pre-
scribed by the kata. Use your left hand to join
your right in capturing his left arm in the classic

Palumbo, Dennis, The Secrets of Hakkoryu Jujutsu,

14

Shodan Tactics, Paladin Press, 1987, p. 80-85.

Figure 67: Ikkajo, ude osae dori, heian shodan, steps 4-5. The opponent is on the left. She grabs San Ten is an equal-opportunity mayhem environment
15

your right wrist in her left hand (A). Use ude osae dori to apply an arm bar (B). Break her elbow without regard to age, race, creed or sexual orientation.
(C). Aim the stepping punch at the thin bones in the side of her skull (D).

6 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

ikkajo straight-arm bar and wrist lock. This is the
A B
first thing you learn in most aikido classes.16 In
hakkoryu jujutsu, it is known as ude osae dori,17
the arm-pressure technique.
Once you have his hand and arm in ikkajo,
secured with your left hand, it is trivial to pull
your right arm free of what remains of his grip.
Your right fist arcs upward and starts down,
aimed at his exposed elbow. The hammerstrike
comes down on the elbow joint, dislocating it
and probably breaking the proximal end of the
ulna (the olecranon process).
Note that he is bent over in a helpless pos-
C D
ture when you launch the oi-zuki in step 5. It
hits him in the left temple, potentially cracking
his skull.
Nikajo: This time, have your opponent
grasp your right wrist using his right hand in-
stead of his left (Figure 68).
Swing your arm back toward your left hip (as
required by the kata), then up, over and down
as if reaching toward his face. As the hand is
on the upward curve of the circle, reach in
with your left hand and press his fingers tightly
against your right wrist so he cant let go. This is Figure 68: Nikajo, heian shodan, steps 4-5. The opponent is on the left. He grabs your right wrist
called the nikajo lock in aikijutsu and aikido, and in his right hand (A). Use the circular movement to apply the nikajo wrist lock, forcing him to his
is known as matsuba dori (pine-needle lock) in knees (B, C). Aim the stepping punch at the thin bones in the side of his skull (D).
hakkoryu jujutsu. The lock is vicious. Done slow-
ly, it forces the opponent down to his knees,
turning his body slightly toward your right. Done quickly, it tears If the hit isnt solid, your fist will glance off his head and pass by,
his wrist apart. This puts the right side of his head squarely in either grazing his face or passing behind the back of his head.
the maximum-impact zone for your upcoming front punch. The
If your fist grazes his face, this is your chance to stack up for
punch will do vicious damage to the opponents right temple
the down block and use it as a tettsui strike in the face or throat,
because he has no way to dodge or block. Hes going to get hit
taking him down decisively to his rear. If your fist passes behind
in the temple with all the power you care to use.
his head, you can stack up for the same down block, grab his hair
These are the beginner wrist locks that everyone learns in the
in your fist and take him down with a kami nage (hair throw).18
first few days of a jujutsu or aikido class. It is appropriate to study
them as part of heian shodan. In addition, these wrist locks teach
STEPS 7-10:
a vital lesson about karate jutsu. The combined techniques (ju-
TAI OTOSHI, KUBE SHIOKU YOKO NAGE
jutsu plus karate) are vicious beyond anything seen in a normal
Shotokan teachers have some difficulty explaining the driv-
karate class. This makes us reflect on the kind of fighting the Shuri
ing sequence of three up blocks in steps 7, 8 and 9 of this kata.
bodyguards prepared for.
Why would you block three times when you are obviously on the
attack? The answer is very simple. Were driving forward, deflect-
STEP 6: ing a flurry of flailing punches, because were trying to close in
GEDAN BARAI NAGE for a throw.
In step 6 of this kata we turn 90 degrees to the left with a
Catching a flying arm in a flurry of punches requires multiple
sweeping down block. Consider that the opponent is on his
attempts. In this situation, driving forward to push the enemy off
knees right in front of you and has just been punched in the side
his base is a well-known tactic.19 This series of powerful up blocks
of the head.
seizes the initiative and gives us a chance to land an elbow blow
If you manage to hit him squarely in the temple, hell fall un- or to catch an arm. We succeed in catching the arm in step 8 of
conscious on his left side, sprawled away from you. the kata and the elbow blow under the chin is step 9.

18
Abernethy, 2006. Credit goes to Iain Abernethy for suggesting those two
Combes, Sam, Aiki-do, Volume 1, DVD 60 minutes, Black Belt Video, 1999.
16
ideas.
Palumbo, 1987, p. 95-97.
17
19
Abernethy, 2006b.

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 Lets assume that we are back in step 8.
A B
Step in and use your left up block to catch his
swinging right-hand punch. Capture his arm
by grasping his right wrist or sleeve in your left
hand. Then, in step 9, rush in and strike him un-
der the jaw with your right up block. Everybody
loves that tooth-shattering interpretation, and
it sets up a whole family of throws.20 The best fit
is tai otoshi, which exactly matches the move-
ments of the kata.21,22 The version of tai otoshi
that appears in the kata is also one of the easi-
est to perform. It is appropriate to a beginner
of this kata.
C D
Tai otoshi: You just slammed your elbow
under the opponents chin (Figure 69). You
have his right wrist tightly gripped in your left
hand. Grasp the cloth at the opponents right
shoulder using your right hand, but keep your
forearm pressed against his throat under his
chin. The position looks just like the up block
of step 9.
Turn to the left as you step in deeply with
your right foot. Place the toes of your right foot
on the ground just outside of the toes of his
right foot. (Only the ball of your foot will be on
Figure 69: Tai otoshi, heian shodan, steps 8-10. The left up block in step 8 catches the opponents
right wrist (A). The right up block in step 9 strikes under the chin (B), stunning the opponent. Then, the ground, not the whole foot.) Now pull his
grab the cloth at his right shoulder with your right hand. Turn to position your right foot next to arm around to your left as you use your elbow
his, and using your elbow under his chin for leverage, throw him to the ground (C, D). to push his head around in the same circular
motion. He spills over your outstretched leg
and falls heavily on his left side.
In the combat version of this throw, you
A B would keep your forearm under his chin and
drop on top of him, driving the back of his head
into the ground and crushing his throat with
your elbow. That technique satisfies the Wal-
dow Principle. In jujutsu classes, this part of the
throw is not performed. We remain upright in-
stead of riding the opponent down. The elbow
is removed from the chin early to allow your
partner to land safely.
This is a very solid, no-nonsense throw that
exactly fits the kata. This technique is also pic-
tured in FM 21-150 (1992) as a rifle-disarming
Figure 70: Kube shioku yoko nage, heian shodan, steps 9-10. A gentle tug on the sleeve and
thumb pressure in the side of the neck will put an opponent on the deck. The thumb gouge
move. Your left hand has a grip on his weapon
collapses his posture (A). The pull on the sleeve just shows him where to fall (B). This is a good instead of his arm as you execute the throw.23
application to teach beginners. Kube Shioku Yoko Nage: It is much
easier to throw a person than you might think.
I teach a second throw for step 10 just to make

Morris, Vince, Karates Secret Throws, DVD 60 minutes, Kissaki-Kai, 2009. See
20

the section on MawateGedan Barai.

Kirby, 1992, techniques 1-4.

21

Mifune, Kyuzo, The Canon of Judo: Classic Teachings on Principles and Tech-
22

niques, Kodansha, 1960, p. 56.

US Army, Combatives Hand to Hand Combat, FM 21-150, 1992, figure 5-23.

23

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this point (Figure 70). This is kube shioku yoko nage (neck pain side tricked by a change in timing. You use two standard punches to
throw) from budoshin jujutsu and taiho jutsu.24, 25 set the defenders expectations, then you double the speed of
After the up block and kiai, take the opponents right wrist the third punch to drive through his defense before he is ready.
in your left hand. Use your right hand to apply atemi pressure A change in tempo is a classic martial-arts technique. European
beneath his left ear (on the neck muscles about two inches be- sword masters call it mezzo tempo.27
low the ear lobe). Use just the tip of your thumb to dig into the In a mob, a crumpled body on the ground creates a momen-
muscle there. Pull on the sleeve and push on the atemi point as tary safe zone.The crumpled man isnt necessarily harmless, but
you execute the turn. He collapses and lands on his back.26 the other fighters generally wont step over him or stand on him.
This attack is trivially easy to do. People are astonished by how This lets us put our back to a zone of reduced risk as we turn
easily it works. We should teach every student to do it. our attention elsewhere. It isnt a coincidence that this finishing
blow comes just before a turn in the kata.
STEPS 11-14:
REPLAY STEPS 2-5 STEPS 18-21:
Steps 11-14 of heian shodan are the top of the kata. We step SHUTO UKE, SHUTO UCHI,
in to punch to the east, then spin around and attack to the west. In AMI UCHI
step 14, we turn south and down block. The potential applications Steps 18-21 are the four knife-hand techniques at the end of
for this cluster are exactly the same as for the first few steps of the heian shodan. Shuto- uke is the knife-hand block. Shuto- uchi is
kata, except that we dont get to repeat the wrist locks of step 4. the knife-hand strike.
If we interpret this kata in the context of
bodyguard tactics, this is the part of the reac-
A B
tion mission where we sow panic in the mob
of attackers by driving into the center of the
group and knocking people down one after
another. The whole point of this kata is to get
the enemies to focus on the protector instead
of the protectee. This berserk attack on the
crowd buys a few seconds for the extraction
team to whisk the king out of sight.

STEPS 15-17:
OI-ZUKI!
Steps 15-17 of heian shodan are a short
C D
course in oi-zuki. There is more here than
meets the eye.
Oi-zuki delivers a powerful blow and was
so significant to Matsumura and Itosu that
they devoted most of a kata to it. So whats the
downside? If this is such a powerful technique,
why doesnt it win all the tournaments?
It should be said that karate is all about
power, and tournament rules dont let us use
any power. This says a lot about the value of
tournaments.
Pursuing punch implies that the target is Figure 71: Shuto- uke, shuto- uchi, ami uchi, steps 18-21. The opponent is on the right. For best
backpedaling and we catch him in a state of results, use the original, two-handed swinging block to stop the punch and stun the arm (A). Strike
kyo (unreadiness). Compared to the lightning the side of the neck to disorient the opponent (B). Then, apply ami uchi to flip him on his back (C, D).
punches and blocks of wing chun, oi-zuki is
glacially slow. It is easy to block and easy to
dodge. It works best against a retreating opponent who can be Shotokan beginners are told to stack up by putting the
blocking hand next to the ear, then to block by striking for-
24
Kirby, George, Jujitsu Nerve Techniques: The Invisible Weapon of Self-Defense, ward with the edge of the knife hand. This block is so difficult
Black Belt Books, 2001, p. 130-131. to apply to an incoming punch that shotokan Master Masatoshi
25
Kubota, 1987, p. 18-19, for the taiho jutsu version.
Nakayama said, If you step straight backward, or block without

Various sources erroneously identify this pressure point as the vagus nerve
26
Fick, Steaphen, The Beginners Guide to the Long Sword, Black Belt, 2009, p.
27
or the carotid artery. It is simply a spot where neck muscles can be pinched
37-38.
against the underlying neck bones.

9 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

stepping backward, this technique has little chance of success.28 is very practical. The two-handed block makes it easy to stun the
He advised stepping back at an angle so that the block could be punching arm and capture it.
applied more easily to the side of the arm. The applications of shuto- uke/uchi are shown in Figure 71.
In fact, this technique has a rich heritage of applications that Stand in yoi stance (shizen tai or hachiji dachi). Your opponent
are widely taught in combatives schools. You have to realize two takes a left front stance at a distance that will force him to step in
things about it. One, the so-called stack up is the block. Two, the deeply to reach your face. (All ippon kumite begins this way.)
alleged block is really an attack. You step forward, not backward, Have your opponent step in (right foot) and perform a wide,
to apply it, just like in the katas. swinging punch to the face. Use the punch you are likely to meet
There are at least three versions of the knife-hand block to on the street, not the linear oi-zuki.
choose from. In matsubayashi ryu, there is sagurite no kamae, Step forward with your right foot, turn into the punch and
searching hand fighting posture from patsai (bassai) kata.29 It is block with two shutos. Your left hand strikes his wrist, holding it
very close to shuto- uke and is used when groping for enemies away from your face. Your right hand cuts into the bicep/deltoid
notch, which is the dip in the muscles about
A B halfway down the upper arm. (Youll know
when you have hit the right spot because your
opponent will start to complain.)
After stopping the punch, close your left
hand around his wrist. Use your right hand to
deliver a sharp shuto- uchi to the side of his
neck, about two inches below the earlobe.30
The shuto- to the side of the neck is painful and
disorienting, so we dont really strike our prac-
tice partner.
With the opponent stunned by the neck
blow, it is relatively easy to throw him on his
Figure 72: Brush, hold, strike, heian shodan steps 18-21. The opponent is on the left. In this back in the mud. The technique is ami uchi31 or
interpretation, use your right hand to brush the punch aside while probing for nerve centers with kaiten nage32 from aikido, and is included in Iain
your left fingertips (A). Then, switch hands very rapidly. Hold his wrist with your left hand while Abernethys list of combat drills.33 It involves
striking shuto--uchi to the side of the neck with your right hand (B).
gestures that are exactly like stepping in and
stacking up for the next knife-hand block.
in the dark. Then there is the swinging version of the technique, After striking the opponents neck, let your right hand grasp
wherein you swing both hands in the same direction, using hip his neck. (Your palm is on the side of his neck below his right ear,
rotation in the same direction as the sweep of the hands. Both so your fingers hook around to the nape of the neck.) Use your
hands strike the punching arm, one at the wrist and one at the left hand, still gripping his wrist, to push his arm down and to his
bicep/deltoid notch. This is a circular (soft-style) technique that rear, just touching his right hip in passing. Continue to move his
deflects the opponents arm to the side and stuns the nerves of arm back and up like a pump handle, locking the shoulder. At the
the arm. You see this in very early shotokan films and in some same time, push down on his neck with your right hand, forcing
present-day Okinawan styles. him to bow. By pushing down on his neck and levering up on his
The shotokan technique has been recently modified by the arm, you can flip him into a forward roll. He ends up on the floor
addition of hiki te (pullback hand) dynamics. The hands move and you still have his right wrist. You can proceed to a submis-
in opposite directions, linked by contracting muscles across the sion hold from there.
shoulder blades. The power of the block is directed straight To teach that drill using the modern shuto--ude/uchi tech-
ahead and comes from the hind foot through a focused rota- nique, simply change the initial block (Figure 72). Instead of us-
tion of the hips at the moment of impact. (Most students I have ing the two-hand shuto- uke, have the student stack up for a right
seen have never mastered this hip rotation and, therefore, have shuto- uke. The students right hand sweeps across his face to the
weak blocks.) This is linear technique, driving power directly into left side to intercept and deflect the incoming punch.34 The stack
the opponents body. The point of contact is still the bicep/del-
toid notch of the upper arm, where a sensitive nerve is exposed
against the bone.
30
Kirby, 2001, p. 130-131.

For kata testing, we must demonstrate the traditional ver- 31

Combes, Sam, Aiki-do, Volume 5, DVD 50 minutes, Black Belt Video, 1999.
sion of shuto- uke. For applications, however, I think students are 32
Westbrook, A. and O. Rati, Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere: An Illustrated
better off with the swinging version. It is much easier to do and Introduction, Tuttle, 1970, p. 250-255.

Abernethy, Iain, Combat Drills, DVD 70 minutes, Summersdale, 2007, drill #1.
33

Nakayama, Masatoshi, Dynamic Karate, Kodansha, 1966, p. 208.

28

Higaki, 2005, p. 110, shows the cross counter, which is Higakis name for
34

Nagamine, 2000, p. 90.

29
blocking with the stackup hand.

10 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

up is the real block. champions liked to stand up to each other and slug it out.
The students left hand reaches toward the opponent to They could be knocked over by a high-impact attack. Half of
work some nerve mischief. For instance, the student can jab his the kata frames that exact attack.
fingertips into any number of nerve pressure points exposed in Can we see one of our masters teaching the lesson? We easily
the opponents face, throat or shoulder. Jamming the fingertips recognize Matsumura showing us a technique for which he
into the armpit is very effective. (This technique is called mon- was famous. This kata led the karate world in a new direction.
key threading a needle in the Bubishi, the ancient textbook of
Okinawan karate.)35 The purpose of these finger jabs is to make Are the techniques in a logical sequence? The kata is too sim-
the opponent flinch out of posture, which disrupts and delays his ple to support a deep sequential interpretation, except for the
next technique. three up blocks that set up the tai otoshi throw. That sequence
That was just the stack up! The student now completes the shows a first technique that sets up a second one.
shuto--uke by stepping in with the right foot, drawing the left Are the techniques historically appropriate? Some of these
hand back to trap the opponents right wrist and striking shuto- techniques are so universal that they are practiced by bounc-
uchi to the side of the neck with the right hand. Then, execute the ers in biker bars. Certainly they were within the experience of
ami uchi throw as before. the Shuri fighters.
This interpretation of shuto- uke/uchi is a classic that is wide-
Does the kata form a complete lesson? The kata teaches us
ly taught outside of karate. Peyton Quinn called it brush, hold,
how to knock the opponent over backwards, throw him over
strike in his classic video on Barroom Brawling in 1991.36 The ami
our hip or roll him head-first to the ground. If the point was to
uchi throw appears as spinning the mark in Quinns textbook on
coat him in mud, then the kata gives us adequate tools to the
the same subject.37 In combat hapkido, they call it the brush-trap
task.
strike and do it exactly the same way.38 Ive seen instructors drill-
ing it at the annual UKAI applications seminars in New Jersey.39 Heian shodan doesnt give us very much to work with, but
Ive been drilling it with my students for years. what is there fits the profile.
In the next chapter, well be dealing with a gang of petty crim-
CONCLUSION inals. Well get to see the Shuri bodyguards in their other role as
How do we know that these are the real applications of he- police on the waterfront of Naha.
ian shodan? In one sense, we could hardly go wrong because
the kata is so simple. Oi-zuki is for knocking people down. On the MINI GLOSSARY OF TERMS
other hand, the very simplicity of the kata robs us of the internal Futi Forearm rotation, the wrist-snapping action used in nearly
evidence that we are on the right path. It is hard to show a pro- every strike and block in shotokan.
gression of techniques when half the kata just repeats the same Gedan barai Lower level swinging block.
technique. Jutsu Skill or technique studied for combat application instead
Even so, if we step back and look at the kata as a whole, there of spiritual fulfillment.
are significant points to make: Kata A form, showing the one, exactly-correct way to do
something. Sometimes kata can also refer to the shoulder, as in the
The theme of the kata seems to be fighting for reputation.
following entry.
There are many stories of such fights in medieval Okinawa, and
Naha The major seaport of Okinawa. Sometimes seen as
our shotokan ancestors participated in them. Matsumura met
Napa.
his wife, Yonamine, in one such match.
Oi-zuki Front punch (strictly speaking, pursuing punch), usually
Can we recognize the enemy? He does not appear to be launched while stepping forward in zenkutsu dachi.
armed. He uses flurries of rapid hand techniques. He grabs our Shito-ryu A style that attempts to include both hard and soft
arms when he can. We can charge into him and knock him karate.
over. This sounds like one of our Naha-te rivals, doesnt it? Shodan First degree black belt rank. Sometimes used to mean
Does the kata exploit the enemys weakness? The Naha-te virgin. It takes four years to become a shodan. There are another 60
years of tests before you reach 10th dan.
Shotoism Shotoisms are kata moves that have been changed,
McCarthy, 1995, p. 169.
35 added, or deleted by shotokan masters. You can recognize styles in-
fluenced by shotokan by the presence of these markers.
Quinn, Peyton, et al, Barroom Brawling, The Art of Staying Alive in Beer Joints,
36

Biker Bars, and Other Fun Places, VHS 45 minutes, Paladin Press, 1991. Shuri The ancient capital of Okinawa, home of Matsumura,
Itosu, and Funakoshi.
Quinn, Peyton, A Bouncers Guide to Barroom Brawling, Paladin Press, 1990, p.
37

47-54. Taikyoku Beginner kata shared by several karate styles. It means

supreme ultimate and uses the same kanji as tai chi.
Pellegrini, John, Combat Hapkido, Black Belt Press, 2009, p. 55.
38

United Karate Associations International Training Camp in Atlantic City, New

39

Jersey, annually in March. It is largely devoted to shotokan applications.

http://www.unitedkai.com/ .

11 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

 THE FOLLOWING BOOKS AND DVDs WERE
CITED IN THIS FREE GUIDE.
Shotokans Secret Expanded Edition:
The Hidden Truth Behind Karates Fighting Origins
by Bruce D. Clayton, Ph.D.
Shotokans Secret Expanded Edition cracks open the kata with new insights into their meaning
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The Beginners Guide to the Long Sword:

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Your gateway to learning sword-fighting fundamentals-as practiced by European
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144 pgs.(ISBN-13: 978-0-89750-178-1)
Book Code 504Retail $16.95

Jujitsu Nerve Techniques:

The Invisible Weapon of Self-Defense (book)
by George kirby
American Ju-Jitsu Association co-founder George Kirby charts the human
bodys highways of nerves and pressure points. He also discusses a wide
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236 pgs. (ISBN-13: 978-0-89750-142-2)
Book Code 473Retail $16.95

Aiki-Do 5-DVD Set

by Sam Combes
Sensei Sam Combes, a retired police officer who holds a sixth-dan
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DVD Code 7329Retail $80

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