Shuto-Uchi & Shuto-Uke: Making Them Work by Mark Kupsz
Common thoughts or questions that many beginners have regarding these techniques are “How effective is shuto-uchi as a technique?” and “Why can’t I get shuto-uke to work?”. As a strike I find it a very effective technique. The main point you need to appreciate is the intended areas of attack. Because of the small area of the sword hand edge it is a perfect weapon for attacking most of the vital points in and around the throat and neck area, in particular, ST.9.
Indeed I believe that this is the primary use of this technique. ST. 9 is an area that is particularly vulnerable to attack. The carotid sinus when struck fools the brain into thinking that there is sudden and rapid increase in blood pressure. The brain immediately reacts to this information by taking the precautionary action of reducing heart rate in particular, systolic pressure. The result is a sudden drop in blood pressure resulting in dizziness or unconsciousness. Even a moderate strike can cause this effect. It is rarely fatal if the neck is struck just on one side. However if both sides of the neck are struck simultaneously it can be deadly. The angle of attack helps and incidentally coincides precisely with that with which shuto-uchi is delivered i.e. downward and at a 45-degree angle. Failing to hit that point there are others in the neck and throat region that also cause good effects. Hitting the Adams Apple hard will cause severe trauma sufficient enough to negate any further attack from an assailant. TW 17 is another good attack point at the articulation of the upper and lower jaw, more so if the mouth is open. If your opponents head is turned away from you then GB 20 becomes another superb target. Shuto-uchi can also be used to attack vital points on the arm and upper torso with various consequences that I wont go into here.
As for shuto-uke. I personally find it very hard to make this block work well when defending in a straight line going back…or forwards for that matter. Shotokan karate has numerous other blocks that are far more effective in this situation. Shuto-uke works best when stepping at 45-degrees (or at least some angle) to your opponent, a fact that should not be overlooked when practicing kata as you will note that most of the time we practice this move we tend to step at 45-degrees. Many students fail to practice this technique properly common faults include holding the blocking arm too straight and having too large a gap between the elbow and the rib cage exposing an area for attack. Also not pushing the fingers and thumb together tightly… try hitting something hard with a loose knife-hand and you will soon see what I mean. I always use a fully accelerated technique when practicing this. This can only be achieved by taking the hand fully up to the ear before bringing it back down forcefully. The key here is rapid acceleration from the ear followed by equally rapid deceleration once the hand approaches its finish position… this facilitates maximum transmission of shock on impact. The key to achieving this acceleration is relaxation.
Foot work, hips and shoulder movement along with an understanding of and counter rotation also play an important part in generating strong waza. Aim for strong hikite at all times. Hit a bag or strike shield keeping the arm as relaxed as possible during the movement phase of the arm and forget kime initially, just try to hit as deep into the bag as you can using speed alone. Seeing as this technique is frequently performed in back stance maintain the hips 90-degrees to target for as long as is practical before throwing the knee of the rear leg out as hard and fast as you allowing you to achieve simultaneous movement with the out going arm. This goes for whether you are moving forwards or backwards. All these things help develop more power. Finally drop down low with the rear leg so that you add otoshi (dropping) force generation it also allows you to centre your gravity for greater stability/balance.
Another point that might help is to try and think of the elbow as being very heavy when you perform this technique. Imagine you are driving it down as though breaking tiles or wood with your elbow as you execute the downward ‘chop’ Finally remember to flick the wrist at the very last instance and ensure that there is no bend at the wrist in any direction. I curve my fingers slightly inwards as I feel the hand is stronger in this position but this is purely from striking practice I don’t ever remember reading or being taught this.
It should be noted that there are several ways of performing shuto-uke / uchi some are more prevalent in other styles like Wado-ryu and Goju-ryu where the emphasis is on blocking, grabbing and then throwing your opponent off balance rather than hitting vital points.
