2024-02-05

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Both classes spent time on our standard wrist-grab escape techniques from Heian Shodan last night. Most Shotokan people have seen the “same-side” wrist-grab escape application of the tetsui-uchi on move #4, but I also teach a “cross-side” escape using the gedan-barai on move #1 (and then teach how both escapes actually work for either type of grab, so you really don’t have to remember which is which). We spent time with partners going through each grab and each escape before turning partners loose and telling them to grab each others’ wrists however they like, challenging their partners to get out however they liked.

The adult class also spent time discussing applications from Heian Sandan, including the furi-empi uke (followed by the back-fist) during the southward run. We looked at the “standard” application of blocking a punch with the elbow. One of the students has some traditional jiu-jitsu experience and asked me if you might block a punch with mawashi-empi uchi. I agreed that you certainly could, but that an elbow strike has a fairly low vertical profile, which would make it very easy to miss the block when compared to the bent elbow that the kata describes. (i.e. Furi-empi uke has a fairly wide margin for error while mawashi-empi uchi does not.)

This started a cascade of tangents that resulted in more talking than I’d like, but it was pretty close to the end of class, so I indulged it.

• The conversation about blocking with an elbow strike led to a discussion of the elbow strike in Tekki Nidan and how it can be applied as an escape from a same-side wrist grab followed by a hyperextension of the attacker’s elbow.

• That led the jiu-jitsu student to discuss the possibility of countering a straight punch with kote-gaeshi.

• And that led to a longer conversation about the applicability of pain compliance techniques on self-defense.

My thoughts on the matter go something like this: Pain compliance techniques work on the basis of an implied agreement. That agreement is, “You quit effing around, and I’ll make it stop hurting.” The unfortunate assumption here is that the person on the other end of the technique is in a mental state that allows them to understand that unspoken agreement. Against aggressors who are either naturally or chemically resistant to pain, that may not be the case. Those types of aggressors don’t react to implied agreements, or pain, but physics still demands that they respond to structural damage. In other words, if you break the attacker’s leg, it doesn’t matter if he can feel it or not, he’s not going to be chasing you down after that. I’m not knocking pain compliance - it has its place - but Shotokan generally prefers inflicting structural damage.