© 2014 T. Westermann

Haishu uke – Back of the hand block

Haishu uke – Back of the hand block

At Haishu uke the back of the hand is used as the impact surface while blocking. This technique offers, in the first line as sweeping block (Haishu uke barai) at lateral blocks (Uchi or Soto uke). This block should not be used in hard-fought strikes or kicks and is performed primarily with the leading hand before a counter-attack.

Koken uke – Back of the wrist block

You flex the hand down as far as it is possible and provides the thumb to the middle of the ring finger. This block technique, however, is not recommended in my view, for pure self defense, because the block has to be placed very precisely to the attacking extremity. Likewise, there is a relatively high risk of self-injury on the wrist at this block technique.