Martial Mania:

Shutô uke vs. shutô uchi

By George Donahue

The Japanese word “shutô” means “hand sword,” but it’s called “knife hand” by most of the American practitioners I know. I’m not sure whether this slightly different rendering of the meaning adversely affects the understanding of the technique, but I suspect it does.

Shutô is not actually the name of any technique. It’s merely the basic hand formation used to execute either of two techniques and their variations. Those techniques are shutô uchi and shutô uke. The former is properly translated “hand-sword strike” and it comprises strikes, thrusts, and other blows. The latter is properly translated “hand-sword reception,” but instead of “reception” we usually say “block.” When we say “block,” however, we have to be careful not to forget that uke is more than blocking. It comprises blocks, parries, traps, even grabs. It’s the much the same term that is used for the receiving partner in two-person drills.

You might consider this mere quibbling, but I think that the lack of understanding of this difference between uke and uchi has led to an unnecessary loss of skill.

In the kata that I know, there are some movements that could be executed as either shutô uchi or shutô uke, or sometimes both simultaneously. There are other movements that are clearly meant to be shutô uchi, and yet other movements that are clearly meant to be shutô uke. The visible difference between the two is subtle, perhaps too subtle for a beginner to differentiate, but it is serious.

The problem is that too many of us, at these points in kata, execute merely a shutô, and neither uchi nor uke. That means that we are just posturing and not really doing anything that useful. I think this is where the mistranslation comes into play. If we believe we’re wielding a “knife hand” then we may subconsciously assume that our hand takes on the aspects of a real knife. That is, it’s got a sharp edge and a sharp point and prudent people will be wary of it. We see this in movies and on television, where the hero assumes a pose like a constipated giraffe, with great show presents his awesome knife hands, and sends a ripple of fear up the spine of his enemy. That’s acting, and poor acting at that.

If we merely hold out a real knife between ourselves and someone who is trying to move in on us to harm us, when they meet the knife they will be sliced or stabbed. Merely holding it out might be enough. Fortunately (because we don’t need the curse of Edward Scissorhands), our hands are neither sharp nor pointed. Merely holding them out doesn’t do a whole lot of good. In fact, most often what we’re doing is offering our attacker a handle to better control us.

So, instead of thinking that we’re executing a “knife hand” whatever, we should concentrate in our training on executing a real technique. When we analyze the opportunities for “shutô+ something” in our kata, we should remember that we are using a figurative hand sword to do something, that we don’t wield a real knife but a flesh and bone weapon that has it’s own good points and “edges.” Most of all, we have to do something, anything—other than pose dramatically—with it. A poseur is a good target.

Copyright © 2008 George Donahue & FightingArts.com. All rights reserved.

George Donahue