Category Archives: Translation

Dō and Jutsu

Dō and Jutsu
by Dan Blackmore
Published in the NL Shotokan Newsletter Vol 1, Issue 3, Winter 2014

Many different self-defence systems distinguish themselves with the suffix “dō” or “jutsu.”  The general consensus seems to be that “jutsu” indicates a functional system of techniques, while “dō” indicates a more philosophical pursuit.  This distinction comes from the interpretation of the kanji for “dō” and “jutsu.”

道 “Dō” can be translated as follows:
course; district; journey; moral; road-way; street; teachings
http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E9%81%93

The translation of dō being a journey or a teaching conjures the idea that one practices the self-defence system for reasons other than learning the techniques themselves.  Dō is also used to denote a district, and in context, a group that practices together.  Whether the reasons to practice are to build character or discipline, to improve fitness, to belong in a group, or to compete in a sport, the word “dō” does not indicate a focus on the perfection of technique to obtain maximum power.

術 “Jutsu” has several meanings as well:
art; magic; means; resources; skill; technique; trick
http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E8%A1%93

Interpreting jutsu as a skill or technique translates into distinguishing that the training is focused on perfecting the technique.  The jutsu student strives for picture-perfect form with proper timing, focus, and force for maximum power; seeks perfection of the art.

Dō training is often identified as being on the sport side of self-defence.  Students train to improve their performance of kata and kumite under tournament rules.  The nature of how the sport operates can sometimes diverge from the military/warrior spirit of the original system, to those who self-identify as jutsu.  To those people, jutsu training means preserving the original techniques: not to become “showy” or compromise on form and power.

To me, the interpretations of dō and jutsu are not so cut-and-dry.  Perhaps the goal of the journey in your dō training is to become effective at taking care of yourself, should you be assailed in your life.  For this, you would need to have training that leaves you with a reliable set of techniques that better prepares you for reacting to attack.  This philosophy surely follows a warrior spirit.  Similarly, all the time spent perfecting skills in jutsu training could all be for nothing if you panic in a real situation or on a tournament mat.  You must train the mind to be prepared for attack as well as your body.  If you focus too closely on the technique itself, you may lose sight of the big picture: the “why.”

Is dō training merely a philosophical pursuit that may diminish the quality of self-defence skill and jutsu training the choice for strong techniques?  Could dō training be a journey towards truly effective and practical self-defence skills and jutsu training be an endless pursuit of perfection, which leaves students unable to see the forest through the tress?  No matter how you interpret these terms individually, perhaps it is better to consider how better the concepts of dō and jutsu may be applied together as we train: endeavouring to improve oneself and one’s skill through the pursuit of strong and effective techniques, and understanding how to shift gears between training to preserve an art and training a practical form of self-defence.

Soto and Uchi

Soto and Uchi
By Dan Blackmore
24 April 2014

While there are broader implications of the terms soto (“outside”) and uchi (“inside”), let’s discuss them in the context of chudan uke (“middle-body blocks”) in martial arts.  Setting up by the ear, and swinging the arm across the body to perform the chudan uke means that the block travelled from outside to inside; thus an “outside-to-inside” block.  Setting under the opposite arm or across the body, and swinging the arm outwards means that the block travelled from inside to outside – “inside-to-outside” block.  In some organizations, the convention is to name the block according to where the block ends, so the outside-to-inside block is called “uchi uke,” and the inside-to-outside block is “soto uke.”  In Shotokan, this convention is reversed: the outside-to-inside block is soto uke, and inside-to-outside is uchi uke. Each block is named from where the “set” takes place.  This is the convention that the rest of this discussion will follow.

In my experience, a beginner in Shotokan is taught four basic blocks: jodan age-uke, for blocking the head, soto uke and uchi uke for blocking the torso, and gedan barai to block groin attacks.  So, looking at this list, we note that we are given two basic tools to deal with middle-body attacks, while our heads and groins only get one block apiece.  This implies that while jodan age-uke and gedan barai can each work as catch-all blocks for a beginner to defend from upper- and lower-targeted attacks, neither soto uke nor uchi uke could be used as an “all-in-one” tactic to deal with ANY middle body attack.  Application of soto uke and uchi uke must each have its strengths and weaknesses as a tactic, and as karateka, we must train these chudan blocks together to discover the ideal contexts in which to use each block.

Let us investigate a middle-body punch from an opponent and restrict ourselves to consider only soto uke and uchi uke.  First, imagine an opponent’s punch coming from your right-hand side.  To simplify things, we will imagine blocking with your right arm.  If blocking soto uke, your forearm can strike the back of your opponent’s elbow joint and direct the punch across your body.  Not only are you successful in blocking the attack but the soto uke also effectively acts as an attack to your opponent’s elbow and as a means to partially tie him up with his own arm.  This approach limits your opponent’s options for follow-up attacks and potentially brings him off-balance.  You end up in a prime position for counter attack/follow-through.  If you instead block uchi uke, you stopped the punch, but your opponent’s elbow joint is not struck, he is not closed-off or off-balance, and he is able to continue attack without hindrance.  After the block, you are not in an advantageous position, but stay at more of an even-keel with your opponent.  You must work harder and be quicker to defeat your opponent.

Now, imagine a punch approaching from your left-hand side, and you’re still blocking with your right arm.  If you use soto uke, you block the punch, but make contact with your opponent’s wrist or forearm.  This time no stress to the elbow is dealt, and your opponent is neither off-balance nor any less able to continue with a combination of attacks.  Also, your opponent’s punching arm is able to bend around your block to grab or land a glancing strike.  Once again, you’re now facing head-to-head with your opponent with no positional advantage – strike fast and first with your counter!  If you use uchi uke instead, you are once again able strike the back of the elbow joint, partially tie-up and off-balance your opponent by controlling his punching arm, and have an advantage for your follow-up techniques.

What have we found?  While both soto uke and uchi uke are equally effective in stopping an initial punch, we must remove ourselves from thinking about only one incoming attack at a time.  It is the opponent that you must deal with, not just the attack itself.  Both soto uke and uchi uke each work better over the other in its own context, and for an incoming punch, an effective tactic could be to use the appropriate block to remain on the outside of an opponent where possible.  In a tournament bout or real encounter, there is no time to think about your options; you act how you have trained.  Remain aware of the different tactics/options and their implications as you train with spirit and focus!

Dai and Shou

Dai and Shou
By Dan Blackmore
03 April 2014

Let’s talk about the concepts of “dai” and “shou” in the context of martial arts and self-defence.

Dai (大 ) means “large” or “big.”  Dai Kanji Translation

Shou (小) means “little” or “small.”  Shou Kanji Translation

As a side note, it is only through actually looking-up this character that I learned that the correct English spelling is “shou.”  Before this discovery I’ve known it to be written as “sho” or “shō” in English.  “Sho” has a variety of meanings and does not mean anything by itself; it needs to be paired with something or used in an expression to give it meaning.  Shō (升) is from an old Japanese system of measurement for volume.  It is still used today, in the production of sake, for example.  Originally one shō of sake was about 1804mL, but it is now 1800mL.  Shō Kanji Translation

The translation of the kanji is pretty straightforward: dai means big, and shou means small, but what are the implications?  We see dai and shou used as suffixes in the names of kata that are paired together.  These suffixes could simply assign dai to the “bigger” kata – the one with the most moves – and shou to the “smaller” kata of a pair.  However it seems more common that we interpret these suffixes as something to indicate the way the moves of each kata should be carried out.  Let’s discuss what it means for something to be considered as being big or small.

When we’re talking about being big, we’re talking full arm and body motion.  This calls for maximum reach of the arm and hip wind-up while you set for a strike/block.  You fully commit to the technique and extended forward just a little bit further to penetrate the target.  The idea is to allow the fist or foot lots of travel distance to fully accelerate and deliver maximum power.  When demonstrating dai while moving forward, you reach a “point of no return” where you cannot retract your body weight halfway through the technique and step back, you can only move forward.

When talking about being small, we’re talking about the use of body shifting and advanced tactics.  In this context “small” refers to the little changes to our approach that can mean all the difference in a confrontation.  There is no set of shou techniques per se; it’s more of an approach to self-defence.  Often, one must generate power with a reduced range of motion.  Proper muscle contraction, hip rotation, timing, and body shifting become even more important without big arm motion.  Generally, small karate happens in the study of application and the practice of kumite.

Shou is about making your blocks and strikes count.  The opportunity to successfully execute a big, powerful technique in a fight is not always there.  Perhaps your opponent can pick up on your timing and you end up striking air, or walking into a fist.  Maybe you don’t have enough time to bring your fist up by your ear and execute a full-motion, classical downward sweeping block to dispatch an incoming kick.  How about if you blocked that jab with maximum effort, but your opponent got a strike in before your counter punch?  What good is utilizing maximum power and energy in a technique if it is not going to be effective?  You’ve got to create openings in your opponent’s defence while maintaining yours, and that’s what being small is all about.  One might learn to rely on body shifting and footwork to avoid attack, rather than taking time to formally block everything that comes in.  This frees up some time to attack your opponent directly, disrupting his timing, and giving the opportunity to follow-up with a maximum power technique.  You draw from experience to develop your own style as you learn to apply the techniques learned on the training floor.

“Dai” is exemplified in the classical forms of each technique while “shou” is developed through experience.  The words I would use to summarize dai and shou are “fundamentals” and “application,” respectively.  Practice of the fundamentals as we train basic and advanced techniques gives us more resources to draw from when we have to apply them.