Soto Shuto Uchi - Outside Knife-hand Strike

Overview

For some strange reason, we use a mixture of English and Japanese to refer to this strike (outside shuto) and its partner, uchi shuto (inside shuto). I suspect that this started out of laziness or uncertainty and has become a convention. Anyway, for the record, "soto" means "outside" and "shuto" means "knife [hand]".

Of all the strikes in karate, this one more than any other, embodies the general public's idea of what karate is all about. Austin Power's called it a "judo chop", and surprisingly, this was what this technique was called by many practitioners in the early days of Western martial arts. When the Inspector Clouseau's side-kick Kato in the Pink Panther, jumps out waving his hands about in a chop-chop motion, it's a soto shuto that he's threatening to use - or perhaps a shuto uke if he's attacked. In any case, it's not a very practical move for first attack because its line of approach is simply too obvious and easy to block. However, as part of a combination, it has some use. It's particularly valuable in its shorter form, if you're fairly close to your opponent, and you find your hand in the space between their guard and their head (perhaps when you've just performed an uchi uke block). In that situation, where your fist is too close to punch without retracting, it's one of only two techniques that can be performed with power - the other is a tetsui uchi.

In 1950, Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin karate, who trained fanatically, was developing his karate strength by fighting bulls - nobody said the man was sane! Anyway, he is famed for having defeated 49 bulls by chopping off their horns with his soto shuto, which goes to show that with practice, shuto can be a devastating technique. It also goes to show that it wasn't healthy to be a bull when Mas was around...

The primary target areas for the technique are the side of the head, the jaw or the neck. Remember though, human necks are not all that strong, and you don't want to end up on a murder charge over a stupid pub brawl!

Technique

Start with your left arm extended in front of you at shoulder-height, hand open and tensed, palm facing upwards. The other hand should be retracted to your side, with the hand tensed and palm facing upwards.

Bending it at the elbow, retract your left hand so that it's resting across your chest, with your fingertips touching you just below the right shoulder. At the same time, raise your right arm out to the side, so that your upper arm is horizontal. Your arm should be bent at the elbow, so that your fingertips are just beside your right ear, with your palm facing forwards. As you prepare your arms, pivot your hips away from the target on your striking side - so in this case, you would turn clockwise (viewed from above).

Swing your right forarm in an outward and forward arc towards your target. As you swing your arm, pivot your hips towards your target so that they reach maximum rotation at the point of contact. As you strike your target, your palm should be facing upwards, and your hand should be tensed but slightly cupped, with your thumb tightly against the back edge providing support. This stops the hand collapsing and breaking the little internal bones at the moment of contact. The striking surface of your hand is not the exact edge, rather, your hand should be tilted by about 30 degrees so that you strike with the fleshy, padded part part of the hand just past the edge. As your attacking hand swings forwards, the passive hand retracts from your chest to your side, where it it comes to rest, palm upwards, and hand open, ready to strike again.