Baseball Magazine's Shorinji Kempo Juho Book (vol.

I)


ompanion notes in English

Prefa e
Gassho.

In 2000 and 2001, the Japanese publisher Baseball Magazine produ ed three volumes of explanations of
Shorinji Kempo hokei
[training patterns illustrated with high-speed photograph sequen es. In August 2002
I produ ed an informal English translation of the explanations in the rst book, whi h addresses goh o

te hniques. This se ond do ument serves the same role for the twenty-seven hokei overed in the se ond
book, `Juho I' a sele tion of ryu o ken and ryuka
ken te hniques from the syllabus up to 3rd dan.
This booklet, like the rst, gives an almost word-for-word translation that repli ates the note-like hunk-
ing of the Japanese text. If you an read both languages, and noti e some important mistake or omission
here, please let me know! I am indebted to the many tea hers and other kenshi who have answered my
questions along the way espe ially Tameo Mizuno sensei, Yoshiyuki Karahashi, Anders Pettersson, Shiho
Nosaka and Kumiko Ikeno but please still note that even if the original books arry the authority of
hombu and its instru tors, the translations offered here are approximate, and are ne essarily limited
by the translator's own experien e of the Japanese language and of Shorinji Kempo.
In line with the international tea hing of Shorinji Kempo, the names of all basi te hnique elements as
well as of the hokei
themselves are not translated. Any reader unsure of the meaning of some expression
should in the rst instan e ask his or her sempai or bran h master.
Finally, in general I have avoided expressions su h as `his or her' (or `their', for that matter), usually
opting for the male pronoun. This is of ourse not intended to imply maleness of all kenshi, but does
happen to t the fa t that these books show only men demonstrating the te hniques.
Enjoy your training!

Kesshu.

Aran Lunzer (shodan, jun kenshi)

aranbigfoot. om
Copenhagen, June 2003

 Translation Aran Lunzer 2003

1
Contents
Numbers in these titles are the page numbers in the original book.
8: kote nuki (ryuo ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
16: morote wa nuki (ryuo ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
24: morote gyaku gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
32: ryu nage (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
40: gyakute nage (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
48: soto maki tembin (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
56: nigiri gaeshi (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
64: maki nuki (ryuo ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
72: katate okuri gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
80: tsuri otoshi (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
88: okuri hiji zeme (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
96: furisute omote nage (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
104: morote okuri kote nage (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
112: okuri tsuki taoshi (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
120: koshi kujiki (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
128: okuri dori (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
136: juji nuki (ryuo ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
144: juji gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
152: ryaku juji gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
160: morote hiki nuki (ryuo ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
168: morote juji gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
176: maki gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
184: kirikaeshi nuki (ryuo ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
192: kiri gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
200: kirikaeshi tembin (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
208: kirikaeshi gote (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
216: morote kirikaeshi nage (ryuka ken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

2
Te hnique families

Ryuo ken
Ryu ken is the name given to a family of atta k/defen e patterns based on the te hniques in Shorinji
o
Kempo for eluding, breaking free, evading. This family forms the foundation that underlies ryuka ken.
The hokei
in ryu o ken are not only helpful for learning prin iples of body and limb movement, but are also
indispensable to beginners as basi training for kumi embu.

Ryuka ken
Ryuka
ken is a olle tion of hokei
involving hand grabs, and is an extremely important part of Shorinji
Kempo. Ea h of these te hniques is based on some kind of `kna k', of a deli a y that makes it hard to
explain with words. After taking down an atta ker with a ryuka
ken te hnique, one subdues him using a
katame waza or tori waza from the kongo ken family.

3
 o
8: kote nuki (ryu ken)

don't freeze at the kagite shuho!

Many of the te hniques in ryu o ken use kagite shuho , whi h is an appli ation of kagite no ri [`the right-
angle prin iple'.
In the kyohan
, Kaiso wrote the following omments about kagite no ri and kagite shuho :
`The idea of kagite no ri an be illustrated as follows: if you want to lift something heavy, it's dif ult
if you try lifting from far away with your arms outstret hed. . . but if you get lose up, bend your arms and
bring them into onta t with your body, the lifting be omes easy. This method keeping the arms bent
and in onta t with the body is referred to in kempo as kagite no shuho [the kagite prote tion method,
and plays an important role. If you apply kagite no ri in taking up your defensive stan e, drawing out the
enemy's atta k posture and making him straighten his arms, you an easily ontrol great strength on his
part using only small for e yourself.'
When performing any ryu o ken te hnique not just kote nuki the defender invites the atta k from a
distan e su h that the atta ker annot rea h, with his hands or his feet, unless he steps in. This means that
the atta ker must step to lose the distan e, and also rea hes out with his arm to grab the defender's wrist.
By taking up kagite shuho , the defender puts the atta ker into the position of someone who, as Kaiso
wrote in his explanation, is trying to lift a heavy obje t from far away with his arms outstret hed.
The importan e of kagite shuho should now be obvious, but this importan e doesn't mean that on e
you've taken up a kagite stan e you an stay there for as long as you like. The atta ker will feel uneasy at
being put into an unstable posture, and may de ide to let go, or lose distan e further to re over his stan e,
or perhaps try an ashi barai.
In the photo sequen es you'll see that as soon as the move into kagite shuho is omplete the me u hi
is laun hed, that the yose ashi happens while the me u hi is oming ba k, and that the sequen e kote nuki,
uraken u hi and hudan gyaku zuki is all arried out without a pause.

aptions p.9 Neutralise the atta k using kagite shuho

(pi ture 1). Using teko no ri perform kote nuki
(pi tures 2, 3).

aption p.10 The nuki waza in ryu o ken involve taking up a prote tive shuho , eluding, and making a
ounter-atta k. They are for when an atta ker makes some ommitted atta k, rather than simply taking
hold. Kote nuki is a prote t/elude ombination that works against an atta ker trying to perform ude juji
or
a straight pull.

o
16: morote wa nuki (ryu ken)

an elude for ases when the atta ker sti ks out his elbows
Morote wa nuki is an elude for use when an atta ker, with both arms bent, grabs one of the defender's arms
in jun from above and tries to twist it outwards, or to put the defender over his ba k for a throw su h as se
nage.
Note that morote maki nuki would be the te hnique of hoi e for ases involving a similar kind of
atta k but with the atta ker's arms straight. Morote wa nuki be omes the more effe tive approa h when the
atta ker bends his arms maybe be ause he wants to make a strong pull towards himself, or maybe with
the spe i aim of preventing maki nuki.

without resisting the atta k, move into kagite shuho

A ording to Kaiso's explanation of morote wa nuki in the kyohan ,
`First, while taking up a proper kagite shuho , use one hand for a kensei then bring it ba k to take up a
light grip on the end of the hand that has been grabbed. Then, imagining that you're doing yori nuki and
kote nuki at the same time, you an elude by pushing your elbow forwards between the atta ker's arms.'
The importan e of the shuho is the same as for other ryu o ken te hniques.

4
 If you work against the for e being put in by the atta ker, then even if you manage to get yourself into
kagite and stand your ground, you'll still have trouble performing wa nuki.
Looking at photo sequen e B, we see that when the atta ker grabs the defender's arm and tries to twist
it aside to perform se nage, the defender doesn't ght this twisting for e but moves his body to the side,
taking up kagite shuho in front of the atta ker.
At this point the atta ker's feet are aligned square-on and both his hands are o upied; he annot use
either the feet or the hands for further atta ks. In ontrast, the defender is in the stable half-turned stan e
of kagite shuho , from whi h he an laun h me u hi or kinteki geri at any time.
Thus the body movement in taking up kagite shuho both stops the in oming atta k and puts the defender
into a good situation for doing wa nuki.

imagine you're doing yori nuki and kote nuki at the same time
We sometimes see ases where morote wa nuki fails to work against an atta ker's stiffened wrist.
On e you have moved into kagite shuho , the wrist of the atta ker's outside hand is now on top, and is
the one that he an more easily prevent you from bending. In ontinuing from the shuho to wa nuki itself,
bending this wrist is ru ial.
The image of doing yori nuki and kote nuki at the same time basi ally omes down to ensuring that
both of the atta ker's wrists are bent, to let you make the elude.
Use the shuho to bend the wrist of the upper hand, and then perform wa nuki by pushing your arm
between the atta ker's arms in a slightly upwards dire tion.
By means of the ontinuous movement from shuho to the elbow push, you an bend the atta ker's
outside wrist as you would in yori nuki, and the inside wrist as in kote nuki.
The end result is an elude that feels like doing yori nuki and kote nuki at the same time.

aptions pp.16/17 Against an atta ker trying to do se nage, take up kagite shuho (photo 1).
Wa nuki is performed by pushing your elbow between the atta ker's arms.

aption p.18 Morote wa nuki is an elude for when an atta ker grabs with both hands to perform se nage.
The defender prote ts himself with kagite shuho , and performs an elude that is like doing yori nuki and kote
nuki at the same time. This te hnique works for ases when the atta ker's elbows are bent, so depending
on the situation you should sele t either this te hnique or morote maki nuki.

24: morote gyaku gote (ryuka ken)

you must be able to do morote wa nuki

Morote gyaku gote is a te hnique for use against a double-handed grab to a single arm from above, in jun,
either trying to twist or to pull the arm.
Having been grabbed with both hands, simply trying to do gyaku gote won't work, be ause the atta ker
an resist by preventing one wrist from bending. In the ryuka ken te hniques for dealing with double-
handed atta ks, suppressing the atta k at the shuho stage is extremely important.
This is be ause a shuho done half-heartedly has bad kno k-on effe ts: you'll be unable to perform the
elude, and hen e unable to perform the ounter-atta k. You might even fail to stop the initial atta k in the
rst pla e.
If you an't do morote wa nuki (in ryu o ken), you won't be able to do morote gyaku gote.
Morote wa nuki is an elude te hnique involving simultaneous appli ation of yori nuki and kote nuki, in
whi h the defender, having rst prote ted himself with kagite shuho , pushes his elbow between the arms
of the atta ker.
Wa nuki works be ause both the atta ker's wrists are bent by rst bending the outer wrist at the shuho

stage, and then pushing the elbow between the atta ker's arms in a slightly upwards dire tion.
Furthermore, if you manage to do morote wa nuki without a struggle then the atta ker's body is already
destabilised, so you an easily push him over.

5
the basis is gyaku gote
Let's have a look at morote gyaku gote in the photo sequen es.
The defender invites the atta ker's grab from a migi mae stan e. The atta ker responds by grabbing the
defender's right arm in jun from above, using both hands (frames A13).
The defender doesn't take up kagite shuho only after being grabbed, but moves to meet the in oming
atta k, hanging through to kagite shuho with the help of tai sabaki (frames A36). Thus by the time the
atta ker has taken hold with both hands, the defender is already fully in kagite shuho (frame A7).
For morote atta ks, in parti ular, hurriedly trying to prote t oneself after being grabbed is simply too
late.
Having performed me u hi with his left hand, the defender uses that hand for kake te while performing
wa nuki by moving his right elbow diagonally upwards so it goes between the atta ker's arms (frames
A815).
This sequen e of movements bends the atta ker's left wrist, over oming the lo ked state of that wrist
that would prevent morote gyaku gote from working.
We an see that on e the defender has performed the wa nuki elude, and laid his right arm on top of the
left-hand kake te, the atta ker's posture is destabilised and his heels are oating off the ground (frame A15).
As the kime, the defender just needs to use his es aped right arm on top of the kake te to drop the
atta ker's upper body. It is important for the defender to arry on through to the gyaku gote without
pausing at the wa nuki stage.

aptions p.25 On e you have been grabbed, any dire t attempt to apply gyaku gote will be foiled by the
atta ker's left hand.
You have to use morote wa nuki to disable the left hand's atta k, and then apply morote gyaku gote.

aption p.26 Failing to do morote wa nuki orre tly an result in morote gyaku gote being foiled by the
atta ker, leading to a deadlo k. Wa nuki bends both the atta ker's wrists, enabling morote gyaku gote to
work.

nage (ryuka
32: ryu ken)

a variant ontinuation of gyaku gote

Ryu nage is a renraku henka waza for gyaku gote or makikomi gote i.e., a te hnique that is used as an
alternative way to ontinue either of those other te hniques.
If you ignore this fa t, and try to apply ryu nage from the outset, it won't work.
The kind of time to use it is when you have tried to apply gyaku gote, and the atta ker prote ts himself
with kagite shuho , or if he has wrists that are too supple and resilient for the gyaku gote to take effe t.
On being grabbed, the initial kagite shuho and kake te moves are the same in ryu nage as for gyaku
gote.
If the defender's right arm has been grabbed, from the kagite shuho he turns his body to the right, at the
same time shifting his right hand to insert it palm-upwards under the atta ker's grabbing arm.
The kime is applied by using the nai wanto of this inserted right arm to at h and press against the ba k
of the atta ker's upper arm, while the left hand maintains pressure on his bent right wrist. Push downwards
to make him fall over.
Although you may think of yourself as `swit hing' to ryu nage from gyaku gote or makikomi gote,
don't allow a pause in your movement as you make this swit h.
One ause of failure that we often see in ryu nage is when the defender tries to use his nai wanto to lift
the atta ker's elbow.
This form of ounter-atta k will not only fail to oor the atta ker, but will heavily weigh down the
defender and will drag the te hnique to a halt.
The answer is to apply pressure not by lifting the elbow, but by pressing down the atta ker's lower arm
while his wrist remains bent.
The result of this movement is that the atta ker's elbow appears to be lifted.

6
the atta ker's elbow will bend naturally
Let's have a look at the movements for ryu nage using the photo sequen es.
From frames A19 you an onrm that the defender's invitation, the atta ker's grab, and the move to
kagite shuho are all the same as for gyaku gote.
Then frames A1016 show the defender burrowing his arm through from under the atta ker's grabbing
arm.
In frames B1116 you an see that the defender deeply inserts his whole arm.
If the defender only partially inserted his arm, it would be dif ult to apply his nai wanto to press
against the ba k of the atta ker's upper arm.
Frames A1721 show the defender using nai wanto against the atta ker's arm while applying pressure
to the atta ker's right hand, with its bent wrist.
In ombination with this use of nai wanto to send away the atta ker's right elbow, and the left hand to
press on the atta ker's right hand, the tai sabaki results naturally in bending the elbow. Thus the atta ker's
posture is broken as if his elbow were being lifted, and he ends up being made to fall ba kwards.

aption p.33 The kime for ryu nage is not a matter of lifting the atta ker's elbow, but making his upper
body fall (pi tures 1, 2).

aption p.34 Ryu nage is a variant ontinuation of gyaku gote or makikomi gote. After using nai wanto
against the atta ker's elbow, apply the kime by pressing down on the atta ker's forearm while keeping his
wrist bent. Ryu nage will not work if you try to apply it by lifting the atta ker's elbow.

40: gyakute nage (ryuka ken)

a te hnique to apply at an even higher position than ryu nage

Gyakute nage is, like ryu nage, a variant ontinuation of gyaku gote.
As you an see from the photo sequen es, in gyakute nage the grab, the defender's hange through to
kagite shuho , the kake te and yose ashi are all the same as for gyaku gote.
But you need a variant to deal with ases when gyaku gote goes wrong, or if the atta ker's wrists are
ex eptionally tough, or if he takes up kagite shuho to prote t himself.
In su h ases the defender qui kly takes away his right hand (that was originally grabbed and is now
applying pressure), snakes it around the atta ker's arm from underneath, and uses the palm of the hand to
wrap and pull the atta ker's right hand. He then throws the atta ker by lifting the elbow and pulling the
wrist downwards.
Although ryu nage is also a variant for use under similar onditions, what makes gyakute nage effe tive
is using it when the atta ker tries to prote t himself with his arm higher than in ryu nage, or when your rst
attempted te hnique fails to take effe t.
In gyakute nage, moving your hand through under the atta ker's arm and rmly applying the gyaku
[joint reversal is enough to ini t sharp pain on the atta ker. Be ause of this, there's a tenden y for
defenders not to take mu h are in onsidering how the atta ker should then fall.
But applying te hniques in a sloppy way greatly in reases the risk of injuring your pra ti e partner.
Just as for other te hniques, rigorous attention to the prin iples regarding the dire tion for a nage or
fall will hone your appli ation of gyakute nage.

throw the atta ker using arm strength

Let's look at the movements in gyakute nage using the photo sequen es.
The movements in frames A110, in whi h the atta ker makes the grab and the defender frees his hand,
are the same as for gyaku gote.
In frame A11 you an see that the atta ker is resisting the gyaku gote ounter-atta k by bending his
elbow in kagite style.

7
 In frames A1218 the defender takes his es aped right hand and snakes it around from under the
atta ker's arm to take up kake te on the atta ker's right hand.
At this point the defender doesn't just hook with his wrist, but ombines the kake te on the atta ker's
wrist with the use of his right nai wanto to hook the atta ker's elbow.
This hooking with nai wanto destabilises the atta ker's posture, bringing his heels off the ground.
Further tai sabaki while applying pressure to kento makes the atta ker fall forwards and be thrown.
Frame B14 shows the point where the atta ker is trying to resist, using kagite.
If the defender tried to throw him forwards dire tly from this state, the atta ker would be able to stand
rm and the defender's movement would be halted.
Noti e how hooking with wanto lets you for e the atta ker's elbow out in front and apply a twist to his
upper body. This reates a state in whi h the atta ker is unable to stand his ground. You an then make
him fall towards you and be thrown.

aption p.41 Gyakute nage is not about just a ting on the wrist, but requires that you restri t the atta ker's
movement by lo king up his shoulder, elbow and wrist, then aim to drop the upper body (pi tures 1, 2, 3).

aption p.42 Gyakute nage is a variant ontinuation of gyaku gote. Removing the hand with whi h he
was applying pressure, the defender wraps that arm around the atta ker's arm from underneath, pulls on
the atta ker's right hand by en losing it with his right palm, and throws by pulling the atta ker's wrist
downwards while raising the elbow.

48: soto maki tembin (ryuka ken)

a variant of gyaku gote

Soto maki tembin is a variant ontinuation of gyaku gote.
Other variant ontinuations of gyaku gote in lude ryu nage and gyakute nage. These variants are for
dealing with ases when, as the defender tries to apply gyaku gote, the atta ker resists with his elbow bent.
Soto maki tembin deals with ases where gyaku gote fails be ause the atta ker's arm is straight. The
defender bra es that arm against his own waist and performs a tenshin pivot about the foot that did yose
ashi, bends the atta ker's wrist and, by applying tembin using his waist, throws the atta ker in mu h the
same way as for soto maki otoshi. Bra ing the arm against the waist and performing the tenshin movement
breaks the atta ker's balan e, allowing an unfor ed kime.
Not just in soto maki tembin but for all te hniques that use the tembin take-down, pressure is applied in
the opposite dire tion to how the elbow joint normally bends.
So if you apply this kind of te hnique with brute for e, there's a risk that you'll break your training
partner's elbow.
In order to apply tembin safely yet effe tively, it is important that the atta ker's balan e be fully broken,
with the tembin only applied as the nal kime.

adapt to hanging onditions

Let's have a look at soto maki tembin using the photo sequen es.
The defender invites in a migi mae stan e, and the atta ker uses his right hand to grab the right arm of
the defender in jun (frame A1).
When grabbed, the defender's prote tion using kagite shuho , his appli ation of kake te and his body
movements are essentially the same as for gyaku gote (frames A113).
If the gyaku gote takes effe t, at this stage the atta ker would be falling to the ground.
But in this ase, even with pressure applied to the atta ker's wrist, his elbow straightens and gyaku gote
fails (frames A1420).
The defender rmly bra es the atta ker's right arm against his own waist (frame A21).
From this state, by applying tembin using his waist, the defender shifts the atta ker's entre of gravity
and throws him.

8
 The aim of the gyaku [reversal applied to the wrist in gyaku gote and the aim of the tembin applied to
the arm in soto maki tembin are one and the same: to manoeuvre the atta ker's entre of gravity so that he
falls.
You should be able to see from the photo sequen es that, in the end, the atta ker's body posture when
being thrown in soto maki tembin is similar to the posture when being thrown in gyaku gote.
So when gyaku gote fails to take effe t, and the atta ker omes to a standstill, swit hing to soto maki
tembin is a ba kup approa h to a hieving the onditions that will shift his entre of gravity for the throw.
The gyaku is no more than a detail of the te hnique.
By understanding what overall posture you're aiming to put the atta ker into, you be ome able to move
smoothly into a te hnique's various possible ontinuations.

aption p.49 If you try to do gyaku gote but the atta ker's elbow straightens, hange to soto maki tembin
and omplete the te hnique by applying tembin with your waist (pi tures 1, 2, 3).

aption p.50 Soto maki tembin is another variant on gyaku gote. While variants su h as ryu nage and
gyakute nage are used when the atta ker bends his elbow to resist, soto maki tembin is for ases when
gyaku gote fails with the atta ker's arm straight. Bra e the atta ker's arm against your waist and perform
a tenshin pivot about the foot that did yose ashi, then take the atta ker down by using your waist to apply
tembin.

56: nigiri gaeshi (ryuka ken)

gyaku gote from a handshake

Nigiri gaeshi is a te hnique that applies gyaku gote from a handshake.
The te hniques gyaku gote, maki gote and oshi gote all apply a joint-reversal on the wrist to throw the
atta ker, but that's not to say that the throw is always done the same way.
Be ause humans stand on two legs, we are sus eptible to being thrown straight forwards or straight
ba kwards.
And then there are other ir umstan es in whi h we may fall diagonally forwards or ba kwards.
For the nigiri gaeshi shown in our photo sequen es, the defender moves round in front of the atta ker
and applies the te hnique so as to throw him forwards.
In analysing the forwards throw using images reated by the `Shorinji Kempo Expert System', we used
omputer graphi s to visualise an imaginary `gyakute auxiliary line'. This `gyakute line' runs through the
shoulder and wrist of the atta ker's grabbing hand, and the defender's elbow.
The defender performs the kime by moving his own body so that the gyakute line be omes parallel to
the line whi h onne ts the atta ker's two big toes, marking one edge of his ground support area.
By doing this, the gyakute line a ts as an axis about whi h the atta ker is thrown, just as if he were
doing a forward roll over a gymnasti s bar.
When training, keep in mind the gyakute line along with the fundamental on epts kuzushi, otoshi,
hazushi. This will larify where a defender should move with his tai sabaki, and will speed up your
mastery of te hniques.

hange the hand grip

Let's have a look at nigiri gaeshi using the photo sequen es.
With his right foot forwards, the `atta ker' does a normal right-hand handshake (frame B1).
The defender, while applying kake te with his left hand, steps his right foot diagonally forwards with
fumikomi ashi and performs a two-step han tenshin (frames B210).
Along with this tai sabaki, the defender performs kuzushi, otoshi and hazushi. However, as you'll
dis over when you try the te hnique, the kime annot be applied if the hands stay in a handshake grip.
Therefore, as he performs the kake te and tai sabaki, the defender also hanges his right hand's grip so
that the ball of his thumb applies pressure to his opponent's kento . The name of the te hnique ree ts this
hange in grip nigiri meaning `grip', and kaeshi meaning `return' or `repla e'.

9
 With his tai sabaki, hange of grip, and use of the gyakute line, the defender throws the atta ker.
If you look at frame C14, you'll see that a straight line runs from the atta ker's shoulder through his
wrist to the defender's elbow.
Images reated using the `Shorinji Kempo expert system' are introdu ed in Part I ( omputer graph-
i s ompilation) of the rst Shorinji Kempo te hni al video, shorinji
kempo sono kotsu no kagaku [A
s ienti approa h to the `kna k' of Shorinji Kempo.

aption p.56 From a handshake, the defender makes kake te with his left hand, hanges the grip of his
other hand so as to apply pressure to his opponent's kento , and performs gyaku gote (pi tures 1, 2, 3).

aption p.58 Nigiri gaeshi is a te hnique in whi h, from a handshake, you apply gyaku gote. Be ause
gyaku gote annot be applied in the handshake grip, the defender hanges the grip so that the ball of his
thumb applies pressure to his opponent's kento . It's important that you also be able to adjust the dire tion
of the kuzushi to suit the ir umstan es.

o
64: maki nuki (ryu ken)

the onne tion between yori nuki and maki nuki

Maki nuki starts with the same kind of atta k as yori nuki, but is used for ases when the atta ker, trying to
prevent yori nuki, pushes against the defender's wrist so as to twist it outwards.
When grabbed katate [single-handed, put in an atemi to the ne k with shuto while moving to take up
kagite shuho , with the hand of your grabbed arm swit hed to the atta ker's outside opposite to yori nuki.
Then elude by thrusting out the elbow.
In the naming of hokei
in the kyohan
, among the ryu o ken te hniques the `ryote
' spe ier is found only
in ryote
yori nuki. The photo sequen es here show maki nuki from a ryote grab; noti e that maki nuki is
performed in ombination with katate yori nuki to release the two arms.
In photo sequen e A we see that the defender, when grabbed, tries to take up the same kagite shuho
position as for ryote
yori nuki.
When the atta ker pushes and twists the defender's wrist to prevent ryote yori nuki, the defender doesn't
ght against this but moves his feet and, as if absorbing the atta ker's power, moves both arms into kagite.
As a result, far from managing to destabilise the defender, the atta ker nds himself pulled over for-
wards. Furthermore his arms are straight, whi h makes the maki nuki es ape easy.
Next, using photo sequen e B let's look at how the defender responds to the atta ker's push and twist,
by taking up kagite shuho then making the elude.
Seen from above, it's lear that the defender doesn't simply move ba kwards when pushed, but, by
turning his body somewhat side-on, neutralises the atta ker's pushing power.
This a tion of turning side-on means that he needs only minimal foot movement, and an enter shuho
without tilting his own entre-line.
Thereafter, the defender performs the maki nuki by thrusting out his elbow and dropping the grabbed
arm. The atta ker experien es this movement as if a supporting prop has been removed, further destabilis-
ing him.
Following on, the defender uses uraken to strike one of the easily a essible nerve points on the head
of the destabilised atta ker, moves in with sashikae irimi, and frees his left hand with yori nuki.
Finally, the defender puts in a hoku zuki to the hudan target area left open during yori nuki by the
atta ker's extended arm.

o ken for pra tising atemi

ryu
The atemi that follows maki nuki inter epts the atta ker as he falls forwards, so from his point of view the
strike arrives with more speed than would be apparent to someone wat hing from the side.
Not just in maki nuki but for all ryu o ken te hniques, the more you an break the atta ker's balan e, the
less han e he has to defend himself and the more effe tive be omes your atemi.

10
 The hokei
of ryu o ken provide valuable pra ti e not just for kagite and nuki te hniques, but also in
making effe tive atemi that at h your opponent when he is physi ally or mentally off-guard.

aptions p.65 A ryote grab to the arms in jun (pi ture 1). Attempting to prevent yori nuki, the atta ker
pushes forwards while twisting the defender's hand outwards. The defender takes up kagite shuho (pi -
ture 2).
While es aping with maki nuki, the defender keeps the atta ker's hand held down. This makes the
atta ker fall forwards, as if a prop supporting his body has been taken away (pi ture 3).
Atemi with uraken. The left hand is released with yori nuki (pi ture 4).

aption p.66 Maki nuki is an elude for use when an atta ker tries to prevent yori nuki by pushing so as to
twist the defender's wrist outwards. After taking up kagite shuho with your hand moved to the atta ker's
outside the opposite to yori nuki elude by thrusting out the elbow.

72: katate okuri gote (ryuka ken)

ryuo ken is the mother of ryuka ken

Katate okuri gote is a te hnique for situations like the example in our photo sequen es, where the atta ker
uses his left hand to grab the defender's right arm, then either pulls it or makes a hoji
atta k.
When beginners try this te hnique, we often see situations where the atta ker squares his elbow, so the
defender an't even bend the atta ker's wrist, let alone apply a gyaku.
If the atta k is a straight pull on the defender's arm, this bent-elbow situation probably won't arise.
However, if the atta ker uses a strong twisting and pushing a tion while atta king with hoji , it an happen
quite readily.
Often the ause is that the defender responds to the atta ker's twisting push by trying to push ba k.
This be omes a trial of strength, from whi h there is no easy way to apply the te hnique.
The saying that ryu o ken is the mother of ryuka
ken ree ts the deep onne tion between the two
families of te hniques. Katate okuri gote has a lose relationship with maki nuki.
Let's look at photo series B frames 1 to 8, in whi h the defender takes up kagite shuho .
In response to the atta ker grabbing his wrist and pushing through with hoji , the defender doesn't
attempt to resist the push, nor to take up kagite on the spot. Rather, with ashi sabaki and tai sabaki he
absorbs the pushing for e as if drawing it into himself, and then takes up kagite shuho .
By not meeting strength with strength, the defender an free his hand without a struggle, and then move
on to okuri gote.

not pulling towards yourself, but sending away

Not just in ryuka
ken but in all throws and take-downs, the prin iple is that the defender guides the atta ker
into a posture where he will fall over.
Using photo sequen e A, let's see how the atta ker's posture is manipulated in this ase.
When the defender has taken up kagite shuho , the atta ker has his weight on his left leg (frames 1 to 7).
If the defender attempts okuri gote from this position, the atta ker an bring his right leg forward to
bra e himself, or an pivot on the left leg to turn his ba k on the defender and es ape.
Therefore, after applying atemi, the defender uses the maki nuki movement to bend the atta king wrist
and, at the same time, sends away the atta ker's upper body to make his weight move to the right leg
(frames 7 to 16).
Frame 16 of sequen e A shows the moment before the atta ker falls over forwards. In this position he
annot es ape by turning his hips, nor step to onsolidate his stan e.
Having guided the atta ker into this posture, the defender nally applies the gyaku and takes him to the
ground.
Often people try to do okuri gote by pulling on the atta ker's wrist. Although the movements might
look similar, pulling towards yourself and sending away lead to very different results.

11
 aption p73 One ru ial element in applying katate okuri gote is the use of maki nuki to destabilise the
atta ker's posture (pi ture 2).

aption p74 Katate okuri gote is a te hnique for responding to an atta k with hoji or a pull. The defender
uses maki nuki to bend the atta ker's wrist and make the appli ation of okuri gote possible. If the maki nuki
isn't performed properly, there's a risk that the atta ker will be able to square his elbow and resist.

80: tsuri otoshi (ryuka ken)

a variant ontinuation of okuri gote

Tsuri otoshi is a variant ontinuation of okuri gote.
In the kyohan
it is explained as follows:
`If you have applied okuri gote and the atta ker, to stop himself falling, tries to es ape by bending his
elbow and turning his ba k on you, you an throw him forwards by qui kly pulling up his bent arm so that
it omes away from his ba k.'
True to its name, tsuri otoshi involves hoisting up (tsuri) the atta ker's arm, and thereby making him
drop (otoshi).
However, if you try to lift the elbow of an atta ker who is in a stable posture, or to apply the te hnique
on someone who hasn't tried to es ape from the okuri gote, its appli ation will be weak and the atta ker
an get out of it.
Also remember that if you wren h the arm upwards with brute for e there's a high risk of injuring your
partner's shoulder.

tsuri otoshi is applied after an es ape from okuri gote

Let's use the photo sequen es to look at the hange through from okuri gote to tsuri otoshi.
The defender invites the grab, then pro eeds to apply okuri gote (frames A110).
In rea tion to the okuri gote, the atta ker bends his elbow and turns his ba k, trying to es ape (frames
A1012).
By lifting the atta ker's arm, the defender prevents him from turning his body further. The kime of tsuri
otoshi for es the atta ker's upper body downwards.
In order to manoeuvre the atta ker's entre of gravity just by manipulating his wrist, you have to remove
any `play' in his joints.
In frames B1015 you an see the atta ker turn his ba k in the attempt to es ape okuri gote.
But be ause the defender lo ks the atta ker's wrist and lifts the arm, the atta ker's movements to es ape
okuri gote result in lo king up his whole body: wrist, elbow, shoulder and waist.
Further lifting of the arm progressively destabilises the atta ker forwards, until nally the tsuri otoshi
throws him away from the defender.
Note that a brute-for e lift when the atta ker's joints have been lo ked up is extremely dangerous, so
you must exer ise aution.
Note also that there is an alternative way of lifting the arm, using one hand to apply okuri gote pressure
while using the other hand to push the atta ker's opposite shoulder.

aptions p.81 The defender tries to apply okuri gote (pi ture 1).
The atta ker spins around, and tries to hit with uraken (pi ture 2).
The defender applies tsuri otoshi (pi ture 3).

aption p.82 Tsuri otoshi is a variant of okuri gote. When an atta ker tries to es ape from okuri gote by
bending his elbow and turning round, lift his arm so as to bring it away from his ba k, making him fall over
forwards.

12

88: okuri hiji zeme (ryuka ken)

hanging through from an okuri to an S-shape te hnique

Okuri hiji zeme , like tsuri otoshi, is a variant ontinuation of okuri gote.
In the situation shown in the photo sequen es here, applying okuri gote requires the defender to make
the atta ker fall forwards by proje ting his entre of gravity from being mainly over his left leg, through
the 5050 point, to mainly over his right leg.
If the atta ker rea ts to this appli ation of okuri gote by bending his elbow and trying to stand rm, the
defender swit hes to using okuri hiji zeme.
Or if the atta ker rea ted by turning his ba k and trying to es ape, the defender would swit h to tsuri
otoshi.
So we an regard okuri hiji zeme and tsuri otoshi as having an omote/ura relationship.
As seen in our photo sequen es, if okuri gote is being applied to the atta ker's left arm and he bends
and sti ks out his elbow, the defender ontrols the atta ker's wrist with his left hand and, using the right
hand to atta k a vital point on the elbow joint, pulls the atta ker downwards.
For this movement you must bra e the atta ker's kento to your hest, lower the raised elbow with an
applied kake te, and step slightly ba k so that you apply the kime as if making a bow.
When this happens, the atta ker's posture is similar to that for te hniques su h as kiri gote or sode maki,
with him falling forwards be ause his arm is lo ked into an S shape.
Thus the defender has swit hed from an okuri te hnique to an S-shape te hnique.

if the movement stops, swit h te hnique

Let's look at okuri hiji zeme using the photo sequen es.
First, the defender takes up a migi mae stan e and invites the atta ker's grab. The atta ker responds by
oming in to grab the defender's right arm with his left hand, in jun (frames A14).
The defender takes up kagite shuho , puts in an atemi, then goes on to apply okuri gote (frames A511).
When the te hnique that you are pra tising is a variant ontinuation of another, it is parti ularly impor-
tant not to try applying the te hnique from the outset.
When you try to throw an atta ker or make him fall over, he may respond by trying to es ape or to stand
rm. This is when a variant te hnique be omes effe tive.
In our example, the atta ker responds to okuri gote by bending his elbow and sti king it out, and battles
to prevent his posture from being destabilised (frames A1213).
The defender mustn't try to ght ba k against the atta ker's resistan e.
The defender pins the atta ker's left arm and bra es it to his own hest, also applying for e on the elbow
using his right hand. Having for e applied to his arm in an S shape makes the atta ker fall forwards.
A situation in whi h you annot further destabilise an atta ker is what should trip your `time to apply a
variant' swit h.
In guring out what's happening to the atta ker's posture, use not only your vision but also the impor-
tant for e-related information that's available through your sense of tou h. Be ause your opponent isn't
moving, you swit h te hnique so as to move him.

aptions p.89 When the defender attempts okuri gote, the atta ker bends his elbow to avoid it.
For e the atta ker down by using your left hand to lamp his hand to your hest, and your right hand as
a kake te on his elbow.

aption p.90 Okuri hiji zeme is a te hnique that you swit h to if you have attempted okuri gote but the
atta ker has bent his elbow and is trying to stand rm. Maintaining the kake te that ontrols the atta ker's
wrist, the defender puts his other hand to the atta ker's elbow and for es him downwards. By bra ing the
atta ker's hand rmly to your hest, you an oor him without relying on arm strength alone.

13

96: furisute omote nage (ryuka ken)

apply the te hnique without stopping

Furisute omote nage is a te hnique for use when an atta ker has made a two-handed grab to one arm,
intending to make a throw su h as ippon se nage.
One prin iple of Shorinji Kempo te hniques is that you don't stop between the shuho and the kime.
However, in hokei
su h as gyaku gote, kiri gote or okuri gote you an use the hand that hasn't been
grabbed to put in an atemi. This reates a moment of weakness in the atta ker, so even if you do pause at
the shuho you an still manage to apply the te hnique.
But with furisute omote nage you have to use the one grabbed arm to perform the shuho , the kuzushi
and the nage.
Therefore for this te hnique in parti ular you must sti k to the prin iple of not stopping along the way.
But I'd say there are many people who, even if they understand this prin iple in theory, when it omes
to a tually performing the te hnique they get into a trial of strength with the atta ker at the shuho stage and
nd that they're stu k.
A lot of the time this problem arises in ases where the defender was late in taking up shuho .
On e the atta ker gets into a position where he an pull with a solid stan e, no matter how hard you try
to defend with kagite shuho it's not going to work.
Or if, in response to the atta ker's attempt to draw in your arm for a throw, you try to defend yourself
by getting into the kagite shuho position and just pulling the other way, everything will ome to a stop.
What the defender has to do is use the atta ker's own pulling for e to perform the kuzushi.
And for that, it be omes important where the defender takes up kagite shuho .

destabilise the atta ker with his own pulling for e

Let's have a look at the photo sequen e.
The defender invites from a migi mae stan e.
The atta ker grabs the defender's right arm with his left hand, and the defender starts moving into kagite
shuho.
However, rather than just take up kagite shuho on the spot, the defender moves to take a ount of the
atta ker's right-foot fumikomi step, entering shuho with a step of his own right foot somewhat out to the
side (frames A16).
If you look at this movement in photo sequen e B, you'll see that at the kagite shuho stage the atta ker
has already been destabilised forwards.
This is be ause, by means of the kagite shuho , the atta ker's pulling for e has been turned against him,
drawing him towards the defender. He's in an unstable position, with both heels oating off the ground.
Then the defender, performing a han tenshin about his standing right leg, uses the atta ker's posture to
effe t an okuri form of kuzushi [sending the weight to the far leg, tipping him forwards then throwing him
with furisute omote nage.
Looking at ea h photo sequen e, you'll see that the defender doesn't give the atta ker any han e to
make his atta k from a solid stan e.
In addition, by his ombination of shuho and tai sabaki, the defender doesn't get into a pulling mat h
with the atta ker.
But one thing to be areful of is the height of the kagite shuho; too high, and the atta ker an easily
draw you in.

aptions pp.96/7 Using the for e that the atta ker wanted to use for the se nage, destabilise him (pi tures
1, 1').
The defender drops the atta ker's upper body, and throws him. If the defender draws his hand in towards
himself after the throw, he an keep ontrol of the atta ker's arm (pi tures 2, 3).

14
 aption p.98 Furisute omote nage is a te hnique for use when an atta ker makes a two-handed grab to
one arm, with the intention of arrying out a throw su h as ippon se nage. In response to this atta k, the
defender exe utes the shuho , kuzushi and nage without a pause.

104: morote okuri kote nage (ryuka ken)

not a te hnique with just one form

First let's see what the kyohan
says:
`Morote okuri kote nage is a te hnique for when an atta ker uses both hands to grab one of my arms,
then pulls, or twists the arm ba kwards, or tries to put me over his shoulder. Say he grabs the right arm:
`(1) moving the left foot forward, take up kagite shuho and atta k hudan
with the left hand
`(2) for a pull, lose distan e with the left foot; for a shoulder-throw, draw ba k with the right foot.
Then, applying the left hand to the atta ker's left wrist, bend the wrist using the same prin iple as for
morote maki nuki.
`(3) as in katate okuri gote, make a big swinging motion with the shoulder as the pivot. If the aim is
to apture and hold the atta ker, you an apply a pin or mar h him off; in a ght situation, you ould ki k
him away with sanmai geri.'
So although it has just the one name, morote okuri kote nage is a te hnique that you must be able to
adapt for a variety of situations; the atta ker might be pulling the wrist, or twisting the arm ba kwards, or
trying a shoulder lift.
You an't train for all these situations in one go. You have to narrow down the onditions, and pra tise
ea h ase thoroughly.
In our photo series, the defender is performing morote okuri kote nage in response to an attempted
shoulder throw.

without pausing, defend then throw

Let's look at the photo sequen es.
From a migi mae stan e, the defender invites a grab atta k.
The atta ker responds with a morote grab and tries to put the defender over his shoulder for se nage
(frames A18).
The defender takes up kagite shuho . But he doesn't move into shuho only on e the atta ker has applied
the morote grab; rather, he starts his tai sabaki at the instant when the atta ker has grabbed with just one
hand (frames A59).
He takes up kagite shuho not so mu h by drawing his right foot ba k, but by opening his stan e towards
the outside. By defending from this position he neutralises the atta ker's pull.
The defender then applies his left hand in kake te on the atta ker's left hand, and makes a large sweeping
movement with the shoulder as the pivot, like in okuri gote. This makes the atta ker's upper body fall
forwards, and he is thrown (frames A1024).
Note that using kagite shuho to prote t yourself doesn't mean using brute for e to stop the atta ker's
attempt to lift and throw.
The kagite shuho reates a stan e from whi h you annot easily be thrown, and lets you use the at-
ta ker's own pulling for e against him to destabilise him and lead through to a nage.
When an atta ker omes in with great momentum to perform a throw, and you an destabilise him
without ghting that power, that's when this te hnique is really working.

aptions p105 Using the atta ker's pulling for e against him, the defender destabilises his posture (pi -
tures 1, 1').
Drop the upper body, and throw (pi ture 2).

15
 aption p106 Okuri kote nage is a te hnique for dealing with an atta ker who grabs the defender's arm
with both hands and pulls, pushes or twists, or attempts a shoulder throw. The atta ker's situation when
thrown is mu h the same as in furisute omote nage, but for this te hnique the defender performs the move-
ments with both hands.

112: okuri tsuki taoshi (ryuka ken)

the ability to adapt to ir umstan es

Okuri tsuki taoshi is a te hnique for situations when an atta ker uses both hands to grip one of the defender's
arms, and attempts a throw su h as ippon se nage.
If his right arm is grabbed and pulled for an attempted se nage, the defender loses distan e with yorimi
and takes up kagite shuho , then applies his left hand as he would for okuri gote and, rmly raising his right
elbow, thrusts it towards the atta ker's hest to kno k him down.
One wouldn't go so far as to onsider okuri tsuki taoshi or koshi kujiki merely as variant ontinuations
of other te hniques, but they do sit in an intri ate relationship with te hniques su h as furisute omote nage
and okuri kote nage.
Okuri tsuki taoshi and koshi kujiki are examples of te hniques that make the atta ker fall ba kwards,
while furisute omote nage and okuri kote nage make him fall forwards.
A ommon point to all four te hniques is that the atta k involves a morote grab and pull, with the aim
of performing something like se nage.
In response to this attempted se nage, a defen e using one hand to throw the atta ker forwards is what
we all furisute omote nage. If the atta ker's body is in the wrong position to be thrown forwards with one
hand, koshi kujiki is a way to take him down with the help of a strike to the lower ba k.
Similarly, a two-handed defen e that throws the atta ker forwards is morote okuri kaeshi nage, and in
this ase if his posture is wrong for the forwards throw, the way to take him down ba kwards is okuri tsuki
taoshi.
You have to apply the appropriate one of these te hniques by adapting to the ir umstan es.

break the balan e ba kwards, and throw down

Let's look at okuri tsuki taoshi using the photo sequen es.
In a migi mae stan e, the defender invites the grab (frame A1).
The atta ker, starting from a hidari mae stan e, rst grabs the defender's arm with his left hand, then
follows up to perform the throw by stepping his right foot through and grabbing with the right hand (frames
A29).
At the point when the atta ker is starting his grab with the left hand, the defender begins to move into
kagite shuho (frames A59).
Then in time for the atta ker's grab with his right hand, the defender is already in the prote tive kagite
shuho state (frame A10).
At this moment the atta ker's position relative to the defender is somewhat side-on, whi h makes it
dif ult to throw him forwards. So the defender applies and maintains kake te with his left hand as he
raises his right elbow, lo king the atta ker's arm into an S shape. He then applies a thrusting pressure down
towards the atta ker's hest (frames A1117).
Immediately after this ba kwards thrust brings the atta ker up onto his toes with his balan e broken,
the defender pun hes out with both arms to throw him down.
Among the te hniques of ryuka ken, a large number end with some form of katame waza from the
kongo ken family. However, there are also some that don't in lude su h a pin, for example if like okuri
tsuki taoshi they throw the atta ker down with a strike, or send him away with a nage.
After the de iding strike, the defender takes away his hands and is thus unable to provide any support
for his opponent. When pra tising this te hnique, take are to avoid injuries to the ba k of the head.

16
 aptions pp.112/3 Using kagite shuho to suppress the atta ker's se nage, the defender applies kake te
with his left hand in the same way as for okuri gote (pi ture 1).
Breaking the atta ker's balan e dire tly ba kwards, strike downwards (pi ture 2).

aption p.114 Okuri tsuki taoshi is a te hnique for when an atta ker uses both hands to grip one arm and
attempts a throw su h as ippon se nage. The defender uses yorimi and takes up kagite shuho , applies kake
te in the same way as for okuri gote, then raises the elbow of the grabbed arm and thrusts the atta ker down
with a strike aimed at his hest.

120: koshi kujiki (ryuka ken)

simply hitting the ba k isn't enough

Koshi kujiki is a te hnique to be used when an atta ker grabs one of the defender's arms with both hands,
or tries to perform se nage by grasping a sleeve along with either the arm or some point on the ollar.
The te hnique involves striking the atta ker in the small of the ba k to destabilise his posture, but this
is unlikely to work unless you have prepared the right ombination of footwork, shuho and tai sabaki.
To arry out se nage, the atta ker must grab you with both hands and draw you lose to his body.
This manoeuvre brings you up onto your toes, making the se nage possible. From your point of view,
as defender, you have to avoid being destabilised by the atta ker's pull.
Therefore when the atta ker tries to draw you in, you must respond using tai sabaki in su h a way that
the se nage be omes ineffe tive.
If you don't use tai sabaki when pulled, instead for ing yourself into kagite shuho in a battle of strength
with the atta ker, you in rease the risk of being drawn in by a strong pull.
Then, even supposing you manage to avoid being thrown, the atta ker will stand his ground in deadlo k
against your strength. Even if you try koshi kujiki, it won't work.
So you see that just thumping the atta ker in the small of the ba k doesn't ne essarily mean that he will
obligingly fall over.
Therefore you must make use of the movement and the power that the atta ker ommits to performing
the se nage, turning them against him to destabilise his posture with your tai sabaki and shuho . Then, on e
he's unstable, hit his lower ba k to make him fall.

the fall in koshi kujiki

Let's look at the movements for koshi kujiki using the photo sequen es.
The defender invites the atta k from a migi mae stan e, and the atta ker omes to perform se nage with
both hands.
In response to this grab and attempted throw, the defender doesn't try to take up shuho on the spot,
but shifts his body to mat h how the atta ker is pulling, and uses his hand to hit the lower ba k (frames
A110).
The atta ker expe ts to en ounter resistan e from the defender, so he ommits a lot of for e in trying
to shoulder him.
But be ause the defender makes his grabbed arm move to mat h the atta ker's movements, the atta ker
has nothing to stand rm against and nds himself up on his toes in an unstable posture (frames A1018).
With this manoeuvring, the atta ker's upper body is bent ba k and he annot support himself with his
legs, so he falls over ba kwards.
Koshi means the waist and lower ba k, and the name koshi kujiki literally means ` ollapsing the koshi'.
People who know this tend to approa h the te hnique with the aim of destabilising spe i ally the waist
level.
But you ould also think of it as a te hnique that destabilises the entire lower body.

aption p.121 Using kagite shuho to prevent the atta ker's se nage, the defender hits the lower ba k with
his left hand. It's important to ensure that this hit to the ba k is syn hronised with the destabilisation of the
upper body (pi tures 1, 1').

17
 aption p.122 Koshi kujiki is a te hnique to be used when an atta ker grabs one of the defender's arms
with both hands to attempt ippon se nage, or makes a grab involving the ollar or a sleeve to attempt se
nage. You annot destabilise the atta ker simply by hitting his lower ba k; you must also make use of the
arm that has been grabbed, getting the atta ker's upper body bent over ba kwards.

128: okuri dori (ryuka ken)

a shikake form of okuri gote

Okuri dori is a grappling te hnique that isn't performed in response to a grab by an atta ker, but is a shikake
te hnique one laun hed at the defender's own initiative.
It is explained in the kyohan
as follows:
`For example, when fa e-to-fa e with an opponent I would use my right hand to grab his right hand
in gyaku, overlapping his thumb with my own as in okuri gote, then apply the left hand from below and
rapidly sweep around from his outside to apply a kime as for okuri gote.'
This explanation also makes it lear that okuri dori is a shikake form of okuri gote.
So what kinds of differen e are there between okuri dori and okuri gote?
In its usual form, okuri gote is a te hnique for dealing with an atta ker who may be pulling the de-
fender's arm, or attempting a hoji
atta k.
In that ase the defender must rst prote t himself with kagite shuho . Be ause the shuho effe tively
stops the atta k, the defender has time to put in an atemi to suppress further resistan e by the atta ker.
Additionally, be ause the atta k is laun hed with for e, the defender has the han e to use that for e to
his own advantage in making the atta ker fall over.
Conversely, sin e okuri dori is a shikake te hnique, as `defender' you a tively go in to make the grab.
There is no kagite shuho stage, and sin e the opponent is not trying to apply any for e, you must destabilise
his body by your own a tions.
A ru ial part of this is swinging his arm around using the shoulder as the pivot point.

destabilise by swinging the arm

Although okuri dori is said to be for use in a fa e-to-fa e situation, the fa t is that you wouldn't try laun h-
ing into okuri dori against someone who's staring straight at you.
Look at the relative standing positions in photo sequen e B, and you'll see that the defender is diago-
nally in front of his opponent.
In a grappling te hnique, letting your opponent sense hostility or an intent to harm will greatly in rease
the han e that he will try to resist or es ape.
For that reason the `defender' (the person applying okuri dori) approa hes almly, applying his right
hand to that of the opponent as they pass shoulder-to-shoulder (frames B17).
He ontinues by adding his left hand from below, with a driving for e, swinging the opponent's arm
around with its shoulder as the entre-point (frames B815).
At this point you must ensure that the arm isn't merely twirling around.
The ru ial idea is that sweeping the arm should send the opponent's shoulder forwards, breaking his
balan e.
In frame B15 you an see that the opponent is in a posture similar to that in okuri gote, with his shoulder
propelled forwards and his balan e broken.
Just as for okuri gote, the kime for okuri dori involves throwing the opponent down forwards.
Note that, starting from the initial grab, the movements of sweeping the arm, breaking the balan e, and
the kime that throws the opponent's upper body forwards must all be performed without a pause.

aptions pp.128/9 The little nger, ring nger and middle nger all grasp the little-nger side of the
opponent's hand, while the thumb atta ks his dai kento (pi ture 1).
Simply twisting the wrist won't budge your opponent's body. You must on entrate on removing the
play in his shoulder, elbow and wrist joints (pi tures 2, 3).

18
 aption p.130 Okuri dori is a shikake form of okuri gote i.e., laun hed on your own initiative. You
must ensure that the rotation of the opponent's shoulder a ts to remove the play in the shoulder joint. One
important aspe t in a hieving this is the balan e of for es between your two applied hands. The pull of
your little nger, ring nger and middle nger must be balan ed against the push of the thumb and of the
added left hand.

nuki (ryu
136: juji o ken)

how you invite the atta k is also important

When pra tising hokei
, it's important that the atta k be performed orre tly. Correspondingly, the way the
defender invites the atta k also be omes important.
Shorinji Kempo being a self-defen e art, the way in whi h an atta ker makes a grab inuen es the
defender's hoi e of ounter-atta k.
Conversely, by deliberately setting up the position, height and arrangement of his arms, the defender
an onstrain the atta ker's possible grabs.
For ryote
yori nuki the defender purposely wants the atta ker to grab in jun, so he invites the atta k by
taking up hudan
gamae with both hands thrust slightly forwards.
The height of the hands and angle of the arms in a hudan stan e makes a jun atta k the most natural
form of grab, su h as in kote nuki or yori nuki.
By omparison, the inviting stan e used for juji nuki involves holding the forearms in a markedly higher
position.
nuki is a te hnique for es aping when the outer wrist is grabbed in gyaku, so by standing with the
Juji
arm raised this is what we indu e the atta ker to do.
Drawing the atta ker in like this, to perform exa tly the kind of grab that the defender has hosen, is an
important aspe t of juh
o pra ti e.

from `being atta ked' to `letting him atta k'

The photo sequen es show the ryote form of juji
nuki, where the es ape involves a ombination of juji nuki
for one hand, followed by kiri nuki for the other.
Let's onrm the movements, using photo sequen e A.
The defender takes up a natural stan e at a defensive distan e, with his hands raised high, inviting the
atta ker to grab the arms in gyaku.
As is always the ase, when inviting an atta k one's stan e should not appear exaggerated, but should
be a natural posture from whi h, with ontrolled breathing and a alm mind, one is able to deal with the
invited grab.
When grabbed, the defender spreads his ngers, taking up a kagite shuho that applies slight pressure to
the atta ker's thumbs. As a result of this manoeuvre the defender has an upright and stable posture, while
the atta ker is drawn forwards off balan e.
Without pausing at the shuho , move in with sashikae irimi and, as you push your right elbow through
to the inside of the atta ker's left upper arm, bend his wrist. The kime of juji nuki is performed by moving
your elbow as if to draw it ba k into your own ank.
Immediately afterwards, perform hiji ate to the wide-open hudan target area, release the left hand with
kiri nuki, nish with hudan
gyaku zuki, then wait with zanshin.
In juh
o hokei
, the ta ti s for both atta ker and defender start at the kamae stage.
So you see that we have to hange our way of thinking, from a one-sided view that `the defender gets
atta ked', towards the idea that he takes the initiative in allowing the atta ker to perform a parti ular grab.

aptions p.137 The atta ker omes to grab the defender's hands in gyaku (pi ture 1).
The defender overlaps the atta ker's arm with his own, making the shape of a ross (pi ture 2).
Moving his elbow as if to draw it ba k to his own ank, the defender makes the elude (pi ture 3).

19
 aption p.138 Juji nuki is an elude for use when an atta ker grabs the outside of the wrist in gyaku.
Without stopping at the shuho , the defender moves in with sashikae irimi and eludes by pushing his right
elbow through from the atta ker's upper left to bend the atta ker's wrist. The name juji
nuki omes from
the ross shape made by the forearms of atta ker and defender.

gote (ryuka
144: juji ken)

reate an S shape and get the knees to bend

Like juji
nuki, juji
gote is for ases when an atta ker grabs the defender's right arm with his left hand, in
gyaku.
One an dene broad ategories of Shorinji Kempo te hniques depending on whether the atta ker ends
up being thrown with a nage before being pinned, or is just made to fall to the ground and pinned there.
gote is a te hnique that involves putting the atta ker's arm into an S shape, making him fall forwards,
Juji
then holding him.
That's not to say that in juji
gote the atta ker will obligingly fall down just be ause his wrist is put into
a gyaku.
To es ape the pain he may try to get away by straightening his arm and turning his ba k, or sti k out
his bottom and try to stand his ground.
The defender has to take ontrol, preventing su h attempts to es ape the te hnique.
Firstly, to remove the possibility of es aping by straightening the arm and turning round, the defender
must be sure not to turn the atta ker's arm further over than is ne essary.
Even having reated an S shape, the more the atta ker's palm is fa ing upwards at the kime stage, the
more the rotation that you then apply to the arm will just result in straightening his elbow.
To prevent the atta ker from pushing his bottom ba kwards to avoid falling, you have to manoeuvre
him in a way that makes his knees bend.

if you reate the S shape, the knees will bend

Let's have a look at the movements in juji gote.
As for juji
nuki, the defender invites a gyaku grab by raising his arm.
When grabbed, the defender doesn't try to pull his arm ba k towards himself, but moves towards that
arm to take up kagite shuho . At the same time, he makes an atemi.
The hand used for the atemi is then immediately applied as kake te on the atta ker's hand. For this kake
te the defender pla es the ball of his thumb on the root of the atta ker's thumb, making sure that the wrist
of his own hand is not bent.
The defender moves in with sashikae irimi, using his arm to bend the atta ker's wrist in the same way
as for juji
nuki.
This sequen e of atemi, bending the wrist, and indu ing an S shape makes the atta ker's knees bend,
leading him into a position where he has no hoi e but to fall. In addition, the kake te ensures that the
atta ker annot take away his hand.
After the a urate ompletion of these moves, juji gote takes effe t with the atta ker falling forwards.
At this nal kime stage, the defender must not rou h down. Using as a pivot point the top of the middle
nger of his kake te hand, he must atta k the opponent's wrist by moving so as to drop his right elbow and
raise his left. At this point the wrist of the kake te must be a tive, or the movement will be ineffe tive.
Frame A18 shows the moment just before the kime.
Right up to this point the defender has hardly used any for e. For e is applied just for one instant.

aptions pp.144/5 The atta ker omes to grab the defender's arm in gyaku (pi ture 1).
Moving his grabbed arm over the atta ker's in the same way as for juji
nuki, the defender uses his left
hand for kake te and makes the atta ker fall forwards (pi tures 2, 2').

20
 aption p.146 Juji gote is a te hnique that involves putting the atta ker's arm into an S shape, making
him fall forwards, and holding him. When doing te hniques like juji gote that use an S shape for the take-
down kime, people tend to fo us just on atta king the wrist while the ru ial aspe t is the manoeuvring of
the atta ker's entre of gravity. For this you have to remove the play not just from the wrist, but also from
the elbow and shoulder.

gote (ryuka
152: ryaku juji ken)

pay attention to the kake te

Ryaku juji
gote is a distin t, abbreviated form of juji
gote.
Like in juji
gote, the defender's right arm is grabbed in gyaku by the atta ker's left hand. But whereas
gote is for use when someone standing in front of you grabs your offered arm, ryaku juji
juji gote is for
when someone standing next to you grabs the arm as it hangs at your side.
Be ause the grab is low, the kake te used in this ase is the opposite to that used in juji gote. The
defender urls his ngers deeply around the ball of the atta ker's thumb, bending and applying pressure to
the wrist.
For ryaku juji
gote, this kake te is espe ially important.
The ideal position for applying this te hnique is at the entre of the defender's body, but we often see
people trying to apply ryaku juji gote at a position away from their entre, on the side of the body near the
atta ker.
In that sort of position, you an't make the wrist of the kake te hand a tive.
If you try to apply the wrist lo k for ryaku juji gote when your own kake te wrist is bent, the result is
that the atta ker an easily take his hand away, or the te hnique will simply fail to take effe t.
Making your wrist a tive prevents this kind of failure, be ause you an use your ngers to lift the ball
of the atta ker's thumb and at the same time press the ba k of his hand with the ball of your own thumb.
By performing the kake te at the entre of your body, with your elbows stu k out to make the wrist
a tive, you ensure that the for e of the kime is transmitted easily to the atta ker.

take up the grip at the entre of your body

Let's have a look at the movements in ryaku juji gote.
Unlike in juji
gote, the defender doesn't raise his arm, but invites the atta k by standing in a natural
posture with his arms hanging down.
When grabbed by the atta ker, the defender prote ts himself using sankaku shuho and at the same time
applies kake te (frames A610).
At this point, the grabbed hand and the kake te hand are still at the defender's side.
Having applied kake te, the defender, without trying to draw in the atta ker's arm, moves himself with
a fumikomi ashi around the outside of the atta ker's feet. He overlaps the atta ker's arm with his own,
reating the S shape and ausing the atta ker's knees to bend (frames A1115).
By reating the gyaku at the same time as this body movement, the defender an move himself into a
solid stan e in whi h both his elbows are sti king out and the kake te wrist is a tive.
For the kime you an see that the defender doesn't lower his grabbed wrist, but for es his right elbow
downwards while lifting the left elbow (frames A16A18).
One important point at the kime stage is that the atta ker shouldn't be pulled down towards the de-
fender's side.
Just as for juji
gote, what you want is for the atta ker to fall forwards (frames B1118).

aptions p.153 The atta ker omes from the side to grab the defender's hand in gyaku (pi ture 1).
The defender brings his other hand from underneath to make kake te on the ball of the atta ker's thumb
(pi ture 2).
The kime is applied by straightening the atta ker's elbow and pressing down (pi tures 3, 4).

21
 aption p.154 Ryaku juji gote is a distin t, abbreviated form of juji
gote. It is for use when an atta ker
standing next to you grabs your arm as it hangs by your side. To apply the kime for ryaku juji
gote your
grabbed arm must not remain at your side, but must be brought to the entre of your body.

o
160: morote hiki nuki (ryu ken)

where you take up kagite is important

Morote hiki nuki is for use against an atta ker who uses both hands to grab one of the defender's arms, for
example intending to perform ude gyaku dori.
The ude gyaku dori atta k involves gripping a vi tim's arm in gyaku with both hands, stepping in
with fumikomi ashi and turning somewhat side-on while pulling the arm to trap it under your armpit, then
applying a kime against the elbow.
An atta ker intent on performing ude gyaku dori puts a great deal of for e into the pull, so even if you
take up kagite shuho where you stand, the atta ker's posture is unlikely to be destabilised. In fa t, far from
destabilising him you may fail to prote t yourself fully, and may even in rease the risk of being for ed into
a hold-down.
Even supposing that the defender manages to take up kagite shuho without being brought down, the
atta ker's rm two-handed grip means it will still be dif ult to es ape using morote hiki nuki.
Looking through ea h of the photo sequen es at the defender's movements between being grabbed and
taking up kagite shuho , you'll see that after a fumikomi step with the ba k leg he performs a han tenshin.
By means of this two-step han tenshin the defender an move around the atta ker so that at the kagite
shuho stage they are fa e-to-fa e.
Be ause the defender moves around to this fa e-to-fa e position, the atta ker nds that with his own
pull he ends up destabilising himself forwards.

it's establishing the shuho that makes the te hnique work

Let's look at the defender's movements, using photo sequen e A.
He invites the atta k by sti king his arm out in a raised position, making it easy for the atta ker to grab
in gyaku.
Having let the atta ker make the grab, from the moment the rst hand takes hold the defender smoothly
performs the two-step han tenshin and moves through to kagite shuho .
You an see that on e the atta ker has also applied his other hand, the defender has moved round to be
right in front of him, making the atta ker's own pull destabilise him forwards.
In this position, no matter how hard the atta ker may pull with both hands, he annot destabilise the
defender. Whereas if the defender had only taken up kagite on e rmly grabbed with both hands, it would
have been too late.
Having prote ted himself with the shuho the defender performs an atemi, then applies the same hand
to assist the freeing of his grabbed hand with a twist of the hips.
After the morote hiki nuki elude, the defender uses the re oil to atta k hudan
, then moves ba k and
waits with zanshin.
In the explanation of morote hiki nuki in the kyohan
, Kaiso writes:
`The important thing to remember at this point is the image of utting against the atta ker's thumbs,
dividing your strength into 30% utting, 70% pulling. You must pay attention to this, be ause if you only
pull you denitely won't be able to es ape.'
Make sure you have this guidan e engraved in your mind when you pra tise morote hiki nuki.

aptions pp.160/1 Stop the atta ker's ude gyaku dori using kagite shuho (pi ture 1).
By atta king the opponent's thumb you weaken his grip (pi ture 2).
Complete the hiki nuki release (pi ture 3).

22
 aption p.162 Morote hiki nuki is a te hnique to be used against atta ks su h as ude gyaku dori. Although
its name means `pulling elude', if you simply pull you won't get free. It's important that you prote t
yourself with shuho , then with the image of utting against the atta ker's thumbs apportion your strength
30% into utting, 70% into pulling.

gote (ryuka
168: morote juji ken)

understand what situations a te hnique is suited to

Morote juji
gote is a te hnique to be used against a two-handed grab to one of the defender's arms, made
with the intention of performing a judo-style arm lo k the same kind of atta k as for maki gote.
Indeed, along with morote juji
gote the hokei
that deal with a judo ude gyaku dori atta k in lude maki
gote, morote hiki nuki, and morote juji
nuki.
The reason for having various ounter-atta k methods for the same atta k is that they ea h deal with
subtly different situations.
If, on e the defender has met the ude gyaku dori with kagite shuho , the atta ker's elbows are bent
and sti king out sideways, an effe tive es ape te hnique would be morote hiki nuki, while an effe tive
gyaku/pin te hnique would be maki gote.
But if the atta ker's arms are outstret hed after the defender's same kagite shuho a tion, the effe tive
te hniques would be morote juji nuki as an es ape, or morote juji
gote as a gyaku.
Shorinji Kempo has a large number of different te hniques, but when pra tising them you have to
understand the kinds of situation in whi h you would perform ea h one, and how they are related to ea h
other.
If you train without this understanding, you'll just get fed up with how many te hniques there are to
learn.
And as a result, even if you know a lot of te hniques, you won't be broadening the range of situations
you an deal with.

don't just atta k the wrist

Let's look at morote juji
gote using photo sequen e A.
From a migi mae stan e the defender pushes forward his arm, inviting the atta k (frame 1).
In response to the attempted ude gyaku dori, the defender prote ts himself with kagite shuho . At this
point the atta ker's arms are outstret hed (frames 25).
With his left hand the defender applies kake te to the left hand of the atta ker (frame 7).
The defender moves his right elbow over the atta ker's left arm, putting it into an S shape (frames
814).
By reating this S shape the defender lo ks up the joints in the atta ker's arm, so that with just a small
amount of for e he an move the atta ker's entre of gravity and make him fall forwards (frames 1418).
If you look in photo sequen e B at the period from the defender's kake te until he makes the atta ker
fall, you'll see that he isn't simply applying a gyaku to the arm but is moving the atta ker's entire body. As
the atta ker's arm is being put into an S shape, his balan e is also being taken. If you just atta k the wrist,
your opponent may be able to stand rm, but if his balan e is disrupted, his arm is lo ked up in an S shape,
and his feet are aligned square-on, there's nothing he an do against being thrown forwards.

aptions p.169 The atta ker's attempted ude gyaku dori is stopped with kagite shuho (pi ture 1).
The kime is the same as for the katate form of juji
gote (pi ture 2).

aption p.170 Morote juji gote is another te hnique for dealing with an ude gyaku dori atta k. Morote
gote is easy to apply if the atta ker's arms are straight at the kagite shuho
juji stage. You don't get an
effe tive kime by arm strength alone, but by bringing to bear the weight of your entire upper body.

23

176: maki gote (ryuka ken)

on entrate on manoeuvring the entre of gravity

Ryuka
ken , with its many te hniques for dealing with grab atta ks, stands as an espe ially important te h-
nique family within Shorinji Kempo.
The ryuka
ken te hniques an be regarded as falling into two ategories depending on whether they
result in the atta ker being thrown through the air with a nage, or just being made to fall over forwards
or ba kwards. However, even though the out omes differ in this way, simulation with omputer graphi s
reveals learly that the tra k of the atta ker's entre of gravity, when observed from dire tly above, follows
an almost straight line.
One thing to bear in mind is that, even when the out ome is a nage, your aim is still to reate a situation
in whi h the atta ker will fall.
A human, as opposed to an inanimate obje t, won't just obligingly fall over when tipped. So let's refer
to the manipulations that remove an atta ker's ability to avoid being thrown as `de-animating' him.
If a person an be put into a state of being toppled just like an inanimate obje t, the most ef ient way
to make him fall is to shift his entre of gravity in a straight line, without any sideways dee tion.
Not just for ryuka
ken but in all Shorinji Kempo juh , you will ome a ross variations in how people
o
arry out the te hniques. Additionally, atta kers an have individual hara teristi s su h as espe ially
tough or resilient wrists, whi h the defender must take into a ount in his response.
This kind of variation is a major ause of people feeling that juh o is dif ult.
However, by not just fo ussing on the differen es, but understanding what is shared in terms of how the
entre of gravity is manoeuvred at the kime of a te hnique, you will also deepen your general understanding
of juh
o.

use the atta ker's own pull in making him fall

Maki gote is a te hnique for use when an atta ker attempts ude gyaku dori.
The atta ker makes a morote grab to the defender's wrist in gyaku, pulls the arm towards him and tries
to put it into a lo k under his armpit.
But although morote means a two-handed grab, this doesn't imply that both hands grab hold at the same
time. As an be seen in photo sequen e A, rst the atta ker grabs with the hand nearer the defender, then
while using that hand to pull the arm towards himself makes a fumikomi step and nally adds the rear hand
to the grab.
The defender responds by starting his move into kagite shuho as soon as the atta ker's right hand grabs.
Then at the instant when the atta ker ompletes his morote grab, his own pulling for e and the kagite
manoeuvre ombine to bring him up onto his toes, with his heels oating off the ground. This leaves him
in the state of `de-animation' mentioned above.
The defender doesn't stop at the kagite position, but while keeping the atta ker up on his toes for es
his head downwards in front of the imaginary line onne ting his two feet.
Be ause the atta ker is destabilised and up on his toes, he annot step with either foot and ends up
being thrown.

aption p.177 Maki gote works by atta king the wrist so as to url it around. But without also un-
derstanding what destabilising position is used for the body as a whole, you won't be able to break the
atta ker's balan e (pi tures 1, 2, 3).

aption p.178 Being grabbed morote an seem a highly unfavourable situation, in that the atta ker's two
hands are pitted against the defender's one. But, looked at another way, when the atta ker's hands are both
o upied, the movement of his upper body an easily be ontrolled. After stopping the atta k with a shuho ,
apply the kime by throwing downwards.

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 o
184: kirikaeshi nuki (ryu ken)

you an't make a shuho by brute for e

Kirikaeshi nuki is an es ape te hnique for use when, as seen in the photo sequen es, an atta ker uses his
right hand, palm downwards, to grip the defender's right arm from the outside and try to twist it ba kwards.
When grabbed, the defender responds by moving in with sashikae irimi, takes up kagite shuho , then
performs the elude by raising his elbow while using his shuto as if utting against the outside of the at-
ta ker's wrist.
If the atta ker doesn't ommit to the atta k with for e, but simply grabs hold, es aping with kirikaeshi
nuki presents no parti ular problems.
But under dramati ally altered onditions, su h as the atta ker applying all his strength to twist the arm,
or using both hands to wren h it upwards, we often see the defender fail to deal with the atta k, oming to
a halt in a position something like a half-formed sankaku shuho .

apply kagite no ri to the full

Be ause kirikaeshi nuki involves eluding an arm-twisting atta k by utting dire tly ba k against it, unless
you use kagite no ri to the full you'll nd it hard to make the release without a struggle.
If you want to lift a heavy obje t, you won't su eed by trying from far away with your arms straight
whereas if you get lose to the obje t and bend your arms, keeping them in onta t with your body, the
lifting be omes easy. Kagite no ri is an appli ation of pre isely this reasoning.
If the atta k is a straight pull, like in kote nuki, you an move into kagite shuho just by spreading your
ngers and bending your arm.
But if you try to respond to the powerful twisting atta k of kirikaeshi nuki with the same approa h as
for kote nuki, you won't be able to bring the bent arm into onta t with your body. Thus you get into a
for ed kind of sankaku shuho .
Using photo sequen e B to observe the defender's move into kagite shuho , we see that at the moment
when he allows the atta ker to grab he spreads his ngers near his own body and bends his elbow. He
points the elbow in the dire tion in whi h the atta ker is trying to wren h the arm, so his and the atta ker's
forearms make an L shape.
At this point the atta ker's position is like someone who's trying to lift a heavy obje t with his arm
outstret hed. By ontrast, the defender is like someone attempting a lift having bent his elbow and bra ed
his arm against his body.
Without stopping there, the defender qui kly moves in with sashikae irimi, rea hing a full kagite shuho
with the atta ker's wrist bent, then performs the elude.
Let's have a look at photo sequen e frames A4 and 5.
Noti e how, in the period from being grabbed until the formation of the L shape, the defender moves
his body towards his own arm. By this movement he an easily bring his upper arm into lose onta t with
his body.
Kenshi who fail to get into kagite shuho are invariably attempting to do so by drawing the arm towards
themselves. It's a subtle differen e, but it has a large impa t on the out ome.

aption p.185 The atta ker grabs the defender's right arm from outside, in jun (pi ture 1).
The defender moves in with sashikae irimi and turns his wrist over to ounter the atta k. He lays his
left hand on top of the atta ker's elbow, and es apes (pi ture 2).

aption p.186 Kirikaeshi nuki is an elude for when an atta ker grabs an arm from outside with his palm
fa ing down, and tries to twist the arm ba kwards. If you attempt to perform the ounter-atta k using
shoulder strength, you'll meet strong resistan e. You should pi ture yourself ountering the atta k not just
at the atta ker's wrist, but as a movement affe ting him up to the shoulder.

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192: kiri gote (ryuka ken)

get the heels off the ground, just as in kirikaeshi nuki

Kiri gote is for ases su h as when an atta ker omes to grab your right arm from outside using his right
hand, palm down, then tries to twist the arm up and ba k. Like juji gote, the te hnique involves putting the
atta ker's arm into an S shape and making him fall forwards.
When his right arm is grabbed, the defender takes up the form of kagite shuho used in kirikaeshi nuki,
at the same time bending the atta ker's wrist and applying his left hand as a kake te with the thumb pointing
upwards.
The result at this point is that the kagite shuho has neutralised the power that the atta ker was trying to
use to twist the arm up and ba k, and both his heels are off the ground.
With his heels taken off the ground by the kagite shuho , the atta ker's knees are bent and he an't sti k
out his bottom to stand his ground.
The defender must take are, when bending the wrist and elbow to indu e the S shape, not to push ba k
the atta ker's shoulder.
This is be ause if his shoulder is allowed ba k, you undo the good work of having raised his heels. On e
he gets them rmly ba k on the ground he an straighten and stabilise his body, and kiri gote be omes mu h
harder to apply.

destabilise the atta ker then make him fall

Let's look at the photo sequen es up to the point where the defender has destabilised the atta ker and is
making him fall.
The defender stands in migi mae stan e, inviting a right-handed grab.
When grabbed he makes a fumikomi step forwards with his left foot, takes up kagite shuho with a twist
of his body to the right, and simultaneously applies the kake te.
As a result the atta ker's heels ome off the ground, and his posture is one of being stret hed out
diagonally forwards (photo frames A410).
Then by the defender's wrist movements the atta ker's wrist, elbow and shoulder are put into an S shape,
and his knees bend. He be omes unable to es ape from the kiri gote, and falls forwards (frames A1114).
This photo sequen e was taken at a rate of ten frames per se ond. So the time from frame 10, in whi h
the atta ker's posture is destabilised, to that kime that is making him fall in frame 14, is just 0.4 se onds.
Bringing the atta ker's heels off the ground puts him into a state like a tall pie e of furniture that's
tipped diagonally forwards and is about to fall over.
It's the fa t that you get the atta ker into an unstable position where he an't stand his ground that
allows kiri gote to be applied qui kly and with little for e.

aptions p193 While you ut ba k against the atta k as in kirikaeshi nuki, the left hand takes up kake te
(pi tures 1, 1').
Disrupting the atta ker's posture, make him fall (pi ture 2).

aption p194 When his right arm is grabbed, the defender takes up kagite shuho as for kirikaeshi nuki,
and while bending the atta ker's wrist simultaneously applies kake te with his left hand, thumb upwards.
When applying a kime based on the S shape, you must be areful not to push the atta ker's shoulder ba k.

200: kirikaeshi tembin (ryuka ken)

applying tembin with brute for e is dangerous

Kirikaeshi tembin is a te hnique for use when the appli ation of kiri gote goes wrong.
As seen in the photo sequen es here, when the atta ker grips the outside of the defender's right wrist
using his own right hand and tries to twist the arm, the defender ounter-atta ks with kiri gote.
If the atta ker responds in turn by trying to es ape from the kiri gote, the defender removes his left
hand from its kake te position and uses the left-arm wanto to apply tembin.

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 There are a number of te hniques apart from kirikaeshi tembin that use the tembin atta k, and we often
hear of instan es of elbow injury due to the tembin.
Tembin is not a gyaku te hnique against the elbow joint. It's a way to throw someone down by atta king
a nerve point on the arm, using wanto or some other part.
That said, the atta k to the nerve point does involve applying some for e in a dire tion in whi h the
arm will not bend.
Therefore if the atta ker is standing rm, any attempt to apply tembin with enough for e to throw him
down is extremely dangerous. It's the kind of situation that an put people off training.
Conversely, if you manage to apply tembin with just a small for e, there will be no worry about ausing
injury, and the pra ti e will be enjoyable.
In order to apply an effe tive tembin with only minimal for e, kuzushi be omes tremendously impor-
tant.

hase down the atta ker in the dire tion in whi h he's trying to es ape
Let's have a look at kirikaeshi tembin using photo sequen e A.
The defender takes up a migi mae stan e and invites the atta ker's grab.
The atta ker uses his right hand to grasp the outside of the defender's arm in jun, and tries to wren h it
upwards (frames 14).
The defender moves on from his shuho by applying kake te and attempting to use kiri gote. But the
atta ker resists kiri gote by pulling ba k his right shoulder while moving his weight onto his left leg (frames
513).
The defender releases his left hand from its kake te and uses wanto to apply tembin against the atta ker's
right arm (frames 1420).
No matter how detailed a photo sequen e is, it annot reveal how mu h for e is being applied in
performing some te hnique.
Examining photo frames A14A24, it may look as if the defender is putting a lot of for e into atta king
his opponent's arm with wanto . But in fa t for e is only applied for a brief instant of kime.
Have a look at photo sequen e C.
To try to es ape kiri gote the atta ker shifts his weight to his left leg and pulls ba k his shoulder, and
the defender responds by making onta t with wanto (frames 1116).
Taking a ount of this transfer of weight to the left leg, the defender adds his own weight behind the
movement, putting the atta ker into a position where he an no longer resist. That's why the tembin atta k
an be applied with just a small for e against the nerve point.

aptions pp.200/1 A ase where the defender tries to apply kiri gote, but the atta ker's arm straightens
(pi ture 1).
The defender releases the kake te and brings his wanto to the atta ker's elbow, applying tembin to throw
the atta ker down (pi tures 2, 3).

aption p.202 Kirikaeshi tembin is a te hnique for use when an atta ker responds to a kiri gote ounter-
atta k by trying to es ape. It works by applying tembin to throw the atta ker down. Tembin is not an atta k
against the elbow joint, but is a way to make someone fall by applying pressure to a nerve point in the
upper arm.

208: kirikaeshi gote (ryuka ken)

a variant ontinuation of kiri gote

Kirikaeshi gote is a variant ontinuation for use when an atta ker resists kiri gote by bending his elbow and
lifting his arm.
A ording to the explanation in the kyohan
, `Keeping the kake te as used for kiri gote, bend the at-
ta ker's wrist and twist it upwards near your own entre line. During this movement push forwards and, at

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the same time, use one hand to grip the atta ker's wrist and to press upwards on kokoku using the ball of
your thumb. Take a fumikomi step outside and to the rear of the atta ker, and make him fall fa e-up.'
Kirikaeshi gote is a renraku waza [a ontinuation for some other te hnique, so it won't work if you try
to perform it immediately on being grabbed.
In pra tising it, the atta ker should rst make the same atta k as for kiri gote, and the defender should
meti ulously perform the shuho and kake te used for kiri gote.
Then the atta ker should make as to es ape the kiri gote, resisting by raising his arm and bending his
elbow.
It's important for the ontinuation into kirikaeshi gote to happen from this situation.
With the arm has been grabbed, atta k the little-nger side of the atta ker's hand; your other hand grabs
the ball of his thumb.
Having taken a rm grip with both hands on the atta ker's hand, twist it while breaking his balan e and
bringing him up onto his toes, then make him fall fa e-up with the appli ation of kirikaeshi gote. Finally,
pin him with kirikaeshi gatame.

turn the atta ker's resistan e for e against him

Let's look at kirikaeshi gote using the photo sequen es.
The defender invites the atta k from a migi mae stan e.
The atta ker responds by grabbing the defender's right arm and trying to wren h it upwards and ba k
(frames A15).
Kirikaeshi gote is a variant ontinuation te hnique, so trying to perform it immediately on being at-
ta ked would require brute for e.
When grabbed, the defender prote ts himself using kagite shuho and tries to apply kiri gote.
The atta ker resists the kiri gote by lifting his elbow (frames A67).
In response to this resistan e, the defender bends the atta ker's wrist and pushes forwards while twisting
the wrist upwards near his own entre line (frames A817).
Bending the elbow allowed the atta ker to resist the forwards throw-down of kiri gote.
But the defender's handling of the situation, swit hing from a pull to a twisting push, disrupts the
atta ker's resistan e for e and turns it against him, nally making him fall over.
Making an opponent fall fa e-up is not done with for e, but after bringing him to his toes and destabil-
ising him.

aptions pp.208/9 When the defender attempts kiri gote, the atta ker raises his elbow and tries to stand
his ground (pi ture 1).
The defender destabilises the atta ker's upper body ba kwards, and throws him to the ground.

aption p.210 Kirikaeshi gote is a variant te hnique used when an atta ker lifts his elbow in order to
resist the appli ation of kiri gote. After using both hands to grab the atta ker's arm, the defender twists it
while bringing the atta ker to his toes and breaking his balan e. Kirikaeshi gote is a way to end kiri gote
with a fa e-up throw.

216: morote kirikaeshi nage (ryuka ken)

don't onfuse it with kirikaeshi nage

Kirikaeshi nage is for when you are trying to apply kiri gote but the atta ker lets go of your arm. So you
grab the palm [i.e., the eshy part of his hand, twist his arm upwards, turn around and throw him.
In ontrast, morote kirikaeshi nage is for dealing with an atta k like that of morote kirikaeshi nuki, in
whi h the atta ker is trying to twist your arm up and ba k. From sankaku shuho you apply kake te, turning
the tables on the atta ker and making him fall.
These days there are two re ognised forms for the handhold in morote kirikaeshi nage.
In our photo sequen es, the defender entwines his right arm with that of the atta ker, like in kiri gote,
and uses his left hand on the atta ker's left hand as in oshi gote.

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 An alternative is for the defender to use the normal kiri gote-style hold, applying both his hands to the
atta ker's right arm.
In morote kirikaeshi nage we often see a defender trying to perform the throw just by sweeping the
atta ker's arm round with the shoulder as the pivot, but then nding that the atta ker's posture is unbroken,
and tugging to try to pull him over.
But in ommon with many other te hniques it's important not to be xated on just the hold and the
way of atta king the wrist.
What matters is that you're drawing the atta ker into a posture where he will fall. The wrist is your
point of onta t.

take away his support and send him ying

The rst point to wat h for when performing morote kirikaeshi nage is the timing of the defender's move
into shuho .
Although it is a morote atta k, this doesn't mean that the atta ker grabs with both hands at exa tly the
same time.
If you arry out the shuho only on e both hands have grabbed, in the worst ase the atta ker will
su eed in twisting your arm up and ba k, and even at best you'll end up in sankaku shuho lo ked in a
battle of strength so it's too late to steal the initiative and throw him.
From a natural stan e, the defender invites the grab. An atta ker standing migi mae will grab with the
right hand rst (frames A16).
As soon as his right arm is grabbed, the defender brings his body forward to his own arm, moving into
sankaku shuho . But he doesn't pause there, and by the time the atta ker has applied his double-handed
grab the defender has already se ured his ounter-atta k stan e and applied his own grip (frames A611).
You an see that this body movement and wrist manipulation leave the atta ker stret hing upwards,
with both heels off the ground.
In the subsequent frames the defender an be seen immediately sending the atta ker ying, starting by
throwing the atta ker's head downwards (frames A1220).
When the atta ker is up on his toes, effe tively he's being supported by the defender's arms.
By dropping his own arms, the defender an suddenly leave the atta ker with no support, and thus
throw him.
The prin iple here is that, from the time of being grabbed until the exe ution of the throw, the defender
exe utes morote kirikaeshi nage without a pause, and as if passing the atta ker shoulder-to-shoulder.

aptions pp.216/7 The atta ker tries to twist the defender's arm up and ba k (pi ture 1).
Turning his body, the defender takes up his grip: one hand is applied as in kiri gote, the other as in oshi
gote (pi tures 2, 2').

aption p.218 Morote kirikaeshi nage is used when an atta ker omes to grab and twist one's arm up-
wards and ba k. The defender uses sankaku shuho then applies kake te, turning the tables on the atta ker
and making him fall. What nally throws the atta ker is not the momentum of his arms being swept around,
but the way the defender drops his own upper body and thus removes the atta ker's means of support.

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