Hey. Ando here from SenseiAndo.com. Have you seen this video? In Karate
versus Kung Fu, I challenged my friend Jesse Enkamp, the world-famous Karate
Nerd, to defend himself against the tiger claw, one of my favorite kung fu
techniques. If you haven't seen that video, I'll put the link below. But
spoiler alert--he's still alive. Anyway, Jesse-sensei is such a cool dude that he
sent me a challenge of his own. So, here's the plan. When we get back
Jesse-sensei is going to show you one of his favorite old-school karate
techniques and then I'll be back to show you why it would never work in the real world.
At least not against me.
Greetings Sensei Ando and thank you so much for inviting me to your show.
For those of you who don't know, my name is Jesse from
Karate by Jesse.com aka the Karate Nerd, and I'm here to challenge Sensei Ando to
see how he would use his traditional kung fu stuff against one of the most
devastating karate moves in existence. The technique I'm about to show you is
known as Shuto in Japanese. The word itself consists of two parts. The first, shu,
does not mean a shoe, but it actually means head in Japanese.
The second part, to, does not mean a toe, but it actually
means sword in Japanese. In other words, when you put it together,
this is a sword hand or a knife hand strike that can be used both for blocking
and attacking. Now, I am interested to see how Sensei Ando would protect against this.
Alright. So most people when they apply the shuto, they only do it as a
block. Look. This is Sensei Ludwig right here, so, I'm going to be using to
demonstrate. So, let's say he throws a haymaker or a hook punch self-defense
style. And then generally, in karate, people will back up and try to block
using the shuto and then maybe they'll just step in after that and apply it as
a strike. And that's fine if you're facing a street fighter or a karate
practitioner. But if you're fighting a kung fu guy, you need to be faster.
Instead of going two steps-- one, two-- we need to do it in one step. And this is
the more advanced way to apply the shuto. Look. So, Kung fu punch comes.
I block. I deflect that blow as I cross my hand. And every time you do the
shuto, you should cross your hands no matter what style of karate you practice
because crossing my hand as I block allows me to buy that time I need to
get this hand to the inside from the outside, and I need that to be able to
grab, twist, and control as I pull it in when I step in with the actual strike to
the neck. The shuto. So, again One, two, three, and that's the whole thing. Fast.
It's important to understand that if you're very close to your opponent,
feel free to strike using your whole arm. That's the classical old-school way of
doing the shuto, so we get full body power behind that. But if you're further
away, you may use only the hand, which is the more modern way of doing the shuto
or that knife hand/ sword hand strike. So, again, one-- block. Two-- grab. Three-- step in
to attack. And then let's see how we can follow up, because I believe it's
important to do some kind of takedown to control your opponent after this.
So, either we could step behind right there as we push the face in , kind of like that
tiger move in kung fu right? Here. Take him down. Right?
Or why not do it the other way? So, after we do that shuto, I go here with the hand, right?
And now I just kick his leg out this way, inside, as I pull back and drop down here.
Arm drag right on the elbow, and then finish up however you want. And that is
how you can use the shuto, one of the most devastating moves of karate.
That's it, Sensei Ando. Do you accept my challenge? Let me see how you would use your kung fu
skills to defend against my deadly shuto strikes of traditional karate.
Thanks and good luck!
Ah, yes yes yes. The shuto or sword hand strike.
Or as we used to call in my neighborhood, the karate chop.
Look, I'm not even going to talk about those cool karate takedowns at the end because
baby, if you try that pile of shuto on me, you're never going to get that far.
That's because I know three ways to stop the sword hand strike. So, prepare
yourself for a shuto shutdown.
Here again, my good friend, Arsen. << Hi guys.>>
You'll be playing the part of the karate guy.
<> Yeah, sorry, man.
So, in my video challenge to Jesse-sensei, I caught his karate kick and then
moved in for a takedown. And Jesse made the comment that the only way I would
catch that kick is if we were living in a parallel universe. But funny enough, he
had no problem catching my punch out of midair. Huh. I guess we live in the same
parallel universe. Look, here's the thing-- if you can catch
my punch, then that wasn't a very good punch. If I'm sticking my hand out when
you catch it, then I'm an idiot. That's not kung fu, that's dumb fu.
Which brings us to the first shuto shutdown-- fake him out, then take him out.
If I don't know what he's going to do, then what I'm going to start doing is staying
at range and throw a fake or an uncommitted punch. If I see that he's
trying to catch my hand and he's chasing it around, good! I'm going to let him keep
doing that. I'm gonna say, "Hey, karate kid, look up here!" Then kick him down there.
To be fair, Jesse-sensei did say that to make
this work you have to be fast. But I'm old. I'm not fast. I need to be smart. That's
what good kung fu is all about. So, shuto shutdown number one-- fake him
out, then take him out
Shuto shutdown number two-- punches in bunches. Again, only an idiot is going to
punch and fight with one arm. The only time I would do that might be if I'm
drunk. Even a zombie fights with two hands, right? If I'm throwing a number one,
there's going to be a number two. It may not be a punch, but it's going to be
something. Now, Jesse-sensei points out that when he deflects the punch,
he's buying time to get that second hand inside. Well, there's a problem with that.
I don't think you can buy that much time. It's a simple game of initiation. At this range,
if I start my number one ,you start your number one right after. So, now I'm
starting my number two, I'm ahead of your number two. The timing here doesn't
really matter whether he does this as a 1-2-3, 1-2-3-- my 2 is going to beat his 3.
Even if he's pretty spunky and he makes it a 1-2, my
1-2 is already starting before his. It's a simple matter of timing.
Now, sure, at a farther away range you probably get away with parrying and deflecting, and
big blocks, but in my experience, the closer you get, offense beats defense. Initiation beats
reaction. So, shuto shutdown number two, beat him on timing-- throw your punches
in bunches.
Shuto shutdown number three-- go with the flow.
in his video, Jesse-sensei does a beautiful job of demonstrating a sword
hand strike, but he doesn't have time to talk about the secret to really making
it work. I'm going to talk about that secret and then tell you how to beat it.
The secret is the hikite or pulling hand. He catches and then pulls
it down. A good hikite does three important things. As he pulls me down, one,
it shifts my weight to the front foot so I'm not able to move around. Two, if I'm
thinking about throwing that second punch, when he pulls this shoulder
forward, this shoulder goes backward, so I lose all my power in that second hand.
That's important. Three, by pulling down, I fall on to the swordhand strike.
That adds impact to this blow. Karate and Kung Fu, neither one wants to
rely on power or speed if they don't have to. So, by pulling me
down and taking advantage of my being off balance, that's what makes that
strike so effective. So, now let's talk a little more specifically about what we
see in the video. Sensei Jesse is kind to his training partner, as he should be.
And I hope I am. And I hope you are. He allows Sensei Ludwig, he traps, he catches, and
he allows Sensei Ludwig to stand straight up, which again is going to be a problem.
As Jesse steps in, my 2, I still believe, is going to catch him on the way in.
So, that will be the first little issue right there. The second issue is that
again, only an idiot is going to throw a punch with his head open and me standing
up tall to give you this target area of my neck. Even if I have just a little
training and I keep my chin down and put my shoulder in a little bit, as this
comes in, even if I let him come in, did you see that? He as a hard time getting in here.
If this makes it all the way and I'm not able to take my punch or block that hand,
I'm still-- I'll eat that. I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll be honest.
I don't mind that shot. It's a lot better than getting hit on the neck. So, now
let's talk about a slightly more effective version of the hikite, which I
know he didn't have time to talk about, but I do. So, when he pulls me down-- boom.
There's still something in play here that most people
aren't looking at. Can you tell what it is? RIght. My hand. Even though my shoulder
gets swung back and I'm not able to throw a punch, my hand is still here. Think about it...
if he's able to deflect my punch, there's no reason why I can't deflect
his sword hand strike. You see this kind of thing, back and forth drills in
Filipino martial arts, yes, Okinawan martial arts, and even Chinese martial
arts. It's kind of a basic thing. So, following the old rule of push when
pulled or pull when pushed, when he takes that good hikite and slams me in here, I've
already checked this arm. And now I have a bonus.
Let me turn around a little bit. Look what happened. That hikite is actually him putting
my hand on his hip. If I'm a grappler, I'm looking for a takedown, that's exactly
what I wanted. I'm already here and have an open path to
close that distance, to push when pulled, and turn that into a double leg takedown.
But since I'm in more of a kung fu mood right now, I'm down, I'm checking that arm,
I can step around, grab the head for an easy takedown. Now I just add a couple of
charcoal briquets, a squirt of lighter fluid, and I get to practice my favorite kung fu move,
tiger eats barbecued crane. <>
Mm. So, there you have it-- three ways to shut down the Shuto. Fake him out,
punches in bunches, and go with the flow. Now, just in case it's not clear, Jesse
and I are having a little bit of fun. We both know that any technique can work if
you make it work. The secret is you, not your style. So, train hard and keep an
open mind. We can all learn from each other. For more world-class information
on karate, make sure you check out karatebyjesse.com and please go subscribe to
Jesse's YouTube channel. I'll put the links below. Until next time, let's keep
it friendly, and keep fighting for a happy life.