How to Perform Shotokan Karate Hand Strikes

The Shotokan style of karate is one of the more popular forms of the martial art with schools and practitioners all over the world.  It was created to place an emphasis on efficiency and purity of movement. The philosophy of Shotokan is the perfection of character and that inefficient motion is a direct reflection of mental flaws. The idea is to remove indecisiveness and hesitation from the mind and motion of the Shotokan student.

Principles of Shotokan hand striking techniques

• Shotokan karate aims to maximize punching power by teaching proper fighting posture and stance. Each punch must be delivered perfectly and decisively in order to inflict as much damage to the opponent as possible by using leverage, body control and correct joint alignment. 


• Striking in Shotokan is usually straight-armed with blows being delivered from a stance that maximizes the center of gravity. This martial art also teaches various methods of striking with elbow and fist. The idea is that the minutiae of movement matters when it comes to being effective. 
  The Shotokan student strives to deliver each blow as efficiently and with as much purity of motion as is possible, eliminating all factors that might hinder power or accuracy. The idea is to win fights as quickly as possible with as little unnecessary movement as possible. This includes dispatching multiple opponents with few blows. 

Different Shotokan striking techniques (in Japanese: tzuki waza)

• The Japanese term for the straight jab is choku zuki. The straight punch is the most efficient way of delivering the force of the punch to its target. By reducing the punch to its barest essentials the student of Shotokan karate maximizes hand speed. In the same movement the other hand is pulled back, delivering more power to the punch. 


• A straight punch that is delivered upwards from a lower stance is called age zuki. 


• An elbow strike is called empi uchi.