Japanese in Karate 18 "Uke"

“Uke” means ‘receiving’ in Japanese. In karate “uke” is to block the attack. I suppose it’s called “uke” in karate because by receiving the opponent’s attack rather than just blocking it, you can take the advantage of the opponent’s power and connect immediately to the counter attack.

★ Joudan uke  / age uke
“Jodan” means ‘upper level’. “Jodan uke” is the block against the high punch or kick from above.
It’s also called “age uke” in some styles. “Age” means ‘to lift up’.

★ Chuudan soto uke
“Chudan” means ‘middle level’ and “soto” means ‘outside’. “Soto uke” is the block which the arm and hand move from outside to inside.

★ Chuudan uchi uke
“Uchi” means ‘inside’ and “uchi uke” is the block which the arm and hand move from inside to outside.

★ Gedan barai
“Gedan” means ‘lower level’ and “barai” means ‘sweeping’. Japanese word for ‘sweeping’ is “harai” but because the word is combined with “gedan”, the sound of “harai” changes to “barai”. “Gedan barai” is the block against the opponent’s lower punch or lower leg attack by sweeping the arm.

★ Shutou mawashi uke

 “Shutou” is 'hand sword' (please refer to  blog No.16 ), “mawashi” means ‘making a circle’ or ‘turn something around’. In "shutou mawashi uke", you make shutou with both hands and block by moving the both hands in a circular motion.

★ Haitou uke

“Haitou” means ‘back of the sword”. It is the hand technique using the thumb side of the hand as opposed to the little finger side used in "shutou".