You’ve Just Had Both of Your Lapels Grabbed – Now What?

When an attacker walks up and begins to harangue you with threats of violence, he will often grab you by one shirt/jacket lapel and with one or both of his hands grasping tightly. So do I have time to fish through my pocket or purse for a personal keychain alarm or do I go right into action. If you have any martial arts skills, you may have learned this already or if you don’t train in self defense then definitely look for your alarm – they save lives too!

Lets start easy with a couple of “hidden hands” movements from Okinawan Karate, Shorin Ryu (Kobayashi mode) to be exact.

Almost all Okinawan katas begin the same way and for a reason there’s a startling self defense technique hiding in there for those who don’t know it yet. So here it is: Most Okinawan katas begin with left hand raised first over the right hand – second, and palms facing the student. The arms are at about a 90 degree angle bend at the elbows and the arms soft yet holding a certain amount of tension on tap. They would look like a person with their palms pressed together “praying” except the palms are left over right. and fingertips toward the sky. From here the hands just rotate downward as if a nail was holding them together and they then rotate down until they have opened, formed an “X” and continued to a full lower extension. At the top of “the opening” portion and at the bottom of “the closed” position, it would appear that there is only one hand since the cover each other perfectly. There are two unexpected and explosive self defense movements from this position.

One is taught to below Black Belt students and the second – a bit more complex, is usually saved for after Black Belt. I show my students both since they usually forget several times and never have them down cold until they’re 1st or 2nd Dan anyway. So, with a troublemaker jerking at your shirt or jacket lapels, you would bring the left hand over the right and the fingers pointing up as if beginning the kata, except lower and not allowing the hands to become ensnared with the opponent’s arms. Then in an abbreviated version of this “bow” the hands begin to swivel on top of each other and head to the fully extended downward portion of the bowing motion. Only in combat the wrists would slightly “break” a bit allowing you (the defender) to slam the backs of the wrists into the opponents solar plexus area. Their distance will determine if you must step forward, or if closer, just drop into a nice solid stance and slam the backs of the wrists into the target area w/o ever taking a step. I can assure you of super knockdown power if this is practiced “mentally” or “with intent” – thinking about the hidden technique – fairly often when performing this seemingly repetitious bow at the beginning and end of most Okinawan katas. As a martial arts student you will do the technique 1000’s of times, but you’ll only need to see the bunkai demonstrated a couple of times and you’ll be doing it too!

The intent is on the mental side and the physical movements are done without much thought whenever one does katas. This marries the techniques into one movement over time. 2 + 2 = 4. Very simple stuff really but only if you know it. The Okinwans who were dominated by other cultures for long periods of time, were often forbidden weapons and disguised the bunkai (applications) very well and continued to practice karate or “te” for centuries, disguised as the dance and celebrations held by this captive peasant society. With China as her mother, plus the indigenous “Te” or “Tode” societies’ addtions, the Okinawans developed highly effective empty handed karate techniques.

After the opening of the Seisan kata, believed to be the parent form of the Pinan katas. Let’s skip what some call the ‘bow” or beginning salutation (bunkai partially explained above) and get to the first movement which is stepping in to a left forward stance and performing a left middle body protection (step forward left and block with inner portion of left arm). The eyes should see just inside the furthest range of this block when it’s extended and the knuckles of a closed fist are at eyebrow height. The elbow is forming an angle of 90 degrees at the elbow. This sudden movement alone, startles any attacker and the left arm circling around to the top of it’s arc toward the left side of the head, will not only stop a punch but it will erase any hand-grip that you are in by exploding into the attackers hands/wrists, just as you have achieved maximum speed and power. The natural torque of the waist in a direction to the left – begs for it to be continued a little more and allow the right hand to come crashing into the opponents face or body as the second trailing limb follows the left – but with deadly purpose as well.

Just worry about the left arm blocking or “wiping” movement for now, that’s what breaks the grip. When comfortable – go ahead and add the punch – you’ll feel it wanting to come so go ahead and throw but remember to take it slow until you’re conditioned to do it right and can take the added twisting and extension.

Got questions? Leave a comment and I’ll be glad to elaborate. It’s my intention to teach you the advanced self defense technique hidden in the bowing movement which I did not cover in this post. I hope you will have tried these first before we get to it. Good luck with these and us caution when training with a partner, it’s imperative that you be able to trust one another to have safe and effective practice sessions!