“…in today’s society, we are too superficial. We simply take our techniques and take them for face value without breaking them down…”
Ever since the inception of Karate being taught to the public, people have always referred to the open handed techniques we do in our forms and applications as “chops”. Let’s be honest, you have probably called it that yourself at some point! Well let me tell you. Every time you refer to those techniques as “chops”, you are making Shotokan founder Gichin Funakoshi roll in his grave. He even dedicated an entire chapter in his autobiography ranting about this misnomer!
So what is the proper name for this technique and what’s the difference?
The proper name for this technique is a knife handed strike: Shuto in Japanese, or Soo Do in Korean. It is certainly more than a chop. They are fundamentally different while the hand positioning is still the same. The chop, as seen in many breaking demonstrations, involves the practitioner swinging the arm in a wide arc from behind the head in a simple downward direction. Here the contact surface is the hand. The chop is certainly a good way of transferring power, but it is very elementary and not that applicable for a combative application (Funakoshi 95).
Now let’s talk about the Soo Do.
The Soo Do or Shuto involves a preparatory chamber position. Here’s the interesting part, each style of karate and its daughter arts execute this preparatory chamber differently! If you take the opportunity to see how each style executes this preparatory chamber, you will open yourself to a wide array of applications. Each one offers a different example of limb control or limb destruction leading to the Soo Do itself (Funakoshi 94).
Unlike the wide arcing chop, the Soo Do comes from a point of containment and explodes and expands to the point of contact. The force of the Soo Do is complex going in multiple directions, not just the simple downward vector that the chop has. While the Soo Do appears to use the knife hand as the contact surface. In application, you can muddy the waters and utilize the forearm or even the elbow. Due to this versatility, the Soo Do can be imagined not just as a strike, but also as several different takedowns. The possibilities are endless.
You can see that it really is not a fair comparison to label the Soo Do as a chop. Unfortunately, in today’s society, we are too superficial. We simply take our techniques and take them for face value without breaking them down. After all, bunkai translates to analysis, not application. We need to investigate our techniques to find their true meaning.
This doesn’t just apply to your Soo Do’s. It applies to all of your techniques. Can you explain them in detail? How many different explanations can you give for any technique?
As a beginner it is perfectly fine to work on the simple striking approach to the techniques, but as you progress, you should start to think, “What else could this be?” Possibly, this is not just a low block, but it could be a straight arm bar or preparing for a sweep on a kick defense.
The possibilities are unlimited as long as you do not limit your vision or scope of the technique that you are working to perfect. Just like you wouldn’t call a Corvette “Just a Car”. Don’t call a Soo Do, Just a chop!
REFERENCES
Funakoshi, Gichin. Karate-Dō My Way of Life. Kodansha International, 1975.
