P.S. this thread has been deader than dead for ages. if that's the kind of thing you have to do to resurrect the discussion.....
Ha ha! By the way, sorry for overreacting to the '50 things women can't do' thread. I shouldn't have got so visceral about it, you're right it was only a joke.
One question about nukite! How do you align your fingers? straight Bit bent middle finger more bent than the others ??
Kerling, The way my sensei does it he has the ends of his fingers very slightly inclined, presumably so if he misses they can scrunch up instead of fracturing. Sorry for the delay.
I know this thread is antediluvian by now, but I have something else to say. What do you think of using nukite to attack facial/head points such as the philtrum, cervical plexus and the indent in the chin? We use it for that at my dojo and I'd like to know if it's a common practice.
I think there's basically NO situation where I would use my nukite instead of my fists. Then again, I might find one some day This, plus the risk of serious injury, is enough to put me off. If you want to go ahead and experiment, try using it with the middle finger bent so it doesn't stick out. That's what I always do.
I wouldn't attack the face or skull with my fingertips, but you could try (carefully) jabbing your fingertips into the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Or how about putting your open hand next to someone's face (palm facing their cheek) and dig your thumb into the front of the temporo-mandibular joint. It looks like 'nukite' but the weapon surface is different (ie. thumb rather than fingers). Mike
I got taught a variation of nukite that is much much safer to the user. Instead of having the fingers out straight they are bent in a similar way as a teisho, a bit like making ippon ken with all the fingers. You could definately hit the sp very hard with that.
yeah, it is actually a recognized strike. Can't remember the japanese- it's 'leopard fist' or something with kung fu people. Personally, I find it hard to hit with the same force as a normal fist, due to the way you have to hold all your fingers out like that, even bent.
Found an explanation for the Nukite fixation Guys, you know what Mike Flanagan said about Nukite being a corruption of ancient bunkai? I think a lot of people have thought of this but are too refined to say so. Anyway, here's my theory - the fixation with hitting the solar plexus is pseudo-sexual. Men suffer from 'matrix envy' (matrix as in uterus) and having someone stick you in the solar plexus is the closest they can get to this. It's logical - women are said to suffer from penis envy, and what better way to draw attention away from yourself than blame someone else for a fault that you have? Ever considered the number of times that the move has been described as 'penetration'??? Enough said. Or I could merely have psychology on the brain...I'm doing an online psychology course with the DCU.
Umm........... yes you have psychology on the brain! I have a funny story about this. A TKD guy at a tounament was going to do a break through a board with a Nukite he failed to realize that "most" people close the hand on impact and open it again on the other side. Needless to say he broke his middle finger, what was really sad was watching his face as he tried A SECOND TIME........WITH THE SAME HAND!
I think everyone's got this pretty well covered, but here's my two cents: I defy you to hit a moving person on such a small target as the solar plexus with a weapon that's 1 square cm. I have to move one cm and you will miss. Why would you risk jamming your fingers just to fulfill something stylistic? I assume that with a straight nukite you would have control of the centreline. Why waste time with a nukite to the solar plexus, when you can throw much more damaging shots on the centreline like a heel palm to the jaw?
I agree with that, I have decided not to bother with Nukite. I jammed my left index finger blocking a kick about 2 months ago, couldn't use it for about three days, I'm definitely not deliberately risking that again. By the way Jamie Thompson I see what you mean about trying to tense over the solar plexus...I was just a poor naive little girl...now, must go off and cry over the fact that reindeer would in reality combust from air friction if they could really move fast enough to make a sleigh fly
sorry for playing the necromancer with this thread but i have a new opinion on the matter. in my dojo we were taught to aim nukite at the stomach, with piercing intents, i have poked myself between the abs without much strenght(just above the bellybutton) and it hurt the snot out of me every time, so IMO i guess the nukite is made to live up to it's name, to "spear" people through the stomach, based on real spears, since chests were normally armored a little more than the rest of the body, and people tend to block/defend/attack at chest level, so i think spears would be aimed at stomachs for almost instant kills during battles. the only and i repeat the ONLY(and with a chance of happening of less than 1 in one million) situation in which i would use a nukite is if someone was near me killing lots people, upon which i would strike him full force between the abs with a fully tensed nukite, as much as needed to get my hands on his guts. if my assumptions are correct, if "I"(14, really short, about five times weaker than normal people my age) can penetrate my own abs with a nukite using enough strenght, a "standard" adult karateka on middle/high kyu level should be able to spear another adult with a strong one. EDIT: quick jabs can be more painful than a teisho to the ribs i think, and certainly more debilitating