BUILDING BLOCKS

Budoshin Jujitsu’s Classification of BLOCKING TECHNIQUES Epitomizes Simplicity

- GEORGE KIRBY

Jack Seki, the traditional sensei who taught me Japanese jujitsu, never gave his students a separate term for each block they learned. For Seki, blocking was an integral part of any jujitsu technique that involved stopping or deflecting an attack before countering. Rather than it being a distinct movement, the block was just a step you took so you could protect yourself long enough to get to the attacker and deal with him.

There were only two terms Seki used: te no tatake for blocking a hand technique and juji for blocking an overhead strike or a kick. That was it.

Some jujitsu ryu and most karate ryu typically have 10 or 12 distinct names for blocks delivered at specific angles or elevations, and teachers devote lots of class time to conveying the proper terminology and the associated execution. But for Seki, all that was irrelevant. A block was just a motion you made as you moved in to continue your defense. It either worked or you got hit. Done!

Guidelines

According to Seki, a block executed while doing a complete jujitsu technique has one of two purposes. First, it can deflect the attack so the incoming weapon travels 2 to 4 inches to the side of its target, which is usually your head or torso. Second, it can stop the forward motion of the attack completely, which is sometimes called a hard block.

Most overhead blows, kicks, and roundhouse or backhand strikes require a hard block because of their greater momentum and potentially greater impact. Most martial artists effect their hard blocks at 90 degrees to the attack’s trajectory because that’s the angle at which they’re most effective. Here are some common examples of this hard methodology:

• You block an overhead strike with a club by making contact with a part of the limb that’s between the mid-forearm and the elbow.