Empty Hands

Caveat: Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.

This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding. Oh, and just because I wrote it and just because it sounds reasonable and just because it makes sense, does not mean it is true.)

“In karate, empty hands, it is often thought that one uses the empty hands exclusively for combat and many tend to focus heavily and exclusively on hand techniques but this is incorrect. Empty hands are not always appropriate to any given situation. Karate does teach you how to use the empty hands but when appropriate one must take up the use of other weapons be they of the body or external, i.e., weapons carried or weapons found. Empty hands are best for social communications where violence is applied appropriately. Other situations such as asocial violent conflict must utilize ‘ALL’ weapons available be they empty handed (emptied hands should be about our hands, feet, elbows, open hands, knees or environmental weaponry along with the body itself as a whole, etc.) or weaponized.” - Charles James  

In truth, empty hands as fists for striking are the weapons used in karate as a primary means of applying force and power, this too is too restrictive and leaves little wiggle room in an attack. Fist strikes must follow the hard-to-soft/soft-to-hard maxim, i.e., the fists should always be used toward the soft targets of the human body and the softer open hands should be used to the harder targets but this must not stand alone either as to restrictive towards success in self-defense by means of “Karate.”

Remember that karate, empty hands, is merely a placeholder for a system that has to rely heavily on not weaponry, i.e., when weapons are not available, appropriate or even lost or destroyed. Karate is more a means of training with a goal to actually defend with weapons and the older maxim was about one or the other when in reality the environment and nature itself become weapons to the karate-ka, i.e., gravity, balance, structure, etc.

The focus on hand development obfuscates the true nature of the discipline that encompasses theory, physiokinetics, techniques and philosophy that opens the mind, creates a strong mind-set/mind-state and results in a spiritual attitude of never quit, never die and never diminish the system into a useless relic.