Hand Methods

Te [手] Hōhō [方法] 

It took many years of research and experiences before I finally heard from several violence professionals the most effective hand method you could use in defense. It is literally, “the open hand!”

It begs to consider how they (karate folks of past) decided on “empty hand,” other than the convenience of migrating from China hand to the generic empty hand which seems easier on the overall acceptance front.

Te [手] Hōhō [方法] hand methods

Aita-te [開いた手] open hand 🖐️ 

As can be readily perceived above, switching is not easy and due to beliefs, perceptions and experiences of those who came before, renaming to fit the system and those who practice, not to forget the huge effort to gain acceptance of the Japanese martial community, what they chose was best.

Anyway, using the open hand results is lower chance of injury, which hinders its use in defense but the open hand in practice opens the flood gates to the methodologies such as tuite or grappling, etc.

Many in the karate community tend to lock on and into the fist as a primary defensive weapon ergo the heavy emphasis on makiwara training. 

It may benefit if one trained similar to sumo hand training. If you watch their use of the hands 🙌🏻 you can see or perceive the potential.

There are also makiwara that hang free and are large round wood types that you can apply a variety of slapping like methods to toughen the palms, etc.

Focus on strengthening fingers and applying methods that make use of all fingers at once in reducing single finger joint injuries.

Look to hand conditioning of Judo as they make use of the open hand methods.

Take Note: when using the open hands, when viewed in self-defense cases it projects a vastly different impression in jury judgements. Open hand held chest high palms facing your attacker provides a certain view that is positive yet tells the attacker you don’t want to go there but if forced, you are ready to do what’s necessary …