The Structure of Technique Names

After demonstrating a technique, the Sensei will often say its name in Japanese, and the Rest Is Up to You

It's very helpful to memorize which name goes with which technique. Students usually learn these terms naturally over time, but, in order to speed up the process, Pat Hendricks has offered the following guidelines.

General technique names are composed of two main parts. The first part describes the type of attack, and the second part describes the defense.

For example:

Shomen Uchi means front on (shomen) strike (uchi).

Shiho Nage means four direction (shiho) throw (nage)

In addition, most techniques can be executed by moving either to the front or around behind your partner. Techniques moving to the front are called front (omote) technique (waza). Techniques turning to the rear are called back (ura) technique (waza), Hendricks explained..

Thus, the full name of a typical technique might go something like this:

Shomen Uchi Shiho Nage Ura Waza,

which would be translated as:

front on strike, four direction throw, rear technique

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