In Japanese, "kara" means "empty" and "te" means "hand." Karate, then, is literally self-defense using empty hands. Despite the name, karate-ka -- people who do karate -- use more than their hands. A skilled karate-ka can use feet, shins, knees, elbows and even their head as weapons. Basic techniques, however, fall into four categories: fist techniques, open hand techniques, kicks and sweeps.
Fist Techniques
Strikes using the fist hit with the first two knuckles of the hand; in other words, the bottom joints of the index and middle fingers. The karate-ka squeezes the fist tight and holds the wrist straight, so these two knuckles lead when a punch is thrown. Doing so aligns the bones to protect the hand. It also concentrates all the force of the punch into a small area, increasing the pounds per square inch of the blow. The karate-ka holds the fist with the back of the hand up to throw a front punch, with the thumb-side up to throw a vertical punch, and with the fingernails up to throw an uppercut.
Open Hand Techniques
The two most common open-hand techniques are the palm heel strike and the knifehand. To throw a palm heel strike, the karate-ka opens the hand, pulls the fingers back and thrusts the hand forward. The striking surface is the heel of the palm. Depending on the angle of the blow, the fingers can be pointing up, to the side or down. The advantage of the palm heel strike is that none of the force goes into the small bones of the hand. The knifehand strike, sometimes called a karate chop, uses the edge of the hand on the little-finger side. The side of the hand is used like an ax blade to chop into the target.
Kicks
Karate kicks strike with either the ball of the foot, the heel or the top of the ankle joint. All kicks have four parts: lift the knee, swing the foot out, bring the foot back, set the foot back down onto the ground. A kick delivered from a simple knee lift to the front is called a front kick. A kick to the back is a back kick. A kick that involves bringing the knee up with the shin parallel to the ground, then swinging the leg into the target from the side is called a roundhouse kick. A kick that lifts the knee and then stomps the foot downward is called a front stomp kick.
Sweeps
The purpose of sweeps is to knock opponents off their feet. A sweep can simply be a kick to the lower legs, or it can be a specialized technique. One kind of sweep involves using the sole of the foot to strike the ankle of the opponent. The force of the sweep is both across and up, lifting the foot off the ground. Once the foot is off the ground, the opponent can be taken easily to the ground.
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