This short video was filmed at a seminar on the 15th of March 2014. One of the topics I taught at the event was drills for hook punch. This snippet looks at some general thoughts on posture and Ikken Hissatsu (one blow, one “kill”).

There are quite a few misunderstandings around the Ikken Hissatsu concept. One of the most common is that “one blow” infers we only hit once. In truth, the concept is that we have full intent to finish the situation in any given instant.

The second common misunderstanding is taking the word “kill” literarily!  The ethics of karate – and common sense – state that we will only resort to having to use physical techniques if we are in danger and no other option is open to us. The ethics of karate – and in all likelihood the law of your locality – demand that we only do what is necessary in the circumstances to ensure our safety. The Ikken Hissatsu concept is about bringing the situation to an end immediately such that the enemy is unable to harm us and the amount of violence is minimal. Immediate effective  escape, immediate effective  disorientation, and immediate effective  incapacitation are all ways to bring a situation to a close, and all would be in line with the Ikken Hissatsu concept as applied to modern self-defense. Exactly what is done depends on the specific situation at hand; but true self-defense must always be effective and legally justifiable.

The video also discusses how bad posture can reduce power and the rate of fire.

All the best,

Iain

PS The YouTube link for this video can be found HERE