Empi-uchi 猿臂打ち
Elbow strike
The technique, and its job.
A strike with the point of the elbow, delivered forward, upward, sideways, downward or backward. At close range it is the most powerful weapon the body has: the shortest lever, the hardest surface, and the whole body behind it.
Application. Infighting, the answer to a grab, and the reason the kata Enpi carries its name.
Mechanics
What each part of the body does, in the order it does it.
- Starting position
- From the guard or the hip, at close range.
- Hips
- Supply nearly all the power. The arm barely travels.
- Shoulders
- Stay down; a raised shoulder shortens the strike and weakens it.
- Hikite
- The other hand withdraws or grips the opponent to hold them in range.
- Trajectory
- Short and direct along one of five lines — mae, age, yoko, otoshi or ushiro.
- Contact surface
- The point of the elbow or the bone just above it.
- Kime
- At impact, with the body settling into it.
- Distance
- Very close. Outside that, it cannot reach.
What survives when the name is forgotten.
- The shortest lever carries the most force. What it lacks in reach it returns in power.
- The power is entirely in the body turning or dropping. An elbow thrown with the arm is barely a strike.
- Grip and strike together: the other hand holds the target in place.
Common errors, and how to fix them.
Naming a fault teaches nobody. Each one below carries why it happens and what corrects it.
Why it happens. Not reading the range.
The fix. Drill it only from genuinely close range.
Why it happens. Trying to add reach.
The fix. Keep the shoulder down and turn the body further instead.
Drills
- Pad work in all five directions from a fixed close distance.
- Grip the partner’s sleeve with one hand and strike with the other, so the two actions become one.
Where it appears.
Kihon is the vocabulary, kata is the literature, kumite is the conversation. Every link below was written down deliberately; none of it was inferred from a name matching.
- Heian Nidan Peaceful mind, second level
- Heian Sandan Peaceful mind, third level
- Heian Yondan Peaceful mind, fourth level
- Tekki Shodan Iron horse, first level
- Empi Flying swallow
- Jion Compassion and kindness; also the name of a Buddhist temple
- Defensive kumite Defence and counter
- Shuto-uchi Knife-hand strike
- Uraken-uchi Back-fist strike
- Tetsui-uchi Hammer-fist strike
- Haito-uchi Ridge-hand strike
- Teisho-uchi Palm-heel strike
The Japanese, explained.
- Empi-uchi 猿臂打ち
- Elbow strike. A strike with the point of the elbow, in any of five directions. The most powerful weapon available at close range.
- Kime 決め
- Focus, decision. The instant at which every part of the body arrives at once and the technique becomes solid — and the instant immediately after, when it relaxes again. Kime is a moment, not a state. Tension held after impact is tension that slows whatever comes next.
Video
No recording in the register is tagged to Empi-uchi. MMAKF has not filmed this technique, and the discovery pass did not find an external recording specific enough to attribute to it without guessing.
Nothing is shown here rather than a search link dressed up as a demonstration. What has been found, checked and registered is listed in full on the source register.
The video source register →