"Superfluous" technique names in karate
I noticed my previous article on the overhand corkscrew punch being discussed on Sherdog . One member there said: For some reason it rubs me the wrong way whenever someone wants to attach a superfluous name to movements of striking arts. Presumably this is because in the second sentence of the article I said: "In karate I suppose it would be an otoshi ura zuki (an inverted dropping punch)." I think it is hardly "superfluous" to mention this in relation to karate which, like judo, is remarkably codified - each technique has a name. Generally speaking karateka of various styles agree on the names (with minor variations). So just as a judoka knows full well the difference between "o-uchi gari" and "ko-uchi gari", a karateka understands the meaning of "jodan zuki" and "chudan uke". Since about 70% of my readership appears to comprise karateka, I took the liberty of guessing (note my reference to "I suppose...