List of Karate Hand Strikes & Punches
This page examines a wide variety of Karate hand strikes and provides the Japanese names for these techniques. For the Japanese names for punches, please see the Karate Punches section.
For punches and hand/arm strikes used by other martial arts styles (i.e. Muay Thai and Krav Maga), please visit the main Punches & Strikes page.
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Examples of Karate Strikes
- Haishu uchi – Back hand strike
- Haito uchi – Ridge hand strike (back of sword)
- Ipon ken – Forefinger knuckle strike
- Ipon nukite ken – First finger spear strike
- Kai ko ken – Open fist strike
- Kakuto – Head of the crane / goose neck strike
- Ko koo – Tiger’s mouth strike
- Kuma de – Bear hand strike
- Keito – Head of the hen strike
- Nakadaka ipon ken – Middle finger knuckle strike
- Nihon nukite – Two finger spear strike
- Nukite – Spear hand strike
- Seiken – Clenched fist strike
- Shuto uchi – Knife hand strike (sword)
- Teisho uchi – Palm heel strike
- Tetsu tsui – [Iron] Hammer fist
- Uraken uchi – Back fist strike
- Washi de – Eagle’s beak strike
- Wan to – Sword arm strike
Examples of Karate Punches
- Age-Zuki (Age-Tsuki) – Uppercut Punch or Rising Punch
- Choku-Zuki (Choku-Tsuki) – Straight Punch
- Gyaku-Zuki (Gyaku-Tsuki) – Reverse Punch
- Hasami Zuki – Scissor Punch
- Kage-Zuki (Kage-Tsuki) – Hook Punch
- Kizami-Zuki (Kizami-Tsuki) – Jab Punch
- Mawashi-Zuki (Maswashi-Tsuki) – Roundhouse Punch
- Morote-Zuki (Morote-Tsuki) – Double Fist Punch or Double U Punch
- Oi-Zuki (Oi-Tsuki) – Lunge Punch
- Tate-Zuki (Tate-Tsuki) – Vertical Punch
- Tobikomi Zuki – Snap Punch
- Ura-Zuki (Ura-Tsuki) – Upside-Down Punch or Inverted Punch (To The Solar Plexus)
- Yama-Zuki (Yama-Tsuki) – Two-Level Double Punch or Mountain Punch
Related Punch & Strike Terminology
- Zuki or Tsuki – Punch
- Uchi – Strike
- Jodan – High Section (i.e. High Punch – Jodan Zuki)
- Chudan – Middle Section
- Gedan – Low Section
Shotokan Karate Hand Strikes