Boshiken
母指拳
Literally: thumb fist
Also known as: Boshi-ken, Oyayubi ippon ken, Thumb knuckle strike
A strike with the thumb knuckle to sensitive points; in Uechi-ryu a basic self-defence technique, documented in the Bubishi as the Iron Bone Hand.
Quick Facts
About
Boshiken (母指拳), literally thumb fist, is a strike with the thumb knuckle and exists in two forms. The open-hand version can look like a harmless slap, but the thumb in fact jabs into vital points; this form is still practised today mainly by Uechi-ryu as a basic self-defence technique. The closed-fist variant, oyayubi ippon ken, is delivered in an arc or sideways to the soft tissue of the side, back or neck. The technique has Okinawan roots with a Chinese origin. The old manual Bubishi lists it as the Iron Bone Hand, one of the six hands, and it appears widely in the kata of the White Crane style. Besides Uechi-ryu it is kept by Isshin-ryu, Goju-ryu and Matsumura Seito. One analysis of kata links it, as a fist strike, to the trio of upper blocks in the kata Jion, which it argues originally targeted the opponent's nape. In Uechi-ryu, boshiken is practised on the makiwara or bag together with the shuto and hiraken strikes.