Haito Uchi
背刀打ち
Literally: back-edge (ridge-hand) strike
Also known as: Haito, 背刀, Ridge hand
A strike with the edge of the hand on the thumb side, the opposite of the knife-hand edge shuto; targets the face or stomach and also serves as a block.
Quick Facts
Katas containing this technique
About
Haito uchi (背刀打ち), literally back-blade strike, uses the edge of the hand on the thumb side, near the knuckles at the base of the fingers. The Japan Karate Federation calls it the counterpart of the knife-hand edge shuto, on the opposite side of the hand. It attacks the face or stomach and is also widely used as a block or deflection. Shotokan lists distinguish variants: gyaku haito, hand opposite the front leg, otoshi gyaku haito, downward, jodan haito, an upward strike, as in the kata Unsu, and age haito, a rising strike.