Kansetsu Geri
関節蹴り
Literally: joint kick
Kick with the heel or edge of the foot to the knee joint; in karate it belongs to kata and self-defence, not competition.
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Kansetsu geri, literally joint kick, is a low kick aimed at the opponent's knee or another joint. It is described as a variant of the low side thrust kick (gedan yoko kekomi geri). The knee rises, then the leg drives horizontally into the target; the striking surface is the heel or the outer foot edge. Besides the knee, it can target the hip, thigh or foot. It differs from fumikomi geri, a stamping kick delivered down onto the opponent's leg or foot, in its horizontal path. Both low kicks are trained in Shotokan and Goju-ryu. In Shotokan, kansetsu geri appears, among others, in the Bassai Dai kata. It is a self-defence technique, not one for sport competition. Shotokan sees it as too dangerous for competitive kumite, and WKF rules ban joint and leg attacks, so it is met only in kata, in application analysis, and in self-defence training.