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Hiza

膝

Japanese for knee. As a striking surface it appears in the knee strike hiza geri, as the point of the block in the judo throw hiza guruma.

Quick Facts

Term typeAnatomy, target levels and striking surfaces
LanguageJapanese
Formnoun
Pronunciation[hee-zah]
Alternative Namesknee
Readings and romanizations
Reading (kana)ひざ
Hepburn romanizationhiza

Word breakdown

膝hizaknee

Definition

Hiza (膝) means knee. In karate the knee attacks with hiza geri, a knee kick to the torso or head, with the hands pulling the opponent down. The knee strike is among the main techniques of Thai boxing, where it is called khao. In judo, hiza guruma (“knee wheel”) is a throw in which tori stops the opponent's knee with the foot and turns him over it.

Relations to other terms

Equivalent in another art

Khaoเข่า

Thai for knee and a knee strike. In muay thai, knees are among the main weapons, especially in the clinch.

See also

Empi猿臂 / 肘

The elbow as a striking surface. Empi means “monkey arm”, the common word for elbow is hiji. An elbow strike is called empi-uchi.

Ashi足

Japanese for leg or foot. It is the root of ashi-waza (foot and leg throws in judo), ashi sabaki (footwork) and ashi garami.

Techniques

Hiza Geri · 膝蹴りHiza Ganmen Geri · 膝顔面蹴り

Associated Martial Arts

KarateJudo