Kote
小手
Wrist and forearm. In kendo both a valid target and the name of the gloves of the bogu gear, in aikido and jujutsu an area of locks such as kote-gaeshi.
Quick Facts
Term typeAnatomy, target levels and striking surfaces
LanguageJapanese
Formnoun
Pronunciation[koh-teh]
Alternative Nameswrist, forearm
Readings and romanizations
Reading (kana)こて
Hepburn romanizationkote
Word breakdown
小kosmall
手tehandDefinition
Kote (小手) consists of the characters 小, small, and 手, hand, and denotes the wrist and forearm. In kendo the word has a double meaning: it is one of the four valid targets and also the long padded gloves that are part of the bogu gear. When striking the wrist, the swordsman calls out “kote”. In aikido and jujutsu, a number of locks concentrate on the wrist. The best known is kote-gaeshi, a lock by twisting the wrist.