Tsuki

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Tsuki

A successful tsuki in kendo.

Japanese name

Kanji:

突き

Hiragana:

つき

Transliterations
- Revised Hepburn:	tsuki
- Kunrei-shiki:	tuki

Tsuki (突き, Tsuki^?), is the Japanese word for "thrust," coming from the verb tsuku (突く, tsuku^?), meaning "to thrust. It also means Moon and Month tsuki (月き, tsuki^?)"

1 Kendo
2 Karate, its variants, and other arts
- 2.1 Notes and references
3 See also

[edit] Kendo

^[1]Tsuki is one of the five target areas (datotso-bui) in kendo (along with men, do, hidari kote and migi kote). It is a thrust of the point of the shinai to the throat, intended to cut a carotid artery. In combat with a sword, the opponent would then bleed to death. Unlike most other martial arts that use this term, in kendo, tsuki is a comprehensive term for the movement and the target. The kiai for this strike, unlike other strikes in kendo, is not the name of the target (the neck, or kubi) but rather the name of the attack (tsuki).

The target area (datotso-bui) for tsuki is the tsuki-bu, a multi layered set of flaps, attached to the men (helmet) that protects the throat.

Tsuki may be performed by either the left (katate-zuki, 片手突き) or both hands. The right-handed katate-zuki is unorthodox, and shortens the striking distance for the attack as the right hand is positioned higher on the hilt of the shinai (bamboo sword) than the left. Tsuki is often disallowed for younger players and those who are not dan graded to use in practice.

While variants of tsuki exist in other martial arts, in kendo it has no variants; the target is always the same.

[edit] Karate, its variants, and other arts

In karate and its variants, tsuki is used generally as a part of a compound word for any one of various punches, and virtually never stands alone to describe a discrete technique. (note that in a compound word, where tsuki does not come first, its pronunciation and writing changes slightly; this is transliterated as zuki)

Some examples of use for basic techniques include:

Choku-zuki (直突き), straight punch

Gyaku-zuki (逆突き), punch with the rear arm

Oi-zuki (追い突き), punch with the lead arm

Age-zuki (上げ突き), rising punch

Ura-zuki (裏突き), upside-down fist punch into solar plexus area (short-range)

Tate-zuki (立て突き), vertical fist punch into the middle of the chest (short-range)

Morote-zuki (双手突き), augmented punch using both hands

Yama-zuki (山突き) or Rete-zuki, two-level double punch (combination of ura-zuki and jodan oi zuki)

Mawashi-zuki (回し突き), hook punch

Other arts, including throwing and grappling oriented styles such as judo, jujutsu, or aikido, also often use this terminology to describe such an attack.

In the aiki-jō practiced in some systems of aikido (most notably the Iwama style aikido of the Morihiro Saito), tsuki is used literally as part of the name of numerous thrusting techniques with the short staff (jō).