How to Counter and Strike Against Upper Body Attacks in Samurai Karate

Countering a Shouman Strike
Step 1:
Allow your opponent to close to within striking range. Unlike many forms of martial arts, Samurai Karate does not require a starting position or stance as it would alert the opponent to the fact that you are actually ready to receive his attack. One of the most common attacks is an overhand strike, whether the hand is empty or contains a knife of club, the response is the same. Such an attack is called a Shouman

Step 2:
Take a quick step in so that your body is less than a foot apart from your opponent’s. This will get you inside your opponent’s swing. Catch the downward swinging arm of your opponent just behind his/her elbow using the V between the thumb and forefinger of your hand.

Step 3:
Perform a counter called a Mitsubishi Blinder with your other hand simultaneously. To do this, simply drive the heel of the palm into your opponent’s chin from beneath, forcing his/her head back violently. Your fingers should be high enough on your opponent’s face to dig at his/her eyes. Your opponent’s immediate reaction of course will be to protect his/her eyes and will cease hostilities.

Countering a Side or Diagonal Chop
Step 1:

Allow your opponent to close range to you just as before. Your opponent should prepare to attack with a side or diagonal chop of the hand starting from the outside of the body and swinging in toward the midline. Again this response is just as effective if your opponent is wielding a knife or club.

Step 2:

Take a small step inward and to the side away from the side of the body your opponent is using to throw his strike. Immobilize your opponent’s swinging wrist by latching onto it and pushing it away and to your side. If you are wary of grabbing the wrist of someone wielding a weapon, latching onto the forearm below the elbow is effective as well.

Step 3:

Form your other hand into a blade, and step in toward your opponent’s side. Chop down hard on your opponent’s temple just over the ear. The ear is a particularly sensitive spot and will elicit a very strong pain response in your opponent. If you believe your life to be truly in danger and feel there is no other way to get out of the situation but to immobilize your opponent, strike against the side of the neck with as much force as you can. Such a strike would likely pull and harm the muscles in the neck at the very least. Typically it would cause damage to the vertebra of the neck, something which cannot really heal and will likely impair the attacker for the rest of his life. For that reason you should think long and hard before using this attack variation.