JKA Vic Article - Predator and Prey Waza

Game of Janken in Japan
There is a game called Janken in Japan, which is mainly played by children. It is a game where you use three different shapes of the hand against your opponents. When the hand is open, it is called paper. When the hand is closed, it is called stone and when two fingers are extended with the rest of the hand is closed, it is called scissors. The rules are simple; Paper beats stone, stone beats scissors and scissors beats paper. In other words, A beats B, B beats C and C beats A.

History of Attacking Techniques in Competition
Do any relationships exist in Karate’s attacking techniques similar to those in Janken? In other words, is any attacking technique stronger than others? Reviewing the attacking techniques used in competitions may provide us with some insights to this question.

In the early days of Karate competitions the attacking techniques commonly used in Kumite or free sparring were mostly long-ranged techniques. Oi Zuki or lunge punch was predominantly used.

The next development we saw was that they started deliberating on a technique to beat Oi Zuki (lunge punch) and started using Mae Geri or front kick to beat Oi Zuki. As a consequence, the use of Oi Zuki in competition diminished.

When Mae Geri (front kick) became the mainstream technique in competition, they looked for another technique which would beat Mae Geri. As a result, they came up with Gyaku Zuki (reverse punch) against Mae Geri. There was a time when whoever kicked would lose against Gyaku Zuki. This forced people to stop kicking in competition. At this stage, it was a common scene that both competitors charged in with Gyaku Zuki (reverse punch) at the same time, frequently creating ai-uchi (both attacked at the same time).

The Gyaku Zuki era lasted a while. Then, Kizami Zuki (forehand snap punch) emerged in competition to beat Gyaku Zuki. Then, as a technique to beat Kizami Zuki, Oi Zuki made a come back in competition. So, you can see the full cycle. In today’s free-sparring competitions, all kinds of attacking techniques are being used.

Relationship Between Predator and Prey Techniques
The historical changes in popular scoring attacking techniques suggest that, although not as clear-cut as the game of Janken, there exist the following predator – prey relationships among attacking techniques in Karate:

What is the factor to determine the predator – prey relationship between various attacking techniques? I believe that it is Maai or the shooting range of each attacking technique. The Maai of Oi Zuki is longer than that of Mae Geri. The Maai of Mae Geri is longer than that of Gyaku Zuki and the Maai of Gyaku Zuki is longer than that of Kizami Zuki.

In terms of the Maai or shooting range, the relationships between Oi Zuki, Mae Geri, Gyaku Zuki and Kizami Zuki are expressed in the following equation: Oi Zuki > Mae Geri > Gyaku Zuki > Kizami Zuki This equation can be dissected as follows:

Oi Zuki (prey) > Mae Geri (predator)
Mae Geri (prey) > Gyaku Zuki (predator)
Gyaku Zuki (prey) > Kizami Zuki (predator)

From this, it appears that a technique has a risk of becoming a prey for another technique whose Maai or shooting range is slightly shorter than its Maai.

What about the relationship between Oi Zuki and Gyaku Zuki? What about the relationship between Mae Geri and Kizami Zuki? Oi Zuki’s Maai is longer than Gyaku Zuki’s. Does it mean that Oi Zuki has a tendency of becoming a prey for Gyaku Zuki? Likewise, is Mae Geri likely to become a prey for Kizami Zuki because Mae Geri’s Maai is longer than Kizami Zuki’s? In other words, will the following equations be established?

Oi Zuki (prey) > Gyaku Zuki (predator) ?
Mae Geri (prey) > Kizami Zuki (predator) ?

The risk of a technique of a longer Maai becoming a prey for another technique of a shorter Maai seems to diminish or disappear completely when the difference in the Maai between the two techniques becomes significantly greater. In fact, when there is a big difference in the Maai or shooting range, a technique of a longer Maai seems to become a predator rather than a prey of another technique of a shorter Maai.

In other words, the relationship between Oi Zuki and Kizami Zuki becomes as follows:

Oi Zuki (predator) > Kizami Zuki (prey).

A technique of a slightly shorter Maai can break another technique of a longer Maai at half way in the attack by the longer Maai technique. Therefore Mae Geri will become the predator of Oi Zuki. However, between two attacking techniques whose shooting ranges are significantly different such as Oi Zuki and Kizami Zuki, it is difficult to break the attack of a longer Maai at half way with a technique of a short Maai. By the time when a short Maai technique is able to reach a technique of a long Maai technique, the long Maai technique will be at its final stage of attack, the fastest and strongest stage, which is difficult to break.

Implication of Predator – Prey Technique Relationship
The concept of the predator – prey techniques as discussed above may provide us with some guidance in our Karate training. For example, a tall person should, in my view, take full advantage of his/her physical size and move big and make his/her techniques big, so that the Maai for most of his/her attacking techniques will be significantly greater than that of the opponent, which will enhance the probability of his/her technique becoming the predator. A small person should also move big and make his/her techniques big. If a small person makes his/her movements and techniques short, this is likely to make the Maai for most of his/her attacking technique significantly shorter than that of the opponent, which will make his/her attacking technique a likely prey.

Another example of the application of the predator – prey techniques relationship is the development of an attacking technique against certain attacking techniques. Earlier on I mentioned that Oi Zuki is the predator of Kizami Zuki, because the Maai of Oi Zuki is significantly greater than that of Kizami Zuki. Any technique whose Maai is slightly shorter than that of Kizami Zuki can be also the predator of Kizami Zuki. For example, Kizami Mawashi Geri may have a very good chance to beat Kizami Zuki.

We sometimes come across a situation where among three Karate practitioners, A, B and C, A beats B, and B beats C. Then we would think that A should beat C. But quite often it’s not the case and C beats A. Such a situation may be explained by the predator – prey techniques relationship.

I have to reiterate that the relationship of predator and prey among various techniques is not absolute or clear-cut like the Janken game. Many other factors will influence this, such as differences in absolute speed of techniques, or movements, or differences in physical sizes particularly in height between two competitors. But the knowledge of predator – prey techniques relationship will not only broaden our attacking techniques, but also deepen our understanding as to why some attacking techniques work very well against certain opponents and some don’t.

It may be a little confusing when you read this. In simplistic terms, a technique of a significantly longer Maai or shooting range or a technique of a slightly shorter Maai is likely to become a predator. As it is unknown what attacking technique your opponent will launch, it is difficult to precisely determine your attacking technique whose Maai is to be slightly shorter than the unknown technique of your opponent. But if your attacking technique has a very long Maai, such an attacking technique has a good possibility of beating most of the attacking techniques that your opponent may throw. From this viewpoint, there is logic in making your movements and techniques big, regardless of your physical size.

Prey	Predator
Oi Zuki (lunge punch)	Mae Geri (front kick)
Mae Geri (front kick)	Gyaku Zuki (reverse punch)
Gyaku Zuki (reverse punch)	Kizami Zuki (forehand snap punch)
Kizami Zuki (forehand snap punch)	Oi Zuki (lunge punch)