Abridged move description via Suka Pass:
The Tiger Knuckle is a punch aimed at the jinchu, a pressure point located between the nose and the mouth.
The Hazuki Style is a martial art style that dates back to the time of the Warring States Era which focused its moves for hand-to-hand combat against warriors that wore body armor.
Because warriors who engaged in Kendo (the art of Japanese swordsmanship) wore helmets, these ancient moves did not focus on a general area, but instead, focused on parts of the body unprotected by armor. The jinchu is one of these unprotected area, and originally, a fatal twisting blow was delivered using a Caltrop Fist, formed by extending the index finger at the second joint.
However, as is the case with ancient martial arts in general, the Hazuki Style evolved, changing from its historical background as a martial art for fighting in body armor against those who wore body armor to one that was practice in everyday clothes, a so-called 'naked martial art.' Through the inventive ideas of the practitioners who handed down the moves from generation to generation, moves from other martial arts were incorporated and the Hazuki Style was transformed from the lethal martial practiced during the Warring States Era to one with strong characteristics of self-defense.
Currently it is the self-defensive moves that are known to the public, but through traditional style oral instruction, these moves can easily be turned to their lethal counterpart martial arts of old.
The Tiger Knuckle is a jab (kizami zuki in Japanese karate), a basic lead arm punch that is ubiquitous in virtually every striking martial art with punches ever. As there are many articles and videos out there extolling the virtues of the jab in modern combat sports, I'll instead focus on the more unique aspects of the Tiger Knuckle and touch upon the elements of Japanese martial arts that are mentioned in the description.
One of the aspects that separates the Tiger Knuckle from the common jab is the targeted area of the jinchu pressure point. Strikes that target pressure points are very common in traditional martial arts, so that parts not that unusual in and of itself. The part that is surprising is that the jinchu is actually a real pressure point that goes by the same name and is located between the nose and the mouth.
Another aspect that separates the Tiger Knuckle for the jab is how it was originally delivered by striking with the second joint of index finger. While I haven't seen the name "Caltrop Fist" appearing anywhere outside of Shenmue, the concept of striking with a raised index finger knuckle does appear in multiple martial arts. The phoenix eye fist used in Chinese kung fu styles such as Praying Mantis and Wing Chun and the shōken used in Okinawan karate styles such as Uechi Ryu both involve curling the forefinger to the second joint and locking it in place with the thumb. It is then used to jam into soft targets such as pressure points, eyes, throat, solar plexus, etc.
The use of the word kendo in the description to describe Japanese swordsmanship seems like a translation mistake. Kendo typically refers to the modern Japanese martial art/sport that's practiced with bamboo swords. Kenjutsu is the umbrella term for Japanese swordsmanship and is normally used to refer to the older sword styles pre-Meiji era, which the Hazuki style from the Warring States/Sengoku period would qualify for. However, the traditional martial arts of the time period did indeed encourage targeting the gaps and unarmored/less armored spots of an armored opponent (and that principle of "going around the armor" is present in other martial traditions where armor was used both in Asia and Europe). A typical samurai of the Sengoku era would be wearing a helmet and many would also wear varying degrees of facial armor such as the somen (full face mask) or menpo (half face mask). Even the somen leaves the jinchu area exposed to make breathing easier, leaving it open to a Tiger Knuckle. The purported effectiveness of striking there is dubious though and it would make more sense to aim for the eyes which are equally exposed.
The description is broadly accurate with regards to the transition from battlefield martial arts to self defense arts, though there are many factors involved that are outside the scope of this article (weapon restrictions and laws, Neo-Confucianism, etc.). The line about the self-defense moves being what is known to the public also holds water. Many Japanese martial arts schools displayed certain techniques out in public and reserved a set of hidden techniques that was only taught to those initiated into the school. Like a Dragon Ball character hiding their power level, schools would avoid showing all their techniques so they could surprise or mislead an opponent in a duel or challenge match. I can't vouch for the term 'naked martial art' being legit though as I couldn't find any non-porn results to look at.
The Tiger Knuckle is the first of many of Ryo's moves that delve into Japanese martial traditions. Like the Google Support guy who has to remove naked martial art links that show up when SafeSearch is on, you can expect more content in the future.
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