Big Wheel

 

In general, in the ancient martial arts, step by step teaching methods are

employed and the master moves his pupils from one stage to the next after

carefully observing their character and ability. Even though styles may

be quite similar, instruction in the oral tradition can result in one learning

the more powerful and dangerous aspects or secrets of a move. In the Hazuki

Style, these are called the Innermost Secrets and are not usually imparted to

young people such as Ryo, but because Ryo was to be the next generation master

of the style, his father Iwao made an exception and taught a few to Ryo.

The Big Wheel is a powerful variation of the Elbow Slam. Whereas the Elbow

Slam is executed from close quarters, the Big Wheel is aimed at the opponent's

collarbone, with a diagonal blow struck after the practitioner closes in. The

move does not involve a simple swinging of the arms, but is executed with a

headlong dash as though the entire body were rotating forward, which gives

devastating results.

Move Origins

The Big Wheel has its origins in the Kyokushin style of karate. Kyokushin karatekas frequently make use of this punch due to the ruleset forbidding punches to the head. Not only can this punch break the opponent's collarbone, it also gives a similar opening to head-body combinations in other martial arts by drawing attention upwards and leaving the lower body vulnerable.

Roman Nesterenko using the Big Wheel in clinching range to setup combinations.

Fans of Street Fighter might also recognize this move as Ryu's Collarbone Breaker.

 

Oral Traditions and Secrets

Japanese schools of martial arts (ryūha) were very secretive in general to maintain the element of surprise in battle. They often reserved techniques and weapons training from the public eye during demonstrations. They even hid certain teachings from their own students and only taught them to the most senior students who had been with the school for years. All of this was done to prevent a student from a rival school acting as a double agent and learning their secrets. In the most extreme cases, these teachings were only taught to the inheritor of the ryūha, as Iwao did for Ryo in this case.

Katana Mist Slash

 A move by which, like a sickle mowing grass, the practitioner advances one step with the forward leg and delivers a slashing blow to the opponent's side with the palm of the hand.

The movement and stance, indeed the name itself, suggest that this move evolved from a sword drawing move to one used in barehanded combat.

In swordsmanship, horizontal cuts were ineffective because they were blunted by body armor, so it is likely this move was developed relatively recently by the Hazuki Style. If an opponent is focused, he can withstand a blow delivered to the front of the body, but the body is surprisingly vulnerable to glancing blows.

In the Chinese martial arts, blows delivered with the palm, called Cutting Palm Strikes, were one type of the so-called Ultimate Power blows, and many examples exist in the oral tradition. Delving deeply in the mysteries of the ancient martial arts reveals the existence of moves involving the use of secret weapons called the Dark Weapon and the Unrevealed Weapon.

Originally, the Katana Mist Slash was likely one of these moves involving a secret weapon to enhance its effectiveness.

Move Origins

Though not mentioned outright, this move likely originates from Aikido. The move description mentions the technique being added to the Hazuki style relatively recently and fits with the development of Aikido which occurred in the early 20th century. Aikido is also famous for their strikes resembling sword or weapon cuts (possibly as an adaptation or holdover from earlier jiujitsu when the techniques were used in armed combat). It could also be a case of convergent evolution canon-wise as the Hazuki Style has a lot of similarities in terms of development as aikido.

Usage of Open Hand Chops

Striking to the side of an opponent's body can be very effective. The ribs aren't covered by much muscle and can be broken with a strike, severely impacting breathing. A good strike to the liver can shutdown one's body, effectively knocking someone out. But why use an openhanded chop at all? These openhanded chops (knifehand strikes or shutō-uchi in Japanese) have less risk of damaging the hands, making them more useful in a bareknuckle context. Boxers can target the ribs with impunity wearing gloves, but a bad connection might hurt their hands instead if they weren't wearing any. Even with gloves, the risk isn't zero as Arturo Gatti found out when he broke his hand punching Micky Ward's hipbone.

Secret Weapons

The most intriguing aspect is the mention of "secret" weapons in the move description. Secret weapons could refer to multiple things historically in Japanese martial arts:

1. Small, concealable weapons meant for backup/last ditch use. 
2. Weapons disguised as ordinary objects (such as pipes or fans) that could be carried in environments where weapons were not allowed
3. A weapon that a ryūha (Japanese martial arts style/school) secretly specialized in. Ex. a school known for their sword use secretly training in the use of another weapon like the spear.

The secret weapon in this case most likely refers to a weapon of the first type. One type of secret weapon was the shutōgane, a small bar of iron worn on the hand that enhanced the effect of shutō strikes. A chop to the ribs barehanded might break a rib, but a chop with a shutōgane makes the possibility much more certain.

A shutōgane from the collection of Serge Mol, Classical Weaponry of Japan

Twin Hand Waves

Abridged move description courtesy of Suka Pass:

This move involves advancing a step forward and striking the opponent's chest and jaw with the palm and entire forearm while deflecting the opponent's attack downward with the other hand. This doesn't merely involve hurling the opponent's body backward as with a sumo arm thrust. The impact creates a shockwave that affects the opponent's internal organs.

Originally, it was a move devised in the Warring States Era to strike down samurai wearing armor. Not only was it ineffective to strike the hard torso of an opponent's armor with the hardened edge of the fist or elbow, it also injured the practitioner. For that reason, the softer, fleshier palm of the hand and the entire forearm was used to attack.

I was unable to find an exact 1:1 copy of the move, though there are a fair amount of similar looking moves in traditional martial arts (comment below if you know any real life moves that resemble the in-game Twin Hand Waves).

Top: Xing Yi Quan style splitting technique

Bottom: A forearm strike done during a Tai Chi push hands drill

The idea that the palm and forearm were used to avoid injury to the practitioner does hold some merit. While the description mentions the move being used against a person in armor, hitting even an unarmored person can cause injury to the user's hands if struck wrong. Many boxers in the bare knuckle boxing bouts the 18th and 19th centuries were common working men and could not take matches often as their hands would be too injured for them to use at work the next day. In modern revivals of bare knuckle boxing such as BKFC, broken and/or extremely swollen hands are common injuries. The palm and forearm are comparatively less fragile.

Palm strikes are effective strikes and Ryo has quite a few in his repertoire, so we'll be saving those for a future installment and instead focus on the forearm component of Twin Hand Waves. 

Forearm strikes are rare in modern striking competitions. In boxing, intentional forearm strikes are illegal and forearms are mainly used for defensive purposes to help shield against incoming punches. Though striking with the forearm is illegal, they can still be used to create opportunities to continue punching.

Though it doesn't count as a strike if you hold your forearm out and they run into it, as Conor McGregor discovered.

Floyd Mayweather Jr is a master at using his forearms to control his opponents. He creates a frame with his forearms that he can use to place on and push against the opponent's head. This framing gives Floyd control of the opponent's head and makes it very difficult for them to move effectively (as in the old grappling adage "control the head, control the body"). Floyd can use this to deny an opponent from countering him after he has thrown his combos, prevent or be used to break free from a clinch, and can smother an opponent's hands for a free shot at their unguarded head.

In this sequence, Conor attempts to enter a clinch after avoiding a flurry from Floyd. Floyd uses his left forearm to frame on Conor's head, preventing him from coming forward. Simultaneously, Floyd's right hand covers Conor's left, preventing Conor from throwing his vaunted left hand or link his hands together for the clinch. With Conor's left hand covered, Floyd throws a right hand at Conor's now-unguarded head without fear of reprisal.

Even in striking arts where forearm strikes are legal to use, they are still pretty uncommon.The use of forearms in sports such as Muay Thai or MMA trends more towards defensive uses such as blocking or framing as it does in boxing. At the range that forearm strikes are used, elbows tend to be more effective due to being able to generate more power or potential cuts (as well as being legal in nearly all the competitions that forearm strikes would also be legal in). The forearm strikes I've seen in MMA and Muay Thai seem to occur off of missed elbows or punches rather than intentional use, though committed attempts at forearm strikes do happen on occasion.

Former Rizin/Bellator BW champion Kyoji Horiguchi uses a lead forearm strike to stun Ali Bagautinov

Despite the description for the move explicitly mentioning it being different from sumo arm thrusts (called "tsuki-dashi" in sumo), the person closest to using Twin Hand Waves in real life is ironically a sumo wrestler. Hakuhō is arguably the greatest sumo wrestler of all time, having reached Yokozuna the highest rank possible as well as holding multiple all-time wins and championship records. One of Hakuhō's effective opening move combinations is the harite (open hand strike or slap) and kachiage (forearm strike).

Hakukō parries the initial charge and drives a forearm into his opponent's chest, forcing their posture upward and leaving them more susceptible to follow-up attacks

While technically legal, it's frowned up in sumo, especially by a wrestler of Hakuhō's caliber. However, it's practically as close to the in-game description as you can get and damn does it work.

Another example of Hakuhō slapping the head of his opponent to deflect the momentum of their charge and driving in his forearm. This time, his forearm connects with his opponent's chin, leading to a knockdown.

Tiger Knuckle

 

 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.

A mannequin pointing out the location of the jinchu (under the acupuncture/acupressure designation GV26)

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.

Kanei Uechi demonstrating the shōken

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.

An antique Moyomama period menpo

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.

Elbow Assault

Abridged move description that I paraphrased from the Passport (via Suka Pass):

The Elbow Assault targets the center of the opponent's body with a full-body rush. This area is targeted because this inner area contains many pressure points. The central cord, which runs straight through the center of the body, is especially vulnerable, containing numerous pressure points that are vulnerable to fatal blows*.

However, because this move involves breaking through an opponent's stance and getting inside of his defense, compared to moves used to attack an opponent from the outside, it involves extra risk to the practitioner in that it creates an opening for the opponent to attack. To avoid this risk, the Elbow Assault is executed by raising the hand of the attacking opponent, aiming at the exposed torso and delivering a sharp elbow thrust while stepping inside the opponent's defense. At that time, although the practitioner's body is turned sideways, he must turn his face in the direction of the opponent and observe him carefully.

It seems that Ryo's father Iwao adopted this move from another martial art, but the details of this are unclear.

The "other" martial art that Iwao adopted this move from is Bajiquan, where it is referred to as Liang Yi Zhuang (两仪桩 Yin and Yang/Heaven and Earth Standing) or alternatively Liang Yi Ding (两仪顶 Yin and Yang/Heaven and Earth Elbow). During a trip to China to conduct research for Virtua Fighter, Yu Suzuki visited Bajiquan master Wu Lian-Zhi who showed Yu some moves. You can read more about Yu's research trip through PhantomRiverStone and/or watch a short interview with Yu Suzuki and Wu Lian-Zhi here.

Wu Lian-Zhi demonstrating the Liang Yi Zhuang

You might also recognize it as one of the signature moves of Akira Yuki from the Virtua Fighter series (who practices Hakkyoku-ken--the Japanese name for Bajiquan). As Shenmue was originally developed as a Virtua Fighter RPG starring Akira, this was likely included as part of Ryo's moveset as a holdover. They even have the same input commands in both games. -> -> P

While the Elbow Assault uses a classical form that is a bit too exaggerated to pull off in real life, there have been some applications of it in modern combat sports. It's common for boxers to project their elbows out as a guard and rush through punches in order to get into a close range punching distance or a clinch.

In Muay Boran, the traditional predecessor to Muay Thai, there is a technique called "Inao Tang Grit" involving a parry of an incoming punch into a vertical elbow to the ribs or midsection. In Muay Thai, the vertical elbow can be used in a similar fashion as well as a blatant strike as elbows are legal (Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu has a good video on it). 

  

Former HW/LHW UFC Champion Randy Couture had plenty of success in his fights with raising his elbows and rushing through punches to get to the inside position where he excelled.

Randy demonstrates an elbow counter as an entry into the clinch in his excellent book Wrestling for Fighting.

There are also some examples of committed offensive uses that are more in the spirit of the Elbow Assault. Here is an application of the classical Liang Yi Ding demonstrated by Japanese Bajiquan master Tamotsu Miyahira.

 Clip taken from Tatsuya Naka's Great Journey of Karate 2

Now compare it with this clip of Paul Felder vs Alessandro Ricci. As Ricci throws out the jab, Felder simultaneously avoids the punch and closes the distance while throwing the vertical elbow. Felder's elbow collides with Ricci's face, which stuns Ricci enough for Felder to followup and finish the fight with a flurry of strikes.
 

The Elbow Assault isn't the only move in Ryo's repertoire that's based on moves from Bajiquan and we'll visit the others in a future installment.

*I didn't touch upon the pressure point stuff and don't intend to. Many traditional martial arts incorporate pressure points into their training. As the Hazuki style is a traditional style in-universe with many classical influences, many of Ryo's moves mention pressure points in their descriptions. It'd get too repetitive addressing them each time they're brought up, so I'll only mention pressure points if the description does something different with them other than "hit this and they could die."