Dangerous Parts - The Head

1 - Temples

2 - Bridge of Nose

3 - Eyes

4 - Mastoid Glands

5 - Base of Nose

6 - Lower Mandible {Jaw}

7 - Carotid Arteries

8 - Trachea {Wind pipe}

1 - Temples

The temples are soft areas of the skull to either side of the forehead. Here it is often possible to see throbbing veins etc., and thus when struck it is possible to briefly cut off the supply of blood (and therefore oxygen) to the brain. This results in disorientation, and possible loss of consciousness if the blow is hard enough.

2 - Bridge of nose

The bridge of the nose is one of the focal points for the sinuses. Striking this point hard can break someone's nose, but the blow does have to be considerable. A less hefty blow however can cause an almost instantaneous swelling of the sinus cavity in the bridge of the nose. This is very uncomfortable and can stop the person breathing through their nose. Moreover, the most devastating effect can be that the pressure on the sinuses can relatively easily attain a level from such a blow, that it begins to put pressure on the eyes. This will often cause temporary blindness for a few seconds or minutes.

3 -) Eyes

This is a peculiar strike for two reasons.

1. The jitsuka does not actually strike the uke in the eyes for this - contact with the actual 'dangerous part' should not be made as very few people have the skill to poke someone on the surface of the eye without causing damage to the eye!
2. In all other techniques, at least some precaution against the old knee to the groin is taken, but this technique is just begging for it. I have never received a one hundred percent satisfactory answer as to why, but the whole technique is a little bit odd, so just do it this way for now.

Basically the effect of thrusting pointy things in people's eyes is excruciating pain and probable blinding in that eye (at least temporarily). This technique is very dangerous and very effective. Use it with extreme caution and be aware of the consequences.

Please note that this is not recognised as an official demonstration technique for striking this point.

4 - Mastoid glands

The mastoid glands can be notoriously hard to find on some, and easy to find on others. Being a gland well protected in the skull, it obviously has pain potential. A particularly painful spot generally used for coercing uke's to move their head or to tap in pain. Not life threatening, but it can be a useful threat to a defeated foe if they are unaware of pressure points etc. -
"If you keep trying to get up I'll have to kill you..."
The jitsuka applies a small amount of pressure to the mastoid whilst doing his best Mr Spock impression.

5 - Base of nose

It seems like everyone has seen a martial arts film where a guy has his nose smashed into his brain... well that's why this one is included. A very deadly blow to use. The jitsuka will almost surely break the cartilage in the uke's nose. This will have the same sort of effect as striking the bridge of the nose (see 2 above). With enough power this strike can force pieces of broken cartilage into the opponent's skull - the results are obvious. Great care should be taken in training that no one becomes overzealous in this strike as if it is not controlled the consequences can be fatal.

An alternative and favoured strike for use outside the kata style demonstration is to use the heel of the hand or the knuckles of the fist. A knife hand is used in the demonstration because it is still effective, but is a more accurate strike and easier to control for such a demonstration.

6 - Lower mandible

The jaw has a wide range of movement, up and down mainly, but also side to side, forwards and backwards. This wide range of movement lends itself to painful dislocations and breakages. Striking down hard on the chin stretches it out, and the movement back in draws it out further pivoting at the connection to the skull itself. This technique can cause a great deal of pain, but not necessarily enough to eliminate the opponent from being effective in a combat situation.

7 - Carotid arteries

The carotid arteries carry blood to the brain, and striking them can cause a swelling that will temporarily cut off a good portion of the blood to the brain. Like striking the temples, striking the carotid arteries can cause the opponent to experience dizziness, and sometimes loose consciousness.

8 - Trachea

The trachea or windpipe is the tube that feeds air through the neck directly into the lungs. If this is struck, swelling can occur which restricts breathing and thus reduces the oxygen that gets to the brain resulting in the opponent becoming unconscious. Asphyxiation can also result since the lungs cannot expel the waste gasses CO₂, etc. A hefty blow to the trachea can damage it irreparably or at least to the extent where the victim of the blow would require a tracheotomy (biros at the ready for that emergency tracheotomy).

Striking the trachea is another of the possibly deadly techniques, but it can be used in a more controlled manner at very close quarters. Pinching the trachea causes a mild restriction to breathing, but should not cause any permanent damage since the trachea is surrounded by cartilage. It can however be increased to a higher level of severity by bringing more of the fingers into contact with the trachea (not the whole throat), and increasing the pressure of the grip/pinch.