Foundations
Every kata, every sparring exchange, every grading is built from a small, fixed vocabulary: a handful of stances, blocks, strikes and kicks. Learn these shapes and their Japanese names once, and the rest of karate stops being a foreign language. Here is that vocabulary — illustrated and explained.
Karate is taught in three parts: kihon (basics), kata (forms) and kumite (sparring) — and kihon underpins the other two. A kata is just a sequence of kihon; sparring is kihon applied under pressure. A weak stance or a punch without hip rotation shows up everywhere, so instructors drill these fundamentals endlessly. Get them right and everything above them improves at once.
The names below are the standard Japanese terms used in the dōjō. Dachi means stance, uke means block or “receiver,” zuki (tsuki) means thrust or punch, uchi means strike, and geri means kick.
Your stance is your foundation — it sets your balance, your reach and how much of your body weight reaches the target. These four are the workhorses of Shotokan.
An uke is less a passive “block” than an active deflection — meeting and redirecting an attack, often flowing straight into a counter. The withdrawing hand (hikite) drives every one.
A zuki thrusts straight from the hip; an uchi swings or snaps. Power comes not from the arm but from the hips and the sharp retraction of the other hand.
Karate kicks chamber the knee first, then extend — this hides the kick’s direction and lets you snap it back fast. These are the core kicks every student learns, in roughly the order they’re introduced.
Kick illustrations are best shown in motion — video and step photos are on the way for each. The descriptions here follow standard Shotokan technique.
Browse by category — Karate Kicks · Karate Blocks · Karate Stances · Karate Strikes & Punches — or jump to any technique below: