Gyaku-zuki: the reverse punch for Kolhapur

A basic punch with the opposite hand

Readers in Kolhapur who follow karate in India and elsewhere will meet gyaku-zuki, 逆突き, the basic reverse punch in the Japan Karate Federation glossary. This note says what it is, when a class uses it, and how a straight punch scores.

It uses the hand opposite the foot that stepped forward. Force from that foot's turn passes through the hip, the upper body, and the arm, into the seiken on the opposite side. Whether a Kolhapur coach uses the Japanese name in month one is unconfirmed.

The fist, and two punches that are not this one

In the same glossary, seiken is the fist often used to the face, the abdomen, and the chest. The thumb and little finger take the grip. Contact is the index and middle knuckles, with the wrist and the back of the hand in one line. Gyaku-zuki uses that fist.

Uraken, the back-fist, is a different entry. So is kizami-zuki, the front-fist punch that steps in on the front foot. The glossary says that one should not let the head, also called the hip height, rise as the rear foot draws in.

The same-side punch

Jun-zuki, also called oi-zuki, uses the hand on the same side as the stepping foot. It starts at the hip and punches with the step. When the foot arrives, travel stops and becomes hip rotation, which speeds the punch.

Gyaku-zuki pairs the other way. The Japan Karate Federation runs the foot's turn through the hip and upper body into the opposite arm. With the front foot already down, the rear hand can still reach. No angle, repetition count, or starting belt is stated, so those details are unconfirmed.

When a class uses it

A beginner can practise in place or stepping: front foot set, rear hand out, fist home again. The Japan Karate Federation pages give no Kolhapur timetable, so the minute a local batch sees the drill is unconfirmed.

The same shape appears in kata. Which forms at SK Martial Arts include it is unconfirmed. The teens and adults page describes kata, kumite, grading, and sparring, and it welcomes beginners, without naming this punch.

In kumite it is a tsuki. World Karate Federation rules valid from 1 January 2026 score a controlled traditional hand or foot technique on a scoring area. This punch is tsuki, not a strike or a kick. A 13 April 2026 note marks four edits, including one clause on techniques that do not count. The point scale is not among them. Any later change is unconfirmed.

What a straight punch can score

Chudan is above the pelvis up to and including the collarbone, excluding where the upper arm bone meets the shoulder blades and the collarbones. Jodan is above the collarbone.

A score needs a technique that could still have worked if it had not been controlled, plus all six criteria: good form, sporting attitude, vigorous application, awareness during and after, good timing, and correct distance. Awareness means not turning away and not falling, unless a foul by the opponent caused the fall. Missing any one of the six means no score.

Three values are on offer:

• A straight punch or a strike to a scoring area is yuko, one point.
• A chudan kick is waza-ari, two points.
• A jodan kick, or any legal technique on an opponent with any part other than the feet on the mat, is ippon, three points, except hiza gamae: one knee down while that person is still attacking.

A plain gyaku-zuki is the one-point case. It is three points only as a legal technique on someone down in that sense. Kicking a person who is lying flat is prohibited.

Only the first correct technique in an exchange scores, unless a combination lets the highest value count. After yame it does not count. A technique as time ends can still be valid, and electronic judging must signal it within 1.5 seconds. It is void outside the area, after excessive contact or injury, or if a foul made the opening. That last line sits in the 13 April 2026 note on this master copy.

Effective time is 3 minutes for senior and under-21 bouts, 2 minutes for cadet and junior bouts, and 1.5 minutes under 14.

To the head, a hand technique may score within 2 centimetres: skin touch, no impact. Cadet and under-14 hand techniques use 5 centimetres, still without impact. Skin touch, in every age group, does not pass energy into the helmet or the head. The throat allows no contact, and contact there means a warning or a penalty unless it was the receiver's own fault. At chudan, impact must stay controlled and must not injure. Loss of breath does not, alone, prove poor control.

One safe practice note

Practise in the air until the foot, hip, trunk, and arm finish together, wrist and back of the hand in one line. Do not aim at the throat. Add a pad, or any contact, only when the instructor has set the distance. The World Karate Federation forbids excessive contact, throat contact, and any attack that cannot be controlled.

In a Kolhapur class

Watch the rear hand after the front foot lands. Tsuki plus one point means the six criteria were met. A fast arm with no point means one of them failed. Any result for a named student from Kolhapur is unconfirmed.

SK Martial Arts lists teens and adults at the front of Pinjar Galli, near Main Road, Shahu Colony, Kasaba Bawada, Kolhapur, and names Santosh Kshirsagar and Amol Kshirsagar. No weekly plan is published, so the day a batch meets this punch is unconfirmed. Beginners are welcome on a path of kata, kumite, and grading toward black belt.