Andreas Quast‎ on Kasumi-uchi

 

 

The Motobu-ryu Facebook page has an interesting post about Motobu Choki using the archaic term "Kasumi-uchi" instead of the modern "Haishu-uchi" in Naihanchi. The page notes that the word "kasumi" was also used in Japanese Koryu.

 

The collage below is a quick overview of more classical Jujutsu styles using the term "Kasumi" as a target for Atemi.

 

First of all, Kasumi 霞 literally means haze; mist. In a figurative sense it denotes „turbidity of the eyes.“ It means becoming hazy, (the eyes) becoming turbid, (the view) becoming blurred.

 

In classical Japanese atemi/kyusho, it most often designates the right temple (Shin Shindo-ryu, Tenshin Shinyo-ryu, Kashima Shinyo-ryu, Shindo Rokkai-ryu). The left temple has a different name.

 

However, in Kodokan Judo (founded by Jigoro Kano), it means the left temple, and in Seigo-ryu it is given as the center of the forehead between the eyes. In an anatomical sense "Kasumi" was also identified the meeting point of the sutura coronalis, sutura squamosa, sutura sphenofrontalis, and sutura sphenosquamosa. That is, the meeting point of the temporal bone (os temporale), the sphenoid bone (os sphenoidale), the frontal bone (os frontale), and the parietal bone (os parietale) of the human skull.

 

I don't think this is a secret to anyone these days and hope this clears things up a bit.