Soto uke
Karate blocking technique
外受け
- Type
- Blocks and parries
- Martial arts
- Karate
- Japanese
- 外受け
- Meaning
- Outside forearm block
- Listed in
- Using the arms (Shotokan karate)
In Shotokan karate, soto uke is a blocking technique used for blocking mid-level incoming attacks. It is roughly translated as "From outside block", similar to Osotogari (leg throw from the outside), which comes from the block's final resting point centered on the blocker's body. The opposite of soto uke is uchi uke ("From inside block").
Soto uke is performed by bringing one hand to the ear, keeping the elbow raised, and sweeping the arm down and out towards the center of the body. The preparatory step of raising the arm gives the block more momentum, making it somewhat painful to encounter. A different application involves extending the non-blocking hand in front before performing the block. This represents grabbing the attacker's arm. The motion termed the block, then, is actually meant to break the arm, which would explain the necessity of the extra momentum.
Kanji in 外受け
The name word by word
Each part of the romanized name looked up in the JMdict Japanese dictionary.
Other Karate blocks and parries
- Age-uke
- Uchi-Uke
- Kaisho haiwan uke
- Uchi ude uke
- Gyako uchi uke
- Chudan soete uke
- Nagashi uke
- Kaisho juji uke
- Joge kaki uke
- Heian Godan
- Nami Ashi, a.k.a. Nami Gaeshi
- Mawashi uke
- Haiwan uke
- Kakiwake uke
- Teisho awase uke
- Gedan juji uke
- Gedan kaki uke
- Jodan juji uke
- Kaisho age uke
- Morote Tsukami uke
- Osae uke
- Otoshi uke
- Sokutei Osae Uke
- Sokuto Osae Uke
- Tate shuto uke
- Te osae uke
- Tsuki uke
- Empi uke
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q2303875 (CC0); text quoted from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); kanji data KANJIDIC2 and KanjiVG. Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.