Hi! Would anyone happen to know the purpose of the attacker bending his arm at a 90 degree angle with the fingers pointing up? I’ve wondered that for a really long time.
I think you may be referring to the shomen uchi and yokomen uchi attacks shown here. They simulate striking forces coming straight down (shomen) or at an angle (yokomen). The defender's job is to redirect those forces such that the attacker gets unbalanced. Note that these are not meant to be like punches (tsuki). Maybe it is easier to understand the purpose if you imagine the attacker wielding some kind of object or blunt weapon and tries to hit the defender with it. For some reason, I frequently hear broken beer bottles given as examples.
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