In the Japanese martial arts, the words uke and ukemi are important, subtle concepts, which don’t translate neatly into English. And these concepts apply across many, if not all martial arts. In this blog article, I’m going to look at these two Japanese words in some depth, to see what light this might shed on their meaning . . .

Uke 受け

We typically use the word “uke” 受け in two main ways in the martial arts:

• To mean “block” as in Uchi-uke (inside block); Soto-uke (outside block); Age-uke (rising block) – etc . . .
• To denote the person who “receives” a technique. The exact role of uke varies between the different arts.

But what does the word itself actually mean?

It’s a noun, written in Japanese as 受け.

け (ke) is just a phonetic character, which has no meaning in itself. So we are interested in 受 (u). This is a common everyday kanji by the way – it’s not a special martial arts term.

As you can see from this monolingual Japanese-language dictionary, 受 is a little picture of a hand passing a boat to another hand. It therefore represents : Receiving from hand to hand. Its main meanings are: Receive; Listen; Accept; Undertake; Reputation; Reception; Popularity.

Uke also has a slang meaning, not mentioned in this dictionary – it means the submissive partner of a homosexual relationship (this is is normally written in kana (phonetic script), not kanji)

Ukeru 受ける

The related verb is ukeru 受ける, which has multiple meanings including:

1. to receive; to get
2. to catch (e.g. a ball)
3. to be struck by (wind, waves, sunlight, etc.)
4. to sustain (damage); to incur (a loss); to suffer (an injury); to feel (influence)
5. to undergo (e.g. surgery); to take (a test); to accept (a challenge)
6. to be given (e.g. life, talent)
7. to find funny; to find humorous; to be amused (by)
8. to follow; to succeed; to be descended from
9. to face (south, etc.)
10. to be modified by. (This is linguistics terminology, comparable to but not quite the same as the “passive voice” in English)
11. to obtain (a pawned item, etc.) by paying a fee
12. to be well-received; to become popular; to go down well

Source: jisho.org/search/受ける

“Uke” in the martial arts

So as you can see, uke is a subtle word with many meanings. Going back to our two main uses of it in the martial arts, it’s fairly well recognised that translating something like Age Uke as “Rising Block” is deficient.

Jesse Enkamp has a really good blog post on this, explaining that while we traditionally translate uke as “block” in English:

It actually means THE VERY OPPOSITE. You see, the Japanese word “uke” is a conjugation of “ukeru”, which literally means “TO RECEIVE” […] Your blocks are not really “blocks”. They never were. They are ways of “receiving” your opponent’s attack. […] Bruce Lee said it best: Be like bamboo. Not a stiff tree.

Jesse then gives video examples to explain this – check out the full article at: https://www.karatebyjesse.com/karate-block-real-meaning/

As for the second meaning – the person who “receives” the techniques – perhaps this understanding is less overtly “wrong” in the same way as the “block” translation – but we can still benefit from some careful reflection.

Shawn Gray articulates his own take on it beautifully – I’ll quote him at length here because it’s such a good passage:

Ukeru refers to the processing of an attack. It involves the conversion or diversion of an attack into something or somewhere other than the target. This process involves engagement and contact – it is not a hands-off avoidance. The incoming attack is dealt with physically, “hands-on”. This direct contact not only allows you to apply pain or a technique to the opponent the instant that you receive his attack, but it also acts as a bio-feedback loop – you are in physical contact and thus have a kinesthetic awareness of where the opponent is in space, in which direction he/she is moving, how fast, etc. You do not have this kind of instant physical feedback if you don’t have physical contact.

This same principle can be applied to the way that we deal with many things in our daily lives. Do we choose to interact and process, or avoid? It’s interesting to train with people in the dojo – in time you can see the connection between their style of body movement (“taijutsu“) and their personal style of interacting with others outside the dojo. Those who engage with you as a training partner, giving you a realistic attack, going neither limp nor overly tense and rigid the instant that you start applying the technique, are often the ones that you will see actively engaging outside of the dojo as well, taking on responsibilities, not shying from making decisions and commitments.

On the other hand, dojo training partners who try to thwart you by not letting you apply the technique correctly, jumping away unrealistically early, falling over when you didn’t do anything, flinching away when you haven’t done anything, quitting their own technique before it’s complete – these people are often the ones outside of the dojo who are afraid of commitment, flaky, indecisive, escapist, melodramatic or passive-aggressive.

Blocking got a bad rap somewhere along the line – it should really be receiving: Engaging, Sensing. Feeling. Responding. Converting. Transforming. Transmuting.

– “Receiving vs. avoiding blocking in the martial arts”

Ukemi 受身

So now we have more of an idea about the richness and subtlety of the word “uke”, let’s look at “Ukemi”.

Just for context, here’s a basic definition of ukemi from Wikipedia:

The action of uke is called “taking ukemi (受け身).” Literally translated as “receiving body”, it is the art of knowing how to respond correctly to an attack and often incorporates skills to allow one to do so safely. These skills can include moves similar to tumbling and are often used as a valid exercise in itself. In aikido and judo training for instance, many classes begin with ukemi training as conditioning.

Ukemi 受け身 comprises 受け (uke) and 身 (mi).

As you can see from the dictionary, “Mi” represents: a picture of a person with a big stomach. It includes the meaning of “packed full” and represents a body or interior packed full of muscle.

Its meanings include: body / self / contents / position in the world / position.

Jisho.org also adds that 身 can mean: main part, meat (as opposed to bone, skin, etc.), wood (as opposed to bark), blade (as opposed to its handle), container (as opposed to its lid)

The same site defines Ukemi as follows:

1. the defensive
2. passive attitude; passivity; passiveness
3. the passive; passive voice (linguistics terminology)
4. ukemi (the art of falling safely) – Martial arts term

Source: https://jisho.org/search/受身

As regular readers of this blog know, I always try to give you some new or interesting perspectives to take away. So here are a couple of avenues you might find interesting to explore

Ukemi as a metaphor for relationships

Many people have reflected on how ukemi can function as a metaphor for human relationships, both on and off the mat. In addition to the blog post by Shawn Gray above, here are some great articles:

• The Art Of Ukemi in Aikido – Quentin Cooke

I practise aikido always with its applications for daily life in mind. As we worked through our lesson on ukemi, I came to the realisation that many of the above principles would help smooth out the way we engage with other people generally . . .

• Fear of Failure and the Art of Ukemi – Judy Ringer

In Aikido, falling is an art form—the art of ukemi (receiving). We don’t see falling down as failure, because we don’t see what we’re doing as a contest. We’re playing. We’re staying in relationship as we give and receive and play with ki (energy). Falling is one way to handle the thrower’s powerful ki . . .

• Uke: Receiving – Dave Lowry

[Uke is] the attitude of receiving, meeting the throw on one’s own terms. The mentality of the uke is not one of resignation or worse yet, of stubborn resistance. The uke flows, absorbs the force of the throw, and while he does fall, his ukemi does not necessarily signal defeat. His fall is one he controls. He receives — and bounces up again . . .

Ukemi as a form of leadership

Finally, I’m going to briefly reflect on how the role of uke might be seen as a powerful form of leadership. If you watch a martial art in action from the outside, you might just think that tori (nage) is the one doing everything – and uke is just being thrown around passively.

But in fact the opposite can be true. At its highest level, ukemi is an extremely skilled art. A good uke can also be the one who teaches tori, using the technique often called backleading in dancing. Indeed, in classical Japanese budo, the uchitachi (uke) is the more senior practitioner who helps the shitachi (tori) to understand the techniques. Ellis Amdur writes:

In two-person kata (pre-arranged form), the person in the uke role is almost always senior. Already knowing the junior person’s side of the kata […] the uke attacks and counters at a level that is just enough to lead the learner to a higher level of skill.

– Dueling with O-Sensei: Grappling with the Myth of the Warrior Sage

This links to the concept of “servant leadership”, which is sometimes said to be the highest form of leadership. A servant-leader:

focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

But how do we reconcile the specific sense of deep “passivity” within the kanji for “ukemi” with the idea of leadership? As Westerners, we instinctively “know” that passive or laissez-faire leadership are ineffective or even harmful styles – see for example this article:
How Passive Leadership Can Hurt Your Company

But in fact there are other, more positive ways to view “passive leadership”.

Yijun Xing and David Sims X studied the management styles of a group of senior Chinese bank managers in the context of their having been raised in a Daoist culture.
They explain that the concept of “Wu Wei” is often translated simply as ‘non-activity’, or ‘governing by doing nothing’ – but this doesn’t do it justice. Instead, they explain it in terms of promoting internal self-reflection, and argue that Western managers could benefit and be empowered from understanding this concept in a more nuanced way.

They write:

Many cross-cultural studies, comparing Chinese and American employees, show that Chinese employees tend to be less autonomous, less aggressive, more submissive and subservient to authority, more susceptible to the influence of powerful people and more likely to make compromises.

However, these studies do not take account of what lies behind the submissive or soft manner, the reflexive managerial thought and intelligence of Wu Wei.

Their research explores the benefits of stillness, reflection, intuition, frugality, “flow” and not aiming too high for leaders – as well as the importance of eliminating mental stress, emotional blockages, judgmental attitudes, selfishness, pride and prejudice. You can read the full paper here:

“Leadership, Daoist Wu Wei and reflexivity: Flow, self-protection and excuse in Chinese bank managers’ leadership practice” – Yijun Xing, Beijing Jiaotong University, China; David Sims, City University London, UK

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