Foot Fist Way: Kwang-Gae & The Heaven Hand, Part 3

Previous Posts:
Part 1
Part 2

Spearhand to face, smash onto knee

The high spearhand thrust (what my club calls an "unsupported spearfinger") has three odd features in Kwang-Gae:

It's performed in slow motion
The footwork is the slipping of the front foot (i.e. pull it in before stepping back out again)
It's performed in low stance rather than a normal front stance

Slow motion movements in forms indicate body manipulation. As shown in the combined gif on the left, we can use the spearhand after the heaven hand sort of like a slap: pressing out on our opponent's face while pulling in their arm with our reaction hand. We may also use the slipping footwork to get behind the opponent's leg, and then use the low stance to press out on the back of your opponent's knee. From here, you can pull the opponent downward for a takedown.

However, in both cases the next movement in the form is lifting our back leg. So if we want to get nasty, we can smash the back of our opponent's head on our knee as we take them down.

Sources: imineo, one minute bunkai

Grab ears, pull down

A different follow-up after the palm heel to to step forward and grab your opponent's ears from behind their head. Grabbing ears (or just the head) is a common interpretation of the twin vertical face punch. You can use the "stomp" to press down on the back of your opponent's knee as you grab their head.

Source: Practical Kata Bunkai (Note: perspective is mirrored)

However, if you are unable to stomp their knee, instead perform a knee strike to the spine, and then unceremoniously pull their head to floor by the ears as you land into the double upset punch. You can see pictures of this application by Iain Abernethy to the right, who is analyizing a similar set in from the kata Gojushiho.

Kick out leg, turn and lift

Turning 180-degrees into a knifehand guarding block usually indicates a head crank. But I don't think that's what's going on here, because we step back into the guarding block after turning around. Furthermore, the set ends with a high punch. Why?

To resolve this, first apply the double upset punch to grab and control your opponent. Front kick the opponent's cross-side leg, aiming for their inner thigh, with the goal of knocking back their leg.

Land, turn, and step back into knifehand guarding block per the form. Your front forearm presses out on the opponent's neck, but your back hand goes for the leg you just kicked back. Grab the leg (by the opponent's pants if they are wearing away) and lift it upwards as you walk forward into the high punch, grabbing and pulling your opponent's head down with the reaction hand. This makes a crude but simple takedown.