When you fight, you have four level of distance and defence:

• The distant range, where no strike can be thrown successfuly
• The long range, where you defend yourself by throwing kicks
• The medium range, where you defend yourself by throwing punches, blocking and dodging
• The short range

The short range is where wrestling begins. As a Karateka your goal should be to stick to Kickboxing and get out as soon as you hit, not to get face to face with the opponent. However when you are forced to clinch and to wrestle, you should know how to defend in the short range.

Clinching techniques comprehend elbows (Hiji/Empi Waza - 肘技)…:

• Mae-Hiji-Uchi, forward elbow, straight elbow
• Mawashi-Hiji-Uchi, round elbow
• Otoshi-Hiji-Uchi, 12-6 elbow, falling elbow
• Age-Hiji-Uchi, 6-12 elbow, rising elbow
• Yoko-Hiji-Uchi, lateral elbow
• Ushiro-Hiji-Uchi, back elbow

…knees (Hiza-Waza - 膝技)…:

• Hiza-Geri, front knee, knee kick
• Hiza-Uchi, uppercut knee, knee strike
• Mawashi-Hiza-Geri, round knee, knee kick

…and headbutts (Atemi/Zuzuki-Waza - 頭打技):

• Mae-Atemi-Uchi, front headbutt, straight headbutt
• Yoko-Atemi-Uchi, side headbutt
• Ushiro-Atemi-Uchi, back headbutt

Such strikes are not usually present in Kumite (except knees in Kyokushinkai), but they are actually my favourite strikes to use because of their great pain-to-damage ratio (throwing these techniques require usually minimal conditioning when used correctly, and they inflict loads of damage).

However, besides “hard” striking techniques, Karate comprehends also “soft” throwing techniques, that become useful in wrestling. Such soft techniques are “stolen” from Judo and from Japanese Ju Jutsu, meaning that they were codified by these styles before (modern) Karate did.

While the execution is basically identical to Judo, it has a different philosophy: in Judo, the throw is the definitive technique, in Karate, it’s a setup for an hard technique or a lock (see Grappling). Also, in Karate is auspicable not to go to the ground intentionally, so sacrifice throws are not practiced.

Here is a list of Karate throws (Nage-Waza - 投げ技)…:

• Ippon-Seoi-Nage, single-handed shoulder throw
• Seoi-Nage, shoulder throw
• Kata-Guruma, shoulder wheel
• Kibisu-Gaeshi, one-hand reversal
• Kuchiki-Taoshi, single leg takedown
• Morote-Gari, double leg takedown
• Obi-Otoshi, belt drop
• Sukui-Nage, coop throw
• Sumi-Otoshi, corner drop
• Uki-Otoshi, floating drop
• Tai-Otoshi, body drop
• Yama-Arashi, 180° body drop, mountain storm
• Hane-Goshi, spring hip throw
• Harai-Goshi, sweeping hip throw
• Koshi-Guruma, neck hip throw, hip wheel
• O-Goshi, full hip throw
• Sode-Tsurikomi-Goshi, arm hip throw, sleeve lifting-and-pulling hip throw
• Tsuri-Goshi, belt hip throw, lifting hip throw

Finally, I would like to illustrate grabs (Dori-Waza - 取技). It’s often found in Kata punches the pulling hand (Hikite - 引き手). Some misunderstand it as an old way to generate power that has been disproven in the modern day. However, as the names state, it mimics pulling your opponent gi to make it come into the strike. An hikite can be performed with many grabs, listed here:

• Ashi-Dori, one leg grab
• Eri-Dori, jacket collar grab
• Tsukami-Dori, arm grab
• Kami-Dori, hair grab
• Hiji/Enpi-Dori, elbow grab
• Kata-Dori, shoulder grab
• Kakuto-Dori, wrist grab
• Kubi-Dori, neck grab
• Mune-Dori, chest grab
• Ryote-Dori, wrist grab
• Sode-Dori, sleeve grab
• Sokumen-Dori, side grab
• Ude-Dori, one-arm grab

NOTE:

Other wrestling and clinching technqiues in Karate include rarely mentioned biting techniques (Kame-Waza, 噛み技) and shoulder striking techniques (Kata-Waza, 肩技).