63: Juche rear bear hug (under arms) defense

Move 10 of Juche will seem strange to anyone who only practices striking arts. When on Earth would you ever "block" an attack this way?

But to anyone who has studied grappling, the hand movements look exactly like a common defense to a rear under-arms bear hug, also called rear body lock. Specifically,  you reach under one of the opponent's arms, creating a kimura or double wrist lock. We then turn clockwise to complete the lock.

Images source: Brian Glick

You might not think turning into the guarding block counts as the lock at first, but consider:

- The back hand of the guarding block is controlling the opponent's wrist

- The front forearm is putting pressure on the opponent's forearm; the reason it can't travel all the way forward is that the opponent's forearm is in the way.

The intent is to pull the opponent's arm all the way behind their back, completing the kimura lock

This also isn't too dissimilar to the rear body lock defense in the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do, where a finger lock is used.

What about the spin into the knifehand strike?

Oddly, after the clockwise turn into the knifehand guarding block, we do a CCW turn with a jump into a knifehand strike. I was utterly confused about this technique until I found an application for such a spin the self-defense section of the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do.

Basically, if we cannot complete the kimura lock, we turn the other direction while controlling their wrist. After locking their arm, we end with a left knifehand strike to the opponent's neck.

This last application might seem too much of a stretch to you. I would argue some of the jumps in patterns aren't meant to be applied literally (like the jumping spin in Choong-Moo) but instead represent a fast spin.