<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Forms and Sets > Form 4 > Frequently Asked Questions > Why are so many defensive maneuvers done open-handed in Form Four?

As mention numerous times within this guide series, the forms of American Kenpo are specifically designed to have a progression of difficultly of basics composing the forms. The forms start with more elementary maneuvers and these basics advance in sophistication as the forms advance. Because of this, the basics that compose Form Four will be on average more advanced that the maneuvers of the lower forms.

 

Open-handed maneuvers typically are considered to be more advanced that close-handed maneuvers. This is due to the understanding that the weapons of our body may cause injury, but may also be injured. And, open-handed maneuvers tend to expose the fingers to more potential injury. This is even more of a consideration when executed as defensive maneuvers, where the fingers are more exposed to potential injury by an aggressive attack executed with the intent to cause injury.

 

Another way this progression can be understood is that the manner in which the maneuvers themselves also vary in sophistication. For example, a block and a parry are two distinct and elementary defensive maneuvers, with the parry being of slightly more sophistication than the block. This is due to the fact that the parry requires a higher degree of manipulation to the potential opponent's in-flight weapon than the block; which simply opposes the potential aggression directly.

 

But, the sophistication of these maneuvers does not end there. The maneuvers can be further sophisticated by adding elements of each to the other. For example, a block can be executed with characteristics of a parry, and a parry can be executed with characteristics of a block. A list of such maneuvers would be: a blocking block, a parrying block, a blocking parry, and a parrying parry.

 

Form Four exhibits these sophistication advancements by demonstrating maneuvers that exemplify each of these types of progressions. And, with this a good deal of these sophisticated maneuvers are performed with the hand open at some point within their execution. This is primarily due to the fact the Form Four is considered an advanced form - with advanced basics.