Go So Kempo - A Percussion Art Played on People

Gall Bladder 20/GB20 or Feng Chi (Pool Of Wind)

This weeks point is Gall Bladder 20, or GB20 for short. It is on a Wood meridian and is of a Yang polarity according to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) theory. It is located at the based of the skull here!

Striking

GB20 needs to be struck at a 45 degree upwards into the skull towards the opposite side of the head. It responds best to a sharp heavy trauma style of strike, such as ridge hand, knife hand and palm heel.

A moderate powered strike to GB20 will instantly stun an opponent and will probably cause them to momentarily blackout for a second or two. In the "Pressure Point Atlas" by Master Mike Patrick, he states that a strike here will lower the blood pressure, I can't confirm this as I've never tested it. A hard strike here will cause an easy KO and is common KO point used in demonstrations. A full power strike to this point is likely to cause death. I've seen WWII Commando manuals that have listed this area of attack.

Applications

Obviously the ways in which this point could be struck are endless. The following applications are not exhaustive, they are simply presented to stimulate thought and provide possible applications.

Firstly from a clinch. If you have your hands on the outside and the opponents head is quite high and the back of the neck is exposed, you can strike this point with a short hooking ridge hand. It is tricky to get the power and accuracy from this position but it is possible. You can use you opponents hair (if they have some!) to expose the point better.

Another application is after a groin strike causing the opponent to lurch over and expose the point. A quick whack with a knife hand works wonders from this position.

Another is slipping to the outside of big lunging punch so that you end up behind your opponent and using a vertical fist or palm heel in works nicely.

For Doormen, approaching from behind delivering a subtle palm heel when entering on someone can stun them very easily. Obviously not an official technique but doesn't show up easily on CCTV and doesn't leave a mark on them.