CAVITY POINT Bitei

• NAME: Bitei or rather Bitei-kotsu Translation, the tip of the Coccyx.
  NOTE: not the acupoint named, Chang Qian or Wyelu.
  Meaning, Luo-connecting. These two point are different one from another and they are also in different locations. Bitei is not a pressure point in the legal sense of the word.
• LOCATION: The very tip of the Coccyx (tail bone).
• DIRECTION: Inwards or upwards or a combination of the two angles.
• DEPTH: Up to four inches.
• VASCULATION; Marrow, containing blood only.
• INNERVATION: Fine nerve endings found within the bone of the coccyx itself.
• WEAPON: pointed or cutting weapons like, Geri -kick, knife hand.
• BEST TIME: Any time, day or night.
• ELEMENT: It is possible that a strike may interrupt the GV meridian energy flowing behind Bitei, but Bitei is not a pressure point of the GV meridian, but is on the GV meridian.
• TECHNIQUE: Thrusting—Anywhere from a light thrust too a very heavy thrust may have an several effects.
• RESULT: Long term pain in any case, due to pressure, fracture or breaking to the tip of the Coccyx. The length of time of pain in any case can last from weeks to years.
• CURE: The tip of the Coccyx, is one of the bodies shock absorbers, and can be easily broken. May or may not heal on it’s own, unless broken, In the case of a complete break, medical help would be necessary.
• NOTE: The above was taken from Master Hohan Soken’s charts and also found in the charts of Master Funakoshi, due to his early Shorin Ryu heritage. It has not been listed before or after in any other charts. I theorize that this vital point is an original vital point of Okinawa kart-te, primarily Shorin Ryu.

Commentary

The first time I realized the anguish that a strike to the Coccyx would encompass was when I had discussed it with a instructor of Buk Shaolin which I was exchanging information with at the time. He and his teenage son were sparring with each other when his son got a lucky kick in. His son struck the Coccyx of his father just enough to stop the match and put his father in a hurting condition for weeks! He, the instructor, couldn’t sit, stand, sleep or walk well and sparring was out of the question. His son was not experienced enough to know what he was doing and the consequences there of. But his father, the instructor let me know just how excruciating it really was and that the pain never let up day or night. Every time he moved even slightly the pain interrupted everything he tried to do, every time he moved. If he had a choice between getting kicked in the Coccyx or the Groin, he would choose the Groin! At that time, years ago, he and I didn’t know very much about points, but I listed the kick to the Coccyx, in my first note book (1962-1976) as a fight stopper. Later when studying Shorin Ryu, translated Shoalin (kara-te) Style, the Coccyx strike got a name, Bitei (nick named for Bitei-Kotsu) as I studied Master Soken’s charts.

Some schools teach that GV #1 and Bitei are one in the same point They are NOT. Bitei translates from Japanese to English as Coccyx. Bitei-kotsu translates to, tip of Coccyx. GV# 1, is a point between the end of the Coccyx and the Anus. The outcome is, they are two different points struck two different ways.

Just the manipulation of (or a pushing or putting pressure upon or against) Bitei can cause pain as in the case of the above instructor and sometimes even a fall backwards can be enough to cause pain for months ore even years. Example, a friend of mine was hit by a truck last year and fell backward on to the pavement and was taken by ambulance to the hospital with several injuries. One of them was a hair line fractured to the Coccyx. She was told that the fracture would heal on it’s own in time. Today the only injury that is still a problem is the pain in her tail bone especially when sitting and walking! Now if we analyze this injury we find when she fell backwards onto the buttocks, she fell down hard enough to compress the buttocks to the point were it impacted the Coccyx as well. Which brings up something to think about:

1. If humans had no buttocks, sitting down on a chair would be impossible without a pillow and falling down would be devastating!
2. Babies might never walk, because to learn to walk requires falling
3. Sports of all kind would be minimized.
4. The buttocks along with the coccyx must work together to minimize shock to the back bone.

The point I am working towards is, if your wish is to stop an attacker, a knee strike could be enough to injure the buttocks, if hit. The knee strike would soften the blow to a Bitei ( Coccyx) but would cause enough pain and not completely break the tip of the Coccyx off. If you wish to do as much damage as possible, the weapon would need to change to a weapon type that could bypass the buttocks and strike the Coccyx directly. Those weapons may include but are not limited too, a knife-hand, elbow, front leg- front ball kick at a 15 degree angle. The weapon you choose, would need strong thrusting power so it could move (by way of force) the Coccyx upwards or inwards two to four inches, so it would be sure to fracture and or break.

In the case of a press or a simple fracture the injury should heal in time, depending on the severity of the injury. Sitting, standing, walking and sleeping would be difficult or barely possible do to the intensity of pain, if any movement in that area occurs, which almost never lets up.

The upwards directional strike may also effect the lower parts of the Spinal Column, which can have added side effects, depending on how high the shock impact rises up the Column. The inward strike would tend to fracture or break rather than have an effect on the spinal Column, but would cause severe pain for a longer period of time even permanently. In any case if you are injured in this way it would be wise to have the injury X-rayed. In the case of a complete break medical help maybe necessary. A person with a clean break will find healing very difficult do to the near impossibility of splinting the broken area!

I primarily teach this vital point strike using the knee strike, because it is the lesser of the above listed weapons. When facing the A type bully found in school yards any beyond, if attacked by the bully, the bully needs this very lesson, which would cause him to think (over a long period of time) and conclude that bullying is a bad character trait! So I recommend Bitei for all age groups. For children I show them the knee strike to Bitei.

It is good for adults to know and practice the others possible weapons after learning the knee strike, because you never know when you need to stop a fight dead in its tracks, because sad to say, in today’s world there is little honor. There most probably will be more than one attacker hiding in the shadows.

An example strategy of compound techniques is as follows; The attacker steps in to strike at you, with his arm, using any weapon, push, grab, choke, punch, Knife (what ever). Perry with the style known to you outside the attackers arm stepping forwards to the outside as you Perry. Step so that you are standing behind the attacker facing his back, use your hands (palms first then finger tips) one on each shoulder and pulling him backwards (pressure point maybe used also) off balance (quickly rolling him on to the back of his heels, to keep his legs stiff so he is incapable of stepping backwards). Then slide your rear leg backward into a long Shoto Kan type front stance, pulling the attacker down onto your forward legs bent knee. Warning: This technique I created to provide two way action Up -wards and In-wards at the same time. Once the attacker is off balance ( pulled of balance back on the rear of his heels) there is no stopping a fracture from happening. If his legs remain straight as he falls, the break will be enormously severe. So be careful, always practice in slow motion and the partner-attacker must keep his knees bent so that the speed of the fall is not excessive.

If you wish to use knee strike, in most cases it should have less impact than the above method, but have enough juice to do the job. The shuto (chop) can deliver the greater amount of power if the attacker has fallen down on his front side, or if you are passing to one side of an attack, a long aching Shuto may be used (using the bone before the wrist) to strike Bitei. Now if you put your thinking cap on I am sure you will find many other ways to use Bitei.