Peering at the Mountains, Bigger than Myself
I recently returned from a six day trip to Denver, Colorado. Although I suspect my old routine will be unchanged from when I left, I hope I'm not.
Colorado is a state of big things. Big houses, big sky, and (very) big mountains. Having never traveled so far west before, I knew what to expect in theory but didn't have any real experience. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
Although I'm not a practitioner of the Shinto belief system, I appreciate the importance they place on nature. Colorado is the kind of place Shintoists long to see. The surroundings are a constant reminder of our individual smallness, and the power of the Earth. In the Rockies specifically, there have been tectonic events so massive that spires of rock jute out of the ground at improbable angles.
It's extraordinarily humbling, but at the same time, very empowering and soothing. We live in a society that is fraught with internal and external conflict. Virtually every one of us has a list of worries much longer than it should be, filled with many things that make us seethingly angry. Looking out over the mountain ranges reminded me that almost all of our problems are constructs, and, at the core of things, the world is still what it's always been.
I don't intend to run around with my head in the clouds from now on, but it feels good reminding myself that my opinion is worth...roughly...a grain of salt.
Although I tried my best to let go of my predispositions, one thing I can never purge from my mind is martial arts. As I traveled from town to town in Colorado I couldn't help but crane my neck at every martial arts school I saw. What did they teach? What was their style? What's in their facility? I'm hopelessly curious when it comes to these things.
I noticed, interestingly, that Brazilian Jujitsu and Kung Fu seemed to have a stronger showing than Karate or Tae Kwon Do (which, on the east coast, are most prevalent).
I only got a chance to walk past one karate school while I was there, but I gawked inside as best I could without being obnoxious. It was a strip mall school with a glass product counter near the door, and I was able to spot multiple patches and nunchaku with crazy designs on them. I couldn't locate any information about style or lineage. A mystery that would go unsolved.
I also had the privilege of visiting the Chapel at the Colorado Air Force Academy - an amazing building that held some fantastic surprises.
As you can tell, this place represents the grandeur of its surroundings. The main hall is used non-denominationally. However, underneath are specific areas designed for different religions. One beautiful and peaceful room was dedicated to Buddhism and a sect known as 'Friends of Zen' (I don't know anything about them, but they sound nice).
After visiting the Chapel I did what any good sinner does - I drank. Colorado is renowned for its microbreweries and we (myself, my girlfriend, and her family) made sure to check some of them out. Filled with really friendly people, companies like Odell and New Belgium welcomed us with a great selection of drinks. We also visited Tipsy's, the largest liquor store west of the Mississippi. It was there that I obtained two very interesting beers, one from Japan and one from China.
The left bottle is Kirin Ichiban and the right is Tsingtao. Both were delicious (hence the bottles being empty).
The interesting thing about this trip is that it never served as an escape. One might think that indulging in beautiful scenery and alcoholic beverages would be the perfect recipe to forget about things for awhile (and certainly it could), but for me it provided detachment so that I could observe myself. I enjoyed the company of good people, good food, and good festivities, but at the same time stripped everything away for just a short time. In the Rockies I was nobody; there briefly and forgotten. That detachment showed me what I brought with me from Pennsylvania and what was left behind. From there I was able to figure out what I wanted to bring back, and what needed discarding once I returned.
Of course, all of these little observations were subtle. It was more like a chipping away at the edges, rather than broad sledgehammer strokes. If I became too introverted and focused on myself, than I would once again be missing the big picture. The picture that was much more significant.
Knife Self Defense – It aint gotta be pretty
I'm not confident in my ability to defend myself against a knife. I'm not. Knives are small, quick, furious weapons that can shred you up in a heartbeat. Worst of all, a knife is formidable even in the hands of an unskilled attacker.
If you've never seen a knife attack at full speed (or even if you have), check out the following video. The weird guy in the ski mask sees it coming, and still winds up in an unpleasant situation:
That's against some average dude with a fairly even keeled disposition. Imagine if you encountered someone who is good with a blade. Like this individual:
The credit card trick is interesting, but it's his knife speed that is both impressive and frightening (note: I found this video initially at Low Tech Combat).
A couple of years ago, my gut reaction was to ignore these kinds of videos because they were simply too intimidating. It's difficult to imagine a successful defense against such deadly assaults. I told myself that I would 'deal with it later', or that my basic scenario knowledge was enough to get me by. Eventually I realized though that I would have to take knife self defense extremely seriously or I might as well not even study martial arts for combat purposes.
So now that you scared us Matt, how about some solutions!?
Don't worry, this isn't all scare tactics (I promise). I've found some great concepts that I think maximize a citizen's potential for self defense. The truth is, defense against a knife is rarely pretty and clean; but perhaps by adopting some good practices we can increase the odds of survival.
Mind, Then Matter
Before I dive into videos or techniques, I need to harp on something quick. The mind is the greatest tool for avoiding knife conflict (or conflict in general). Using good judgment and maintaining a constant vigil for bad situations can be the best defense against assault. Furthermore, keeping escape as our #1 priority can increase our chances of survival, even if things do move to a fight.
But, assuming a situation does escalate to conflict, we need to investigate defensive concepts.
Bursting
One of my absolute favorite knife self defense concepts comes from Krav Maga. Now, I know what you're thinking: "is this traditional karate guy hyping up Israeli military tactics? Where's the Samurai s*** Mr. Ikigai?"
It's true, I really like Krav Maga's knife work. Krav has achieved a level of effectiveness born from sheer practicality and necessity (as most good techniques do). The Israelis really need to know how to take down a knife attacker, so they worked on it and created, amongst other things, bursting.
What is bursting exactly? I'll let Human Weapon explain:
The critical concept here is that the block and strike occur simultaneously. There is no room for error. If the block comes even a moment before the strike, the attacker can recoil and stab again. *Remember how quick the knifer in the first video struck the man in the ski mask.*
Furthermore, trying to control the knife arm/wrist without first striking your opponent makes for a lesson in futility. The knife is coming in at unusual angles and is thrusting and recoiling at a remarkable pace, even for attackers with average speed. Getting a grip on the knife wrist can be like trying to catch a wasp with your bare hand - you end up missing or getting stung.
The 'burst' allows for broad safety moves (like blocking into the forearm) while delivering a punishing blow to vital areas.
When Natural Reaction Kicks In
Bursting is a great tactic, but sometimes we are taken by surprise and don't have the chance to mount a balanced, effective burst. In that case, our body's natural instinct is to "get outta the way!". For situations like that, especially when a stab is coming toward the stomach (like the one that felled our masked hero in the first video), this next video could prove valuable.
When watching this, try to mentally incorporate bursting into the instructor's explanations. His defense is good, but he could benefit from utilizing lightning quick strikes to the face and vital regions.
A skilled (or just clever) knife wielder will probably stab you before you see it coming. That's the bad news. The good news is, if your spidey senses are alert the way they should be, you'll probably see him eyeballing you or giving out a weird vibe. Unless you're being targeted by a really skilled killer, there will hopefully be a moment's notice of danger.
Scenario Thinking
Although I've mostly discussed general concepts like bursting and reactionary movement, scenario training is still valuable. The caveat is intent. Unfortunately many of us (**raises hand**) spent time discussing the intriguing theory behind scenario defense and not actually trying to perform against a non compliant attacker.
For scenarios, I like this guy's approach:
A little bit scary right? That's a good thing. He uses his persona to deter possible attackers. "Maybe i'll wait for an easier target", they might think.
Things To Avoid
If it looks pretty, be wary. I know, that's a totally bogus generalization. Level of expertise is as important as the technique itself. But it's been my personal experience that highly conceptualized disarms don't work on an extremely tense and agitated attacker looking to stab you repeatedly.
Some examples of things I don't see panning out in the 'real world' are as follows:
We can readily see severe differences in the behavior of the attacker than what would normally happen with an aggressive, determined knifer. Unfortunately, some of this is trained compliance that can lead to trouble in the long run.
In my own training I've tried to integrate good concepts of my core style (karate) with realistic training practices done by other styles. Even still, knife defense concerns me, and will continue to do so for a very long time.
The Evolution of Sanchin
Here's something cool. I found this video (posted below) while hopping around on Youtube. I got caught in a classic Youtube vortex where, in the blink of an eye, I had spent an hour clicking from one video to the next saying "ohh, that looks neat", "ohh that looks neat."
This particular clip takes place at an event called Budosai 2007 in Britain. These guys did something quite interesting - they gathered artists of different styles (all of whom practice kata Sanchin) and had them perform side by side and together. This produced a really neat look at how Sanchin could have developed over time.
The generally accepted history of Sanchin is that the form was brought over from China to Okinawa, where it was integrated into the indigenous art known as Te. The Okinawans then made changes to the kata as it became part of their training repertoire.
The practitioners seen in this video are as follows:
Pan of Yong Chun Village - Yong Chun White Crane
Chen Jian Feng - Wushu Guan
Shinyu Gushi - Pangai Noon (Uechi Ryu)
Morio Higaonna - Goju Ryu
Here now is the demonstration (original youtube location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWh-uhw4C9s):
The differences are very intriguing. Most noticeable is the increase in length as it goes down the line. Higaonna Sensei's kata is significantly longer than Master Pans. I imagine this has a lot to do with the kata turning into a form of meditation+body conditioning, which would both require a longer performance to test the limits of the practitioner.
The open hand/closed hand adaptation is also very obvious. The Uechi Ryu lineage kept a lot of the open hand techniques, while Goju Ryu lineage preferred a shift to closed fist.
The announcer made an important point toward the end: while we are seeing differences in technique, the same core concepts pervade each performance. Tension, breathing, zanshin, and focus can be found throughout the entire demonstration.
Do you do a form of Sanchin? Does it resemble any of these?
