Issue 7 - Asian Martial Arts of Medina

2 - Jissen Magazine

Produced and Published by:NETH Publishing, PO Box 38,

Cockermouth, Cumbria, CA13 0GS,United Kingdom.

Email: [email protected]

UK Phone: 01900829406

Overseas Phone: +441900829406

Editor: Iain Abernethy

For FREE Subscription please visitwww.jissenmag.com to be

automatically informed as soon as thenext issue of “Jissen” is available!

This PDF may be distributed by all provided suchdistribution is not done commercially. Charging a feefor this PDF (in whole or in part) is strictly prohibited.This includes distribution by any body, group orindividual where a membership, subscription fee or anyother charge is required to access or view this PDFand / or its contents. Such distribution by commercialentities is prohibited. Commercial entities maydistribute this PDF so long as access is open to alland no charge (direct or indirect) is made. Pleasecontact us if in doubt ([email protected]).

Aside from non-commercial printouts of this PDF,written permission must be gained from NETHPublishing before converting this PDF into any othermedia. This PDF and / or any resulting printout mustbe passed on as is and nothing may be added to it orremoved from it without prior written permission fromNETH Publishing.

Worldwide copyright of all material is held by theoriginator of that material unless stated otherwise. Thereproduction of any material extracted from within thisPDF is strictly prohibited, unless prior agreement inwriting is gained from the copyright holder of thatmaterial. Those wishing to make use of any materialas presented on the pages of this PDF must also gainwritten permission from NETH Publishing.

The views, reports and comments expressed hereinare not necessarily those of the editor and publisher.Whilst every care is taken to check their authenticity,NETH Publishing disclaim any and all liability for anyinaccuracies.

The originator, publishers, editor and all contributorsare not responsible in any way for any injury, or anyother loss, which may occur by reading and /orfollowing the instructions herein. It is essential that priorto undertaking any of the activities described withinthat the reader take the advice of a doctor and asuitably qualified and experienced martial artsinstructor.

The publishers reserve the right to reject any materialtendered at their discretion. The publishers accept noresponsibility for the return of unsolicited material. Thesubmission of manuscripts or materials shall beconsidered a warranty that such matter is original andin no way infringes on the copyright of others.

NETH Publishing make no representations,endorsements, guarantees or warranties concerningthe products and / or services advertised within thismagazine.

EDITORIALHi All,

Welcome to the latest issueof Jissen!

Due to our high workloadthis issue is sadly overdueby several weeks.

Please accept our apologiesfor this.

Thankfully Helen once again put this entire issuetogether otherwise you’d still be waiting for me to finda gap in my hectic schedule!

It seems it is simply not realistic to promise aguaranteed publication date so, although we will stillaim to get issues out on a quarterly basis, futureeditions will simply be “ready when they are ready”.

As always though, subscribers to the dedicated Jissennewsletters and the Iain Abernethy.com newsletterswill be informed as soon as the next issue is ready.

I’m certain you’ll all find the content of this issue to beworth the extended wait! Thanks once again to all theauthors for their pragmatic and insightful contributionsand to the many readers who have ensured that allthe back issues are still being downloaded in highnumbers and for spreading the word to all new readersand subscribers.

We’ll you’ve all waited long enough and I won’t tryyour patience any further by extending this editorialany longer than needed! Enjoy Jissen 7!

All the best,

Jissenmag.com - 3

Please visit Jissenmag.com to get your FREE subscriptionto Jissen! When the next issue is ready for download, you’llautomatically get an email sent directly to your inbox!

The Gurkhas, Masters of the Kukri By Michael Rosenbaum

Core Training and it’s Relevance for Sport By Andrew Adams

Functinal Training with Kettlebells for Karate’s Hojo-Undo By Chris Denwood

Structure and Function of a Knife: Knife as Weapon Series By Rev Art Bodhi

Gavin Mullholland Interview By Michael Rosenbaum

Speed in Training By John Titchen

Kyusho By Nikolaj Faerne Skarbye

Ben Hockman Interview on Training in Urban Krav Maga

It’s Hard to Fight When You Can’t See By Lawrence Kane

How Many Martial Artists Does it Take to Screw in a Lightbulb By Eric Parsons

Martial Arts Scepticism: How Factual is Martial Arts TV By Jamie Clubb

Page 4

Page 12

Page 16

Page 24

0

Page 40

Page 44

Page 47

Page 52

Page 55

Page 60

Dead or Alive By Kris Mansfield

The Martial Art’s Unanswered Question By Ron Briens

The Roundhouse Kick: Karate’s Best Kick or a Threat to Your Survival By MartinO’Malley

Page 72

Page 75

Page 79

Fighting Dirty: Karate/TKD/TSD’s Most Commonly Used Technique By CharlieWildish

Page 68

Karate’s History; Is It a Thing of The past? By Iain Abernethy page 82

Issue 7 Contents

4 - Jissen Magazine

The Gurkhas, Masters of the Kukri.by Michael Rosenbaum

“But in violent and technically primitivesocieties, the facts of battle come as less of ashock to those who first face them, and leavepresumably less of a scar, than they do inordered technically developed states”.

-John Keegan In contemporary Martial Arts the lore of bladedcombat has become very popular. During thepast quarter century the practice of Filipino,Indonesian and Burmese forms of knife fightinghas spread throughout Europe and the UnitedStates.

While this upswing in popularity has increasedpublic awareness of knife techniques, it hasoverlooked environmental demands thatcontribute as much, if not more, to the warrior’sprowess than any formal instruction received.

Long before its mainstream appeal, the kukrihad been used in close quarters combat byGurkha soldiers, warriors whose knife skillswere developed not through formal training butby a harsh and unforgiving lifestyle, one whichimbued the Gurkha with a fierce martial prowessand ultimately propelled them to internationalfame.

Field-Marshal Lord Slim, the hero of Burma,once said that “The almighty created in theGurkha an ideal infantryman, indeed an idealRifleman, brave tough, patient, adaptable,skilled in field craft, intensely proud of his militaryrecord and unswerving loyalty” (Farwell, 1984,p.15). In addition to being the ideal infantryman,the Gurkha’s ability to wage combat with hiskukri has become legendary.

Yet, when one considers that the Gurkhashave been able to do so on battlefieldsdominated by firearms, then the question of howthey accomplished this feat of arms arises. Tounderstand the answer to this question requiresexamining not only the Gurkha’s martialprowess, but also the country from which theycome: its history and the Gurkha lifestyle.

Nepal

Although one may find all of the modern world’scomforts in Katmandu today, life in the outlyingregions of Nepal is still very rugged. Farming isa mainstay of life for many Nepalese with themajor crops being buckwheat, millet, potatoes,rice, sugarcane, tobacco, barley and peppers.Much of the farming is performed by hand, andyoked animals often plough the fields, althoughas recently as 1965, teams of men were knownto do it (Fuer-Haaimendorf, p.8, 1964).

Despite the fact that tourism is a major industryin Nepal today, the country had remainedisolated from the modern world until the late1940’s. This was due to the Nepalesegovernment’s restrictions on foreigners enteringthe country and Britain’s own policies, duringits rule of India, which were in deference to theNepalese government. For instance, E.D. Smithwrites that “The exclusion of Europeans was notonly insisted upon by the Gurkha state but alsoby the British Government of India, in deferenceto Nepalese feelings and in order that thecountry should not suffer prematurely fromcontact with ‘modern civilization’ (Smith, 1998,p.11)

Jissenmag.com - 5

Lying alongside the Himalayas’ southernslopes between India and Tibet, Nepal exceedsnot more than 150 miles in width and is slightlyover 500 miles in length. The country can bedivided into four basic regions: the Terai, whichconsists of open fields and forests and is locatedat the northernmost portion of the Indo-Gangeticplain; the valley of Nepal, which is largely theheart of the country due to its fertile land; themain Himalayan range, which is comprised ofseven mountains over 26,000 feet in height; andfinally, the foothills of the Himalayan range,which are inhabited up to an elevation of 8000feet and can be grazed by livestock up to 13,000feet during winter months. Travel in this districtis often restricted to footpaths given the ruggedterrain. It is here that the Gurkhas originated.

The idea of Nepal as a unified country is a newone since much of its existence has been rifewith warring tribes and petty kingdoms.Obtaining a clear picture of the country’s earlyhistory is sometimes hard due to the region’ssparsely inhabited countryside and tribal-basedsociety, one in which the recording of events isoften accomplished through oral transmissionand mythology. For instance, according toNepalese Myth, the country’s valley wasoriginally a lake until it was drained by a sword’scut. Hindus give credit for this supernaturalorigin to Krishna, while Buddhists believe theact was performed by Manjusri, a bodhisattvaof the Mahayana tradition, who is portrayed withthe sword of wisdom in one hand and a book inthe other.

Although early Nepal enjoyed periods ofstability, such as the Licchavis dynasty, from the4th to 10th centuries, a large majority ofNepalese history is filled with armed conflictbetween petty chieftains, warring tribes anddisplaced persons seeking exile from Muslimarmies who, by the 12th century A.D, hadoverrun much of Northern India. Much of thisstrife was accentuated by Nepal’s ruggedterrain, making it virtually impossible for any formof centralized government to operate effectively.Therefore, isolated tribes, such as the Gurungs,Magars, Limbus, Rais, Tamangs, Sunwars andothers, were free to reign as they wished in theirown remote living area until another tribeseeking land, or bounty invaded them. The 14th

century saw the Malla Dynasty in control of thevalley region; however, by the turn of the 18thcentury the valley was once again divided, thistime between three rival kingdoms, one of whichwas located in Katmandu, one in Patan andanother in Bhatgaon.

The Gurkhas

Kaphar hune bhanda morne ramo, - “It is betterto die than be a coward.”

The motto of the Gurkha soldier:

The original translation of the word “Gurkha”does not refer to any one particular tribe ofNepalese people but instead to the hillsettlement of Gorkha located northwest ofKathmandu. It was here that a small group ofRajput immigrants, who had fled the Muslimoccupation of Northern India, established a hilldynasty in the mid-sixteenth century. In doingso, these Indo-Aryans imposed their Hinducaste upon the Tibeto-Burmans who alreadyoccupied the region, and in time, throughrelationships and marriages, the offspring of the

6 - Jissen Magazine

Indo-Aryan men and the Tibeto-Burman womenwere elevated to the Kshatryia or warrior class.Thus the original use of the word “Gurkha” didnot refer to the Magar and Gurung tribesmenwhose martial prowess would gain renownedfame in later centuries, but instead designatedthe early Indo-Aryan rulers of Gorkha and theirwarrior class.

For much of their early existence, the Gurkhas,depending on shifting alliances, alliedthemselves with one of the valley kingdomsbecause they had not the weaponry, normanpower to defeat all three simultaneously.However, this was soon to change under theleadership of Prithvi Narayan (1723-1774).Upon ascending the Gorkha throne in 1742Narayan began preparations for conquering thethree valley kingdoms and achieving theeventual unification of Nepal. It was whileforming his army that Narayan disregardedtraditional caste rules and recruited tribesmenlike the Khas, Magars and Grungs into hisranks, thus making warriors out what was thepeasant class. He also introduced the use offirearms to the Gurkhas’, a practice uncommonto Nepalese warfare at this time. PrithiviNarayan would spend 25 years of his lifeexpanding the Gurkha’s territory, as well asunifying a large part of Nepal. Unfortunately,his dream of conquering all of the country wouldnot be realized given his death in 1774.Afterwards, Narayan’s successors finally unifiedthe entire country whose borders in 1810 ranfrom Kashmir in the west to Sikkim in the east.These same borders also lay adjacent to landclaimed by the East India Company, a largeconglomerate of merchants colonizing India forthe British Empire.

After unifying Nepal, the Gurkhas beganlaunching raids into the land claimed by the EastIndia Company. This led the British to declarewar, and in 1814 an army 22,000 strong invadedNepal with intentions of a quick conquest. TheBritish, however, were soon to discover that theGurkhas were not amateurs in the art of warand it would be two years before the fightingwas over. A peace treaty was finally signedbetween England and Nepal in 1816, with oneof its provisions that Nepal would furnishGurkhas to England for service in the British

Army. This was partially due to the respect theBritish had developed for the Gurkhas’ martialprowess, and also because of England’s needfor colonial troops to help police its empire.Initially, the Nepalese government stringentlyhonored this provision, and it was not until thelate 19th century, when the trade in militarymanpower began to profit a succession ofmaharajahs who in turn obtained a guaranteeof Nepalese sovereignty from Britain, that theBritish were allowed to freely recruit for theirGurkha Brigades. From that time on, GurkhaBrigades would fight side by side with Britishtroops. They would serve in two world wars,help quell communist uprisings in Borneo andMalaysia, (1948-65) and because of their fiercereputation, scare Argentine troops intosurrendering during the Falklands war. Mostrecently, the Gurkhas have served aspeacekeepers in Bosnia and have alsocampaigned against terrorist forces inAfghanistan. In every conflict the Gurkhas havefought, their reputation as tenacious fightershas always been upheld and even to this daythey carry their kukris into combat.

Jissenmag.com - 7

Close Quarters Combat

The early Gurkhas went into combat wellarmed. Their weapons included swords,shields, bow and arrow, body armor, daggers,short swords and, beginning in the 18th century,firearms. With Nepal being in such closeproximity to Northern India, the weapons andfighting arts of their neighbor heavily influencedthe weapons and fighting arts of Nepal. P.S.Rawson acknowledges the Indian influencesupon the Nepalese, observing that, “Apart fromthese iconographic records, there is no directevidence whatever for the history of the swordin Nepal until recent times, when survivingweapons serve as testimony. It is, however,most probable that throughout the middle ages,Nepal, under her Rajput rulers, shared in thesword traditions of the rest of Northern India,and that after the Islamic invasions and duringthe period of Islamic dominion in Northern Indiathe isolation of the country ensured thecontinuation of Hindu traditions of swordcraft,as of the other arts. It has been said of Nepalthat she represents in the modern world animage of the culture of medieval India. Thisapplies with particular force in the sphere ofarms.” (Rawson, 1968, p.52). Upon inspectionof Nepalese arms, Rawson’s statement ringsever so true because many of those used byNepalese are similar if not identical to thosefound within Northern India. However, evenafter the introduction of matchlocks and thenlater flintlocks into the Nepalese arsenal, theGurkhas still relied heavily upon the use oftraditional shock weaponry. In part, this wasdue to the single shot nature of the firearmsand the time it took to reload them, but it wasalso due to the Gurkhas’ tribal ethos, whichplaced much importance on the warrior’sindividual skill of arms. Therefore, often was thecase when the Gurkhas would discharge theirfirearms then rush to close quarter’s distance,a range where their individual fighting skills andshock weaponry could be put to much use. Inhis book, Indian And Oriental Arms And Armourfirst published in 1880, Lord Egerton describesthe Gurkhas method of fighting: “The Nepaleseat the stockade at Tamta defeated the nativetroops brought against them with heavy loss,using their heavy semi-circular ended swordswith great effect, and “like the Highlanders of

old, after discharging “their matchlocks, rushedin fierce through disorderly masses upon theiropponents.” (Egerton, 1880, p.38). The swordto which Lord Egerton refers is in all probabilitythe Kora, a forward curving blade, sharpenedon the inside with a massive tip at the blade’send. Much of the Gurkhas’ military success hasbeen attributed to their possession of this sword.Of all their weapons, however, the one thatcame to be most closely associated with theGurkha is the Kukri.

The Kukri

The forward curving, inside cutting, Kopis styleblade of the Kukri is one long known in theannals of warfare, in particular to those ancientsocieties of western civilization. Sir RichardBurton attributes the blade’s origin to the earlyEgyptians, and it was also used by the ancientGreeks who referred to it as the Kopis. Hoplitesoften carried the weapon in a sheath beneaththeir left arm, from where it could be drawneasily and then used in a powerful choppingmotion. On the battlefield the kopis wasconsidered a secondary weapon to the spear,but at close quarters it proved to be veryeffective. Many scholars, such as the late EwartOakeshott, attribute the blade’s presence inIndia to the Greeks and Alexander’s invasionof northwest India during the 4th century B.C.It was from Northern India, that the Kopis bladewas first introduced to Nepal.

The kukri’s evolution is due to the influence ofthe kopis style blade, although ascertaining justexactly when the first kukri was made is hardto pinpoint. Some historians believe that it is amodern knife whose history dates back no morethan 500 years, while others believe that it mayhave been developed during the Licchavisdynasty, if not before. Manufacturing of the kukriwas, and still is, done by smiths in hill villages,with styles differing due to personal tastes andtribal preferences. The guidelines forpurchasing kukris in the pre-1947 Indian Armywere well regulated, yet it was not until WorldWar I that the kukri would be mass-producedin a standardized designed, a process thatwould increase dramatically during the SecondWorld War.

Although a very effective weapon, the kukri’s

8 - Jissen Magazine

primary function in Nepalese society was andis one of a utilitarian nature. In Nepal, the knifeis used for chopping wood, clearingundergrowth, harvesting crops, slaughteringlivestock and numerous other jobs associatedwith agrarian lifestyles. This is in addition to theyearly religious festival of Dashain, whenthousands of animal sacrifices are made to thegoddess Durga, many of which are performedwith the kukri. The kukri’s inclusion as part ofthe Gurkhas’ weaponry resulted from the knife’ssize, its effectiveness as a weapon, and itsusefulness as a tool. The combative/utilitarianroles of the kukri are complementary and are,in fact, what makes the Gurkhas so proficientwith this knife. When one designs a weapon,he also gives birth to a weapons system; suchis the case with the kukri. It is designed for thespecific purpose of allowing its user to expressone of the most instinctive physical actionsknown to mankind, the act of chopping. Andthough it is likely that Northern Indian swordsystems held influence, the Gurkha’s kukri skillswere developed more through work than formalinstruction. Since it is common for a Nepaleseboy to have his own kukri, the knife is used onalmost a daily basis in performing tasks closelyassociated with the Gurkhas lifestyles. Thedownward chop used in splitting wood is alsoused for cleaving a head. The crosswise slash,

used for cutting maize, proves very effectivefor delivering a horizontal cut to an enemy’smidsection, leg or neck. Angular slashingmethods used for cutting through denseunderbrush are employed for slicing anopponent from shoulder to hip. Moreover, theconstant use of the kukri on broken terraininstills in the Gurkhas a sense of balance, onethat makes the warrior surefooted while fightingat close quarters.

This process of learning is one known by fewmodern day martial arts practitioners. However,this unstructured agrarian method is “traditionalmartial arts” for the Gurkha, and it is throughconstant use of the kukri in a utilitarian role thatfighters develop their skills. Although theGurkhas’ method of developing their kukri skillsmay seem overly simplistic, one mustremember that the techniques of most mortalbased combat systems are based on simplicityand, in this respect, the kukri is no different. Infact, it is the simplicity of its techniques thatmakes the weapon so lethal. The kukri’schopping and slashing actions can be executedsuccessively in a short amount of time, andwhen done at close range, there is little or noroom for missing one’s target.

Unlike martial artists who train for competitionand place high value on aesthetics, this is notthe case with the Gurkhas. Their employmentof the kukri is one based on lethal intent andthe execution of their attack is done withexplosive power, speed, and a primal form ofaggression found only in mortal combat. A caseexample of this being Jemadar Dewan SingBasnet, of the 1/9 Gurkha Rifles, who duringthe battle for North Africa found himselfconfronted by five Germans in a trench and atnight. Decapitating one of his attackers outrightand immediately afterwards cut down threeothers in quick succession, the brave Gurkharecounted his actions later stating “I waschallenged in a foreign language. I felt it wasnot the British language or I would haverecognized it. To make quite sure I crept upand found myself looking into the face of aGerman. I recognized him by his helmet. Hewas fumbling with his weapon, so I cut off hishead with my kukri. Another appeared from aslit trench and I cut him down also. I was able

Jissenmag.com - 9

to do the same to two others, but one made agreat deal of noise, which raised the alarm. Ihad cut a fifth, but I am afraid I only woundedhim. Yet perhaps the wound was severe, for Istruck him between the neck and shoulder”(Gould, 1999, p.248). Neither the length of theengagement, the space it was fought in, northe equipment worn by Dewan Sing would haveallowed the execution of anything but the mostnatural techniques with his kukri. Likewise, hisis one of many recorded instances, whichillustrate that simplicity of technique andaggressive execution are the keystones to closequarter’s combat, particularly when foughthand-to-hand.

The use of the kukri on the battlefield was doneduring the regular course of infantry combat,particularly during those times when fire andmaneuver tactics brought the Gurkha to closequarters with their enemy, leaving no option but

to resort to hand-to- hand combat. This usuallyoccurred in one of three ways: during theinfiltration of a trench line or fortification, in whicha sentry had to be killed quickly and quietly;one-on-one encounters, when two combatantscame face to face and were forced to fight hand-to-hand; and melee combat during which theuse of firearms is not possible for fear of hittingfriendly forces, thus leaving combatants withno option but to resort to their knives andbayonets.

Although the Gurkhas are imbued early in lifewith a proficient means for fighting with thekukri, their “taste” for close quarters combatstems from a tribal-based martial ethos, onereinforced by a very long and distinguishedmilitary heritage. This in turn leads the Gurkhasto place a high value on the individual’s martialprowess. Noted Anthropologist Lawrence H.Keely suggests some of the advantages thetribal warrior holds over a soldier of anindustrialized society: “In some respects, ofcourse, tribal warriors were much better trainedfor war than their civilized counterparts. Theirpreparation usually spanned their wholechildhood instead of the few weeks or monthsthat civilized warriors’ train before facingcombat. From an early age, warriors constantlypracticed wielding real weapons and dodgingmissiles, receiving criticism and advice fromexperienced warriors, and being inured todeprivation and pain by means of variousordeals and rites of passage. Yet such trainingfocuses entirely on the individual, not on thegroup or teamwork” (Keeley, 1996, p.43). Eventhough the modern Gurkha may not have beensubjected to the same rigors as their ancestorsof earlier times, their use of the kukri on analmost daily basis, the harshness of theirenvironment, and their longstanding martialethos all combine for making a very formidableopponent, especially when encountered atclose quarters.

Although the kukri’s use in combat today maynot be as common as it once was, the Gurkhas’martial prowess is legendary. They havereached the skill of arms to which Sir RichardBurton alluded when he wrote “excellent in theuse of weapons, and still train them to actnaturally and habitually in concert.” (Burton,

10 - Jissen Magazine

2004, p.178) This they have achieved throughsacrifice, courage, honor and their nativelifestyles.

Endnotes

The kukri is also celebrated in dance, as manytourists have witnessed while visiting Nepal.However, the dancers kukri skills are usuallydeveloped independently of the dance. Amodern fighting arts correlation of skillsdevelopment through kata practice does notapply here.

Sources used

Armstrong, Hunter B. (1986). Weapons andSystems. Sedona A.Z: Hoplos Spring, Vol.VNos 1&2.

Burton, Richard F. (1987). The Book Of theSword. New York: Dover Publications

Burton, Richard F. (1879). A Secret Pilgrimageto Mecca and Medina. London: The FolioSociety, 2004 edition.

Bowker, John. (Eds.). (1997). OxfordDictionary of World Religions. (1997). NewYork: Oxford University Press.

Egerton, Wilbraham. (2002).Indian AndOriental Arms and Armour. (Dover Edition).New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Farwell, Byron. (1984). The Gurkhas. NewYork: W.W. Norton & Company.

Fuer-Haimendorf, Christoph. (1964). TheSherpas of Nepal Buddhist Highlanders. LosAngeles: University of California Press.

Gommans, Jos J.L. and Kolff Dirk H.A. (2001)Oxford in India Readings. Themes in IndianHistory. Warfare and Weaponry in South Asia1000-1800 Oxford New Delhi: University Press.

Gould, Tony. (1999). Imperial Warriors BritainAnd The Gurkhas. London: Granta Books

Gurkha Museum. (1994). The Kukri.Hampshire England: Published by the GurkhaMuseum.

Harding, David (Eds.) (1980). Weapons anInternational Encyclopedia from 5000 B.C. toA.D. New York: St. Martins Press.

Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. (1965). Nepaland the Gurkhas. London: Her Majesty’sStationary Office.

Keeley, Lawrence H. (1996). War BeforeCivilization. New York: Oxford Press

Keegan, John. (1976). The Face of Battle.New York: Viking Books.

Oakeshott, Ewart. (1996). The Archaeologyof Weapons Arms and Armour from Prehistoryto the Age of Chivalry. Mineola, N.Y. DoverPublications, Inc.

Rawson P.S. (1968). The Indian Sword. NewYork: Arco Publishing Company, Inc.

Smith, E.D. (1998). Valour A History of TheGurkhas. Woodstock N.Y: The Overlook Press.

About the Author:

Michael Rosenbaum is a former paratrooperand has been training in the martial arts since

1976. He is the Author of “Kata and theTransmission of Knowledge in Traditional

Martial Arts.”

Jissenmag.com - 11

All too frequently, martial arts practitioners study their art without truly understandingwhere it comes from, how it was developed, and why it was created in the first place.Indeed, many don’t care—and if you feel this way, you should put this book down. Forthe rest of us, who have taken our art beyond tournaments, it is reasonable to expectthat we want to uncover the past. We want to understand the where, why, and how ofmartial art development. We are intellectually curious about our combative history.

To study the combative arts is to understand the circumstances of their developmentand to gain insights into the views and ethics of the societies that created them. As wetravel back in time, we see consistent evidence of martial systems being influenced bythose that came before and/or invaded. We also see the use of ‘pre-arranged’ fightingpatterns (kata) to transmit proven techniques from one generation to the next.

It is this transmission of martial knowledge, through kata and other forms ofcommunication, that this book will explore. The author will demonstrate that pre-arranged fighting techniques (katas) were used by ancient Greek, Egyptian, Asian,African, and European societies. And that Poetry, Dance, and Song were also significantmethods of preserving and transmitting battle-tested fighting tactics through the ages.

The purpose of kata training is not to become bound by the form but to transcend the formitself—to evolve.

Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk & ymaa.com

Michael Rosenbaum began his martial arts training at the age of five. Along with Isshin Ryu, whichhe has been practicing for 25 years, he has studied Bando, Judo, and Boxing. Michael is a formermember of the elite 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, and has completed Infantry, Airborne,and Jungle Warfare Schools. He currently resides near Knoxville, TN.

Does a Broken BoardEqual a Broken Nose?

Available from www.Paladin-Press.com

Training to Achieve the Striking Force Proven to Stop an Attacker

Precisely how hard do you have to hit to stop an attacker? And how do you train to develop that level of force?

This groundbreaking training guide tackles a vital but overlooked aspect of practicing the martial arts: How do you know yourstrikes are powerful enough and accurate enough to stop an attacker? How do you measure the strength of your strikes? Hasyour training accurately simulated a hostile encounter?

Author Brian Struchtemeyer details the exact level of impact force found in modem“less-than-lethal” weapons used by law enforcement to physically subdue criminalsuspects and shows you how to attain this level of force with your punches. Whenofficers use LTL tools, they are able to reliably stop more than 90 percent of criminalsuspects—and that’s when they are only aiming at the thighs or abdomen. They knowthey must be careful because the impact force delivered by these tools could causesevere injury or even death if aimed at more vulnerable body parts such as the headand neck.

Struchtemeyer integrates the long sought-after answer to “How hard is hardenough?” with an engaging and often humorous cross-cultural study on the history,nature, and practical use of surrogate targets, including the heavy bag andOkinawan makiwara. Along the way he connects a diverse range of topics,including psychology, early American football, and the statistics of random chance,to the simple goal of effective stopping power in unarmed strikes.

Finally, these varied topics are synthesized into a set of training drills usingsurrogate targets that allow you to measure the force of your blows so you knowwhen you are hitting with the same level of impact force proven by lawenforcement officers to stop a violent opponent in his tracks.


Core training and its relevance for sportBy Andrew Adams

In this article, we will attempt to educate thereader about the fundamentals of Core and

body control and its relevance to athleticperformance.

In recent years, a great deal has been writtenabout Core training but many athletes that I workwith still seem to struggle to see the importanceof fully integrating Core training into their weeklytraining routine. If an athletes’ daily training isbeing strictly overseen by a club or Strengthand Conditioning professional, the individual isoften “made” to do these sessions, howeverreluctant they may be. Often you will find thatan athlete that has previously been injured willhave a totally different approach to Core trainingas they know only too well the risks forneglecting such a vital component of the overalltraining package.

When I work with an athlete, I always explainwhat I am asking the person to do and moreimportantly, WHY! It is vital that the athleteunderstands why he or she is being asked toperform a task if they are to “buy into” thetraining. It is also this educating of the athletethat will promote adherence to the trainingprogram and any subsequence success.

In order to understand how movement isachieved and regulated by the body we firstneed to take a look at the Nervous System.

The Nervous system is one of the threeelements that make up the kinetic chain andalso its controlling element. Not only does itallow us to learn and store movement patterns,it also monitor’s our environment and ourreaction to it whilst regulating and monitoringthe functioning of the body.

The Nervous system does much more thansimply allowing us to learn movements andmake improvisations to suit the task at hand. Itis the bodies “control centre” and as such isconstantly assessing data through the sensesand nerves in order to control the body and react

accordingly to internal and external stimuli.

A simple example of this is that if we went outinto the snow in a T-shirt, our body would assesthat we were cold through our temperaturereceptors known as, “Thermo receptors”. Thisinformation would be relayed back, assessedand the correct response activated, e.g. wewould start to shiver and then seek extrawarmth.

Sportspeople rely heavily on sensory feedbackto tell us if we are in pain, if our muscles arebeing stretched too far or how fast/powerful amovement should be performed.

Structure of the nervous system

The Nervous system can be thought of as:

1,The central nervous system (CNS)

2,The brain and the Spinal cord

The brain is made up of two main hemisphereswhich are the Cerebrum and Cerebellum. It isthe Cerebellum that controls the skeletalmuscle; stores learnt skills and controlsbalance.

The Hypothalamus is a part of the brain thatregulates the pituitary gland and in turn, thisregulates and controls the Endocrine system.

The spinal cord is the communication link toand from the brain. It acts on commands fromthe brain to achieve movement and alsoreceives and responds to information from thePeripheral Nervous system.

The Spinal cord is rather like a Platoon oftroops. Whilst it is ultimately controlled by theGeneral, it can also react to threats effectivelywithout first seeking orders.

Peripheral nervous system (PNS)

Whilst the functions of the PNS are vast, assportspeople we are primarily interested withthe elements that enable us to learn andperform our techniques, movements and apply

Jissenmag.com - 13

them as necessary. We are therefore chieflyconcerned about coordinating our muscleswhist receiving feedback from our sensoryreceptors to allow adjustments to be made.

In the interest of simplicity, we will concentrateon the motor and sensory nerves that areemployed to achieve or regulate movement.

Sensory receptors are located all over the bodyand are constantly sending feedback to thespinal cord and brain via the dorsal or posteriorhorn. When practicing movement, the receptorscould be telling us if we are experiencing pain/pressure, if we are hot/cold, if our joints areexperiencing dangerous force or if our musclesare being stretched too far or fast.

Motor nerves exit the anterior or front portionof the spinal cord and transmit commands fromthe CNS to various structures in order toparticipate movement.

As previously mentioned, if an immediatethreat is detected e.g. a scold, the spinal cordcan by-pass the brain to facilitate movement.

Movement and Movement patterns

In my role as a Strength and ConditioningCoach I often tell athletes that I prefer to seemyself as a “Movement Specialist”. There ismovement in all sports and it is efficiency ofmovement that ultimately wins medals! As asports person your chief concern should beperforming movement with the strictest ofdiscipline anything less will dictate that you areperforming in an inefficient way where theconsequences could range from an individualpoor performance to eventual injury. It is alsoimportant to remember that it takes around 500repetitions for the body to learn a movement, ifhowever this movement is learnt incorrectly, ittakes around 5000 repetitions to unlearn themovement and learn it correctly.

“To be ignorant of motion is to be ignorant ofnature” :- Aristotle

Our Brains’ start to learn and store movementpatterns from our earliest days. As we grow andrequire our body to perform more complicatedmovements, our Brain draws out a movementpattern that is similar to the required task and

then sets about customizing it through repetitionand Neural feedback. It is at the point thatattention to detail is critical to avoid learning anincorrect or incomplete movement pattern.

An example of this might be learning the squat.We have been getting in and out of chairs froman early age so our body understands the Squatpattern well. However, when we perform theBack Squat, we have to resist an external forcein the form of a Barbell. This in turn couldpotentially force our body into a compromisedposition by altering our centre of gravity. Wetherefore need to make small adjustments tothe pattern to perform the task in hand.

Other factors also limit our ability to perform amovement efficiently, but the two I frequentlycome across are poor or reduced flexibilitywhether as a result of an injury or as a result ofpoor posture and “adaptive shortening”.

We have already seen how our body iscontinually taking feedback from ourenvironment and the stresses that we placeupon ourselves and it is therefore important thatwe “feed” our CNS with good quality movement


in order to become efficient. The first thing thatwe can do for ourselves here is to ensure thatwe maintain a good posture and continuallyassess ourselves to ensure that we areachieving it. I often to ask my athletes to checktheir posture every time they send a textmessage to a friend, It does not matter whatour trigger is as long as we do it frequently.

If we do a job that requires us to spend longhours sat at a desk or driving a car it becomes

more important to give our bodies positiveneural feedback in the form of stretching andor quality movement whenever the chancepresents itself. Our body is always trying toattain a level of homeostasis and therefore itwill only become efficient in the movements thatyou require it to do. The body will seek to adaptto the stresses that is being asked of it, nothingmore nothing less. It is therefore probable toassume that if you spend the bulk of your weekin a seated position, your muscles will adapt to

Fig 1: Good posture Fig 2: Poor posture

Jissenmag.com - 15

that position and ultimately shor tenaccordingly. This will obviously haveimplications should this same person thenattempt to throw a javelin or perform a triplejump!

In instances where people have a limitedrange of movement for whatever reason, thebody will seek to compensate for a lack ofrange in one area by jeopardising the strengthand integrity of another in order to achieve therequired task. Left uncorrected, the likelihoodof injury increases over time. Perhaps the mostimportant point to consider is that if you haveshortened or weakened muscles and areduced range of motion, you will not be ableto generate as much force in movement asyou are capable of. This is obviously a bigconcern to sports that rely on explosivemovements.

Posture and Core control should therefore beseen as one of the single most important

factors of an athletes training. The Coretransfers generated power from one area ofthe body to the other and therefore if youcannot control it, you cannot harness it. AsVern Gambetta 2007 states:“Rooted in thefeet, powered by the core, reflected by thearms, manifested in the hands.”

To put it quite simply, if you cannot controlyour core, you are leaking power and yourperformance will suffer as a result. As a coach,I would never ask someone to performcomplicated lifting exercises until they canstabilise and move their body efficiently. To doanything other would be to compromise theathlete’s future ability in the same way as“painting over rust.” All performance must bebuilt on a foundation of efficient and strongmovement.

In the second article of this series, we willtake a look at the anatomy of the core, followedby an introduction to Core training in part three.


Functional Training with Kettlebells forKarate’s Hojo Undo

By Chris Denwood

Traditional karate can be broken down intothree main components. Firstly there iskata or ‘form’, which represents the solo

perfection of technique and the assimilation ofcorrect body mechanics and muscle memorydue to constant repetition. Next there is bunkaior ‘analysis’, which stands for the study ofapplication, covers what each movement meansand includes pragmatic drilling and sparring etcto develop the lessons learned in kata for usein civilian self-protection strategies. Lastly, thereis hojo undo or ‘auxiliary training’, which actsalmost like a large umbrella, serving toaccentuate and enhance the attr ibutesemployed in the physical, mental and spiritualexpressions of the art.

Nowadays, after the work of so many pragmaticminded karate-ka, the pragmatic componentsof kata and bunkai are now understood muchbetter. However, hojo undo is still oftendisregarded by so many in the dojo and quite

often; the relationship has still to be made inthe minds of those oblivious to its value inenriching the art as a whole. Fundamentallyspeaking, if kata teaches how to correctlyexecute a strike and bunkai explains how thestrike can be used, then ‘physical’ hojo undoaugments and enhances the skills required toperform that strike well and with increasedfunctionality. Ideally, none of these componentsshould be disregarded or their objectivesdistorted.

How can you possibly be expected to performpractically to a level when your body is just notgeared up to do so? It’s kind of like asking amarathon runner to dead lift 500lbs or else you’lltake all his medals away. Our chief aim astraditional pragmatists (among others) is to becompetent in self-protection and no matter whatanyone tries to tell you, being functionally fit andhealthy in line with this goal is always going togive you a much better positional advantagefrom the onset. Physical fitness is in many waysthe single most important facet of pragmaticmartial arts.

It stands to reason that if you hit hard, thenyou’ll stand a greater chance of surviving thanif you’re just throwing around ‘wet paper towels’.For some people it’s a natural gift. For others(usually those who study karate to begin with),functional ability needs to be developed – andsupplementary training helps to fill that missingjigsaw piece. Like everything else in karate, hojoundo represents another link in the chain, whereeach link must be strong and durable, but suppleenough to adapt according to individualcircumstance or aspirations.

Functional training

Hojo undo training in karate often instils theidea of physical training alone, but this is notalways the case. It comprises of exercises (withor without equipment) that are performed with

Jissenmag.com - 17

the prime intention of enhancing your physical,mental or even spiritual ability in the art.Functional training (for which supplementarytraining should consist of) is a term to describethe way in which this training correlates to itsapplication. For instance, functional strengthtraining comprises of working against aresistance in such a way that the gains madedirectly enhance the movements for which thetraining supports. In general, functional trainingtends to look at the body as a whole unit andmovement as a series of actions that worktogether in unison, rather than being made upof single isolated motions.

During the applications of karate, the body ismanipulated in all sorts of different ways thatare in some cases quite unlike how we tend tomove around in everyday life. But even throughnormal existence we may walk, run, jump, lift,push, pull, bend, twist and turn with a degree ofvariance. All of these human actions do not onlydepend on single muscle groups, but are madeup of many sophisticated compoundrelationships between both the muscular andnervous systems.

It is the brain that controls muscular movement,so we must also engage this in the correct waywhen undertaking functional supplementarytraining. For instance, we know from science thatthe brain thinks of whole motions, rather thanisolated muscles, therefore when we trainsingular joint actions as in many common gymexercises found today, we are not simulatingwhat would be challenged in reality. Functionalsupplementary training should prioritise intraining movements, not muscles. Muscles arestimulated for development only because of the‘support function’ they provide to the overallmovement, i.e. they’re responsible for driving thestructure of the body to result in physical motion.

Functional training exercises should have whatis referred to as a high ‘transfer effect’. Thismeans that the movement can easily causepositive adaptations, which can be transferredinto the actual motions that require thesupplementation in the first place. For thistransfer effect to be at its highest, a number ofaspects of the ‘real’ motion have to beconsidered and simulated as closely as possibleduring the performance of the hojo undo

exercise. These aspects include such things asthe types of muscular contraction (i.e. isotonic,isometric, concentric or eccentric), range andspeed of motion, specific coordination and ofcourse for mar tial ar tists, the stressesassociated with performing this type of motionagainst an incompliant antagonist. The obvioustruth here is that the closer you can simulate,the more beneficial the exercise due to theinherent high transfer effect.

Auxiliary training in karate

For karate-ka partaking in supplementarytraining, it becomes obvious from the very startthat there are numerous attributes that mayrequire development. We don’t have the luxuryto concentrate on just one attribute and mayhave to work on numerous such as flexibility,strength, speed, power, aerobic fitness,anaerobic fitness, structural integrity and ofcourse, general conditioning. Our aims willalways dictate our process of development, butfrom a traditional point of view (that is, pragmaticself-protection) we can’t really lose sight of anyattribute that could provide us with the edgeneeded to increase our chances of coming outon top. Nor can we forget that we should alwaysconsider ourselves martial artists first and notfor example, weightlifters or runners who alsohappen to practice karate! As the namesuggests, supplementary training should bethere to help ‘supplement’.

Because we have so much to cover in ourauxiliary training regime, most of the traditionaltools used, although clearly emphasising certainqualities, still cover numerous attributes at once.For instance, the Nigiri Gamae (gripping jars)are used to accentuate the grip, but also generalarm, shoulder and core strength. The Kongo Ken(iron ring) is used as a whole body conditioningtool and the Chi Ishi (strength stone)emphasises the rotational and stabilisingqualities of the shoulders and arms, along withthe grip and back. To be functionally strong, weneed to work our muscles together in naturalunison, rather than (as in many conventionalforms of resistance training) proactivelychallenging them in isolation. Since a trueisolation movement does not really exist, strivingfor this in training goes against what functionaltraining is trying to achieve.


Influenced alternatives

Whilst I do consider the traditional tools of hojoundo still worthwhile and as useful as the daythey were first implemented into karate, I alsobelieve that we should not be limited to ourchoices simply because of historic relevance,thus seeking to test and employ other tools fromaround the world that may help increase ourphysical attributes further. The technologicaladvances of the modern world we all live in havebrought us great luxuries; those that I’m surethe masters of our past would have enjoyedimmensely. But quite often, our inherent lazinessas human beings and need for quick resultshave in many ways pulled us further away fromour goals as functional individuals. As karate-ka, our attributes will only be of use if they arefunctional in application – if we can’t apply ourstrength or power, then everything else simplyfalls apart.

In most modern gyms today a great deal ofemphasis is placed on client safety and for goodreason too. But with the invention of manyresistance machines that are designed toeffectively isolate muscle groups and supportthe rest of the body, a functional result may bemuch harder to achieve through machinetraining alone. Although you are able to ‘maxout’ much more safely, the highlyguided pathway of the machinemeans that many of thesupporting muscle groupsare not ‘fired’ as they wouldbe if the exercise wereperformed in thin air.

Free weights i.e.dumbbells and barbellscan go some way to help fillthe requirement for compoundand unguided exercises, but(depending on how these areimplemented) even these canhave a number of limitingfactors including in someways, a lack of full bodydynamics or ballistic effect.Indeed, the concept of ‘fullbody strength’ suggests that nosingle movement is everperformed with complete

muscular isolation and so our supplementarytraining as martial artists should mimic this ideaas closely as possible. Ideally, the best solutionwould be to vary training sessions in order toreap the benefits of each type of training andhelp guard against the inherent flaws in each.

The kettlebell

(Fig 1) Notice the weight is situated offset fromthe handle, which makes wielding it morechallenging than standard dumbbells orbarbells.

Many martial artists have in recent yearsturned to the kettlebell (fig. 1) and with goodreason too. If you’ve never yet laid hands onone of these then you really ought to. This oldpiece of kit, no more sophisticated than an ironball with a thick handle on top, is a fantastic ‘allin one’ device that in my opinion cannot bebeaten to directly enhance many of the vitalattributes required in the pragmatic applicationof traditional karate. In fact, both the design andintent of the kettlebell bears a str ikingresemblance to a number of traditional hojoundo devices used in karate and therefore canreplace many items. All in all, this simple hunkof metal provides so much for the karate-ka thatif totally honest, we simply can’t turn away from.

Before we get into talking moreabout the kettlebell, I’d like to first

describe why I still considertraining with it as being partof ‘traditional’ karatetraining, even though it wasnever employed as a hojoundo tool by the Okinawanmasters. The dictionarydefinition of the word

‘traditional’ means to practicein line with past customs orbeliefs. I really like thisdefinition because it does in noway imply that as‘traditionalist’ we are forced topractice any specifictechniques or drills, only thatwhat we do practice follows

what was originally intendedfor the art. Now I’m not saying

that we should be throwing out

Fig 1

Jissenmag.com - 19

all our old kata etc (far from it), but I am sayingthat we should always be considering theoriginal aims over and above the methods weuse to realise them.

Everything we practice in karate is a means toan end. Kata has been preserved and has stoodthe test of time because its proper practice is atr ied and tested method for developingpragmatic combat skills. I agree fully that weshould never try to fix anything that’s not broken,

the centreline of the grip, the kettlebell mass isactually offset from the handle. Straight awaythis results in more muscular involvement by thebody in order to stabilise and shift the weight.This is especially true in the ‘core’ region andas I’m sure you will already know, these deepmuscles of the mid-section have a great part toplay in the functional application of karate or infact any ballistic pursuit.

In my view though, it’s the versatility of thekettlebell that really makes it stand out from the

but at the same time, the parameters oftraditional karate are (or should be) set to allowfor adaptation once we fully understand andappreciate what the art is trying to portray.

So why is the kettlebell so useful for thepragmatic traditionalist? Well first of all, itsdesign has a large part to play. Unlike a dumbbellor barbell where the weight is situated along

crowd. You can practice ballistic swingingmotions to help develop the whole of theposterior chain and with just a ‘flick of the wrist’,move into more grinding exercises thatstimulate more muscles than you ever thoughtyou had. Workout times are almost slashed inhalf when compared to standard resistanceworkouts and because kettlebell trainingstimulates both aerobic and anaerobic

figs 2,3,4 Always dead lift the kettlebell safely to the starting position.


pathways, eachsession becomes acomplete physicalchallenge. Thissimple tooleffectively buildsgreater strength,c a r d i o v a s c u l a rendurance, flexibility,joint strength andstructural stability. Ithelps to developstrong posture and ifthat’s not enough, italso burns fat like aturbo chargedfurnace!

The Kettlebell swing

Themostfundam-ental movement for allkettlebell lifters is the swing. It is a movementunlike any other performed with dumbbells orbarbells and has a fantastic effect on the bodyto enhance functional power, especially incombat arts. The swing is primarily a lower body,hips and core exercise that targets andstimulates practically every muscle groupsituated on the back of the body, especially theposterior chain, in a very ballistic fashion. Theposterior chain consists of the large muscles atthe rear of the body, namely the glutes,hamstrings and erectors in the lower back andis regarded as being an important source forballistic functional power in the human body.

The kettlebell swing also allows you to developthe ability to generate force in order tomanipulate and project an object outwards awayfrom the body. This force transference is directlyrelevant to power generation in strikes, throws,kicks and the like. Rather than simply drivingthe weight with your upper limbs, the swingsteaches you to take power from the ground,transfer and enhance that power with the coreand send it out efficiently into the limb or limbsin question – exactly as you would executealmost every technique in karate.

Another great benefit of practicing the kettlebellswing is that it requires you to be able tosmoothly absorb the free fall of the weight ratherthan simply bracing yourself and hoping for the

best. The end ofeach phase(downward &upward) providesthe impetus for thestart of the other.This is very ‘YinYang’ and a smoothtransition providesthe most efficientmovement becauseyou are usingopposing energies,rather than fightingagainst them. Also,like karate, youshould train with

Fig 7 Absorb the free fall by flexing at thehips primarily and then bending the knees

slightly. Load up the hamstrings byvisualising the kettlebell touching the wallbehind, rather than simply falling to the

ground.

Figs 5 and 6 Bump the kettlebell with a strong thrustof the hips to create a ‘prep swing’. This kicks off the

exercise.

Jissenmag.com - 21

bare feet so that you can maintain a goodconnection with the ground and feel the subtleweight shifts made by the body during theexercise.

To perform the swing, stand with your legs alittle more than hip width apart and dead lift thekettlebell in both hands (fig. 2, 3 & 4). Next,perform a short explosive ‘prep-swing’ to get theweight moving by flexing primarily at the waistand then explosively driving the hips forward (fig.5 & 6). If the arms and shoulders are relaxed,the kettlebell should move upwards away fromthe body. Almost like a pendulum on a largegrandfather clock, keep with the momentum andabsorb the fall of the weight, flexing again atthe hips and bending slightly at the knees (fig.7). Move the kettlebell again using a powerful

thrust from the hip, core, thigh, and lower backmuscles (fig. 8 & 9). Repeat the movementcontinuously and add direct rhythmicalbreathing, making sure that your weight iscentred over the heels of the feet and the backis kept in a neutral position at all times.

When practicing the kettlebell swing, observethe following important points:

Make sure that the effort originates in the lowerbody. If your shoulders are tiring then you’reinvolving the upper limbs far too much. Thehands should act like hooks, connecting theweight to the source of power.

Be sure to practice with a heavy enough weight.This may sound a little strange to begin with,but using a kettlebell that’s too light will activate

Fig 8 Push through the heels and thrust thehips, transferring energy into the kettlebell.

Fig 9 Keeping the upper limbs relaxed;allow the kettlebell to swing up to around

shoulder level before absorbing the free fallonce again. Repeat the sequence.


the wrong muscle groups and make the exercisemuch less worthwhile. As a gauge, afterpracticing the technique, you should be swinginga weight that you can’t laterally raise in frontwith the shoulders alone. This will help ensurethat the lower body activates correctly and thatthe upper limbs don’t naturally take over (as witha light weight).

Concentrate on powerful hip thrusts to movethe kettlebell. The hips should be the main pointof flexion and extension, not the knees.

At the end of the downward phase, emphasisethe weight passing through the legs and ratherthan focussing towards the ground, visualise ittravelling into the wall behind you (not literallyof course!). This movement will more effectivelyload up the elastic potential in your hamstringsand stimulate the posterior chain further, to bereleased and projected into the next movement.

Really focus on transferring energy andmomentum far out and into the kettlebell. Youshould feel like one of those demolition ballsthat easily knock buildings down!

Initially, practice performing 10 to 20 repetitionsand then rest before the next set. With regardsto beginner’s weight; men should try a 16kg andwomen an 8 or 12kg, moving up from there asappropriate. It only takes a few swings with thecorrect technique to realise the sheer potentialof this movement.

The force generated within the swing starts atthe ground. As you extend the posterior chain,you are in fact kicking hard into the ground andbecause the floor is immovable, a great resultantforce travels from the feet, upwards into the waistand then transfers into the hands. This is howballistic power is generated and the more youtrain the swing, the more your body will innatelytransfer this mechanism into your karate in orderto enhance technique.

In most cases, it’s also important that you havea ‘waist and limb delay’ when striking. Thismakes sure that recoil is built and provides moreacceleration. Performing the kettlebell swing isno different. Once the elastic potential has beenachieved at the end of the downward phase,the posterior chain should fire initially and thenthe hips should be emphasised and thrust hard,

with the limbs lagging behind slightly. During thedownwards phase, the opposite should occur.The hips should not start to flex until the handshave fallen at least half the distance. This willhelp to absorb the free fall from the weight andload the hamstrings for the next repetition.

Progressions & variations

To add some variety, you can try theprogressions below once you have become fullycompetent at the static two handed swing.These vary in level from the easiest to the mostchallenging and allow you to really mix thingsup. For those who don’t own a kettlebell, try theexercises with a dumbbell. You won’t get thesame experience, but you’ll definitely get theidea. Then go out and buy a kettlebell – I believeit’ll be one of the best investments you’ll evermake towards your martial arts training.

Variations of the standard kettlebell swing:

Single handed swing – this adds a degree ofasymmetry to the exercise and forces the coreand grip to work harder.

Alternating swing – changing hands at the topof the upward phase adds elements of someco-ordination and complexity, as well asenhancing good timing and rhythm.

Moving swing – practice the two handedswings whilst stepping either forwards,backwards or sideways. Just remember to moveat the top of the movement and not when thekettlebell is between your legs!

Double KB swing – pick up a kettlebell in eachhand, widen the stand to a typical horse stanceand experience a whole new world of hurt! Youneed to really ground your body during thisexercise and focus on keeping your weight overthe heels. Also because there’s no physicalconnection anymore between each hand (i.e.the handle), it becomes much harder to ensurethat both limbs are moving together in unison.

Double KB swing with uneven load – This hasto be one of the most challenging variationsever! Because you have two different weights,the body has to really work hard to ensurestability and good sequential movement. Makesure that you swap the KB’s over and practice

Jissenmag.com - 23

the same amount of repetitions on ‘the otherside’ too.

You can also perform the swing withinnumerous high intensity drills. For instance,try the ‘Tabata’ style workout. Swing for twentyseconds and then rest for ten seconds. Repeatfor eight rounds. This is a very demandingworkout that is especially useful when time isof the essence. In addition, try working for 2minutes continuously, seamlessly changingexercises every 30 seconds. First, perform thetwo handed swing. Next, remove a hand andundertake 30 seconds of single handedswings. For the ‘third phase’, perform a ‘handto hand pass’ for single handed swings on theother side before finishing off with 30 secondsof alternating swings. This can be used as afast and effective warm up.

To conclude

For karate-ka and in fact all martial artists,the kettlebell truly is a formidable yetthoroughly enjoyable training device, whichaligns itself perfectly to the physical attributes

that the traditional arts require. It allows you totrain a wide range of qualities at once, cuttingdown on workout times (leaving more time todevote to technical training) and supporting thefacet of the muscles in the human body to workas one synchronised unit, instead of forcing aseries of unnatural isolated motions as is oftenseen in other aspects of resistance training.This of course, helps to make yoursupplementary training regime much morefunctional, with high transfer effects to carryover into your art.

Chris Denwood is Chief Instructor of theESKK™ and a senior instructor with the BritishKarate-Do Chojinkai. He is also a nationallyqualified fitness trainer and ‘extreme kettlebellinstructor’ as recognised by The Register ofExercise Professionals. Specialising inpragmatically applying the traditional principlesof karate and utilising supplementaryfunctional fitness activities, Chris is availablefor seminars & workshops and can becontacted via either www.chrisdenwood.comor www.eskk.co.uk.


The mechanical structure of atool determines how a device

can be optimized. When we lookat the knife as a basic tool, it is alever (force multiplier) arm with awedge or incline plane honed toits lever arm—either on one sideor one both edges of the lever arm.This thin wedge or incline planeattached to the lever allows thisblade to slip in between themolecules of a substance (skin orclothing) in order to more easilyseparate tissue or material apart.

This ability to cut and penetrateliving tissue, easily, is the qualityman has prized over the last tensof thousands of years. When apointed stick and a sharp edge ofa flaked stone were discovered tocut and impale tissue quickly andeasily, man discovered a workingtool, upon which he advanced ashis knowledge of materials anddesigns improved.

Since these kind of cutting andthrusting tools have been aroundfor tens of thousands of years, itis my opinion that mankind hasdeveloped an evolutionaryaversion to such tools and suchactions. Humans really do seemto instinctively fear or dread beingattacked with a blade—more sothan they do with firearms. Eventhe thought of being stuck with ablade is more psychologicallydebilitating than it is being shotfrom a firearm. Maybe in time,firearms will generate a similargenetically carried fear-response

as does the edged weapon.

Back on track, when placed inmotion, the knife creates a smallarc, which is capable of movingat rapid speeds, able to changeits force vector, explosively andunpredictably. It is, however, stilla small lever arm with limitedreach, and if one wants to use aknife as a weapon, we must beextremely close to the intendedtarget in order to cut or penetratethe intended target’s structure toreach vital areas.

Obviously, a knife cannot dowhat a large blade (sword) cando, yet, many of the knife actionsbeing taught today, whether theactions are defensive oroffensive in nature, mimic largerarcing, sword movements. Whileangles of approach to anintended target are the same, theeffects each blade facilitatesupon the target in relationship tothe anatomical andkinesiological aspects of thehuman wielding a blade, aremuch different, due to massdifferential, surface area of thecutting edge, arm extension andbody positioning.

The effective range of the knifeis extremely close. To gain a fullunderstanding of the closenessrequired to use a knife optimally,place our arms at our side, bendthe arms at the elbow, keepingthe upper arm to our side. Nowplace the chosen knife in thehand in a good strong grip as if

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF A KNIFE:KNIFE AS WEAPON SERIES.

Rev. Art. Bodhi Chenevey, RM, DD

The proper alignment ofknife to finger knuckles.

Isaiah is holding anold version of the Soviet AK-47 bayonet for illustration

purposes.

Jissenmag.com - 25

holding a hammer. The knife held in this grip isat a slight angle, obviously, but where the tip ofthe knife is located, place this on the surface ofthe intended target and imagine this targetimpaled to the guard or handle’s edge, and wenow have our effective range of the knife.

Many will argue—but this is the EFFECTIVErange of the knife. Beyond these ranges, theknife just is not effective—that is, being capableof killing or crippling the target.

In using this “posture of combat,” applying theever useful Hick’s Law, there are only twofundamental ranges in killing combat: INRANGE and OUT OF RANGE. When we areoperating in a lethal environment, we are alwaysin range of the enemy, regardless of ourweapons system, as the weapons system inwhich we are carrying can and may be usedagainst us. I know what weapons I am carryingand what their functional (inherent limits)properties are. I do not know fully whatweapons systems the enemy may be deploying.I am always in range of the weapons of theenemy, but I do not know if the enemy is in rangeof my weapons.

When we star t worrying about andcontemplating short range, middle range, longrange, standing grappling, ground grappling,etc., these are just too many “ranges” to beconsidering for appropriately swift responses.Realistic training under duress employingharsh, force on force protocol, quicklydemonstrates what is in range and what is outof range.

In knife combat, we must employ keensituational awareness with dispassionateassessments of all existing close-quartersthreats, and then according to these accuratelyperceived threats, engage in situational correct,smooth, explosive, total body movements in anevasive, elusive and lethal combination ofactivity with our knife in order that we surviveand prevail within such combat. This is notabout knife fighting. It’s about killing with a knifeand not getting killed in the process.

Given the nature of combat, in the reality ofmilitary and law enforcement operations, using

a knife as a weapon is relegated to a tertiaryweapon. Military and law enforcement useother weapons and tools, which are primary andsecondary to any knife they may be carrying.

In the civilian sector, those who choose to carrya knife as a defensive tool, the knife then, isconsidered the primary weapon. And for thosewho are engaged in all out criminal behavior,using the knife as both a means to gain apsychological advantage and a physicaladvantage, it is likewise, a primary tool.

As scary and as destructive to living tissue asan edged weapon can be, it is not an effectiveand efficient killing tool. It takes time and mucheffort to kill another living human being with aknife. A person being attacked with a knife isusually not going to allow this attack to occureasily. Trained or untrained to deal with a knifeattack, the person will provide considerableresistance of one form or another.

When looking at power cutting with a blade ina human hand, we have the forehand,downward diagonal, the backhand, downwarddiagonal, the vertical downward backhand andforehand cuts and the backhand horizontal cut.These are power cutting arcs, and are neededto generate enough velocity in order to cutthrough durable layers of clothing to accessliving flesh deep enough for potentially cripplingcuts.

A quick follow up cut that can be devastating,though not as powerful as the aforementionedblows, given the angle of the forearm to the bodyof the wielder, is a forehand upward diagonal,which helps to feed into more power cuts, whileaccessing viable targets in the meantime. Thisforehand, upward diagonal approach to thetargets assists in maintaining the continuity ofthe knife’s deadly flow on an unseen vector.

Some defensive cutting actions involvesnapping cuts or flicks with the knife’s tip thatthe arms snaps out quickly toward the eyes ofthe lethal threat and then quickly recovers backto the driving body for another snake likedelivery of this defensive action. The idea ofthis application is to keep the threat at bay andfrom closing the safety gap. The quick snap


with recovery to the in-tightposture is to maintain theability to deliver a deep killingthrust from a neutral gripshould the threat seek tocharge. This snapping cut isthe only time the wieldingknife arm ever extendsbeyond the arms in, elbowsbent posture.

The hand positions forthrusting actions amount to aneutral gripping position, apronated gripping

position, and a supinatedgripping position. The knifeis held in such a fashion thatthe primary cutting edge ofthe blade is always inalignment with theinterphalangeal joints of thefingers in order to transfermaximum power to thecutting portion of the blade.

Looking at the clock model Iprefer to use over an arbitrarynumerical system, we arelooking at angles along thenoon, one o’clock, eleveno’clock and nine o’clockangles for a right handedperson. The five o’clockangle represents the “hidden upward cut.” Thesnapping cut usually follows along the nine andeleven o’clock approaches. Thrusting at theneutral grip would follow along the six o’clockapproach. The pronated grip could follow alonganywhere along the five o’clock through thenoon approaches for a right-hander. Thesupinated grip follows anywhere along theseven o’clock through the noon angles for theright-hander.

Defensive and offensive footwork is alwaysabout maneuvering the entire body into and outof range of the weapon without losing contactwith the target. The center of gravity mustalways move first with the feet maintaining thehips under with balance. Moving our body,

likewise follows and orients tothe clock model. We arealways positioned in the centerof the clock facing twelve andour rear facing six o’clock.Stepping off line would be akinto stepping anywhere otherthan to my noon and to my sixo’clock. Tactically, we want tostep out of range but not outof contact in close quartersbattle, and we want to be onthe outside rear of the enemyor his six o’clock to noon.Remaining in front of an attackin actual combat for anypurpose—even when trainingfor real—in a toe-to-toe bodyposition is tactically unsound.We must train to get out of theway—to not be there, and tomaneuver our body to theenemy’s rear for controlling theenemy or for escape.

Using a knife to close with anadversary is about moving inon an angle, power cuttinganything and everythingavailable or in our way, as weeliminate the spacenecessary to gain the positionfor a lethal power thrust intothe major targets of the

adversary. When predators attack prey, theyprimarily do so on the prey’s rear flank or it’sfour/five o’clock or seven/eight o’clockrespectively.

Working defensively against such brutal knifeattacks closing in on our vital targets, we mustmove our body—those vital areas—out of theway of this rapidly moving cutting tool. Interceptthe knife wielding arm with blows, withoutchasing after the knife, all the while smashingavailable targets of the head, neck, face regions.If, as we are smashing this attacking arm,getting to the outside rear.

When we manage to snag that arm, keep thesnagged arm close to our body, and continuesmashing the arm, neck, ears, face of the

Neutral grip of the bayonet.

Jissenmag.com - 27

assailant with the other hand. If we merely graban arm with both hands, the knife wieldingadversary cuts his way out of there.If we chaseafter the knife and grab an arm with both hands,we tie ourselves up to his one limb. The knifewielder can then simply cut his way free, strikingus with his free hand

In so far as a knife fighting stance is concerned,most are rather hilarious to see over time’spassing. Our fighting stance is whateverposition we are in when we are attacked. Canwe access our weapon readily, from a varietyof postures and positions? Can we use ourweapon against an adversary or adversariesfrom a multiple of postures and positions withproficiency, and not drop it? Can we maneuverour body independently, yet as a whole, bothoffensively and defensively, within these many,many different postures and positions whileusing our weapon effectively and efficiently?Our stance or stances arrive from this set ofrequirements. Remember, we must quickly andeffectively neutralize the threat with as littledamage to ourselves and those we may beassigned to protect.

Some will say that we can use low-line kicksas we engage a knifer, wielding a buzz-saw-of-a-knife. Good luck with that. This action of aknifer trying to kill us, and us, trying to stop thisincredibly fast-forward, brutal and explosive

assault requires that we remain mobile yet solidin our balanced mobility. As soon as we beginlifting a foot or knee in an attempt to stomp orknee the adversary’s low-line targets (are wethinking about blasting into the feet, shins,knees, thighs, groin?), we are immediately off-balanced. Our center of gravity is severelyweakened due to the precarious balanceneeded in maintaining a mobile stability.

Personal experience has demonstrated thatwhile we are simultaneously trying to gaincontrol over his trashing, cutting, thrustingblade, as we crush his face, gouge his eyes,pound his ears, blast his neck and throat, if weare to maneuver our body out of the way of theblade, while maintaining an in-close bodilyposition, we cannot be messing with the strongbase our legs provide in the fast-forward enemyattack. To lift a single foot means we break theintegrity of our maneuvering stability.

Once the weapon has been snagged or slowedor some how controlled by rendering theattacker’s brain incognizant, and once this fast-forward momentum is abated somewhat fromour attacks, then and only then can low-lineattacks be utilized to safely finish off the attacker.In the throes and center of this mayhem,anytime we attempt to utilize low-line attacks,the enemy will use this break in our baseintegrity to his advantage over us. The actionmust slow down before low-line attacks can beused proficiently. We dig in with our legs andattack with our arms, like the big cats do.

When I observe and critique the numerousknife curricula and counter-knife curricula beingtaught (in the commercial martial arts arena) ,I see too many fancy toe-to-toe non-dynamicknife on knife and knife-on empty-hands drilling,involving overextended arm work. The knifesparring I observe, likewise possesses too muchunrealistic, non-dynamic, toe-to-toe actionsreminiscent of sport’s fencing and kick-boxing,which has nothing to do with the killing natureof knife combatives

I hear the same reasoning justifying thesetraining methods of knife and counter knife work,too. “Well, we used it in full contact knifesparring, and it worked.” Oh, full-force-on-force

Supinated position of hand in relation tobayonet.


fighting, with live blades and brutal actiondesigned to take and preserve life? This is whatmakes learning offensive and defensive knifetactics so difficult. When real, force on forceknife and counter knife methods are taughtrealistically, people get injured in practice. Evenwhen we use real steel knives, which are notsharpened, operatives sustain broken ribs,broken fingers, bone bruises to the armanatomy and skin tears to the neck and face,as well as the hands and fingers. There is noway to avoid this. And this is unacceptable incommercial martial arts training studios. It ismy professional opinion, from my experience,we must train to deal with committed knifeassaults with this level of training intensity andinjury sustainment, if we are to be competentin surviving and prevailing in such armedassaults.

Realistically, once a knife assailant has gonetotally rapid (bull-dogging), the above conceptsof attacking the attack are the only means ofsurvival. If the assailant has not gone rapid,verbal de-escalation, avoidance, evasivemovement and drawing a sidearm, taser orASP-baton are sound defensive tactics.

If the knife attack is not a committed, fast-forward, bull-dog assault, but a static threat ora half-hearted attack, these forms maybe dealtwith, through quick and explosive evasive bodymovements made in conjunction with strikesand controls which powerfully stun theadversary from wanting to engage in any moreaggressive thoughts and actions. When wecontrol such adversaries and slam their facesinto the ground, cranking their wrists, elbowsand shoulder joints of the knife wielding armsto the breaking point, we are able to gaindominance over such half-hearted attempts.These are dangerous attacks, nevertheless, butthe also exist on a different level of mind/bodycommitment in both assailant and assailed.Such attacks are a bit easier, and a tad safer tolearn, utilizing such aggressive, force-on-forceknife/counter knife training protocols.

There is no room for artsy-fartsy, toe-to-toeexchanges when using a knife or managingcounter knife methods in the realm of warfareor street survival. There is even less need forsuch arsty-fartsy knife working and counter-knife working curricula and drills teachingoffensive and defensive knife methodologies forthese two life and death realms of operation.

For those who have survived and prevailed inknife and counter-knife combative situations,whether in the mean-streets or battlefields, suchindividuals know what is needed and what isnot. Everyone else merely speculates andimagines what will work, and this is the primaryproblem in so many knife curricula incommercial martial arts today. When youspeculate about something for which we do notknow, and this realm is real combat, well,combat has a unique way of weeding out theincompetent very quickly.

Pronated hand position in relation to the bayonet

Rev. A. Bodhi Chenevey, RM, DDDirector, Hikaze Learning Corner

Wooster OH 44691

Jissenmag.com - 29


•Gavin your father taught Judo and unarmedcombat to the British forces. Where did hismartial arts begin?

My Dad was a very good fencer who becamefascinated (or perhaps I should say obsessed)with Judo. I think he used to mix up his Judo withtechniques he got from the various books thathe could get hold of to add into his unarmedcombat instruction.

•As a child you began training under yourfather’s tutelage. What were those earlysessions like?

It would be an exaggeration to call themsessions as there were no formal classes, andeven when there were, there was no such thingas a kid’s class. As you can imagine, findinginstruction in Northern Ireland in the 1960s wouldnot have been easy, and when my Dad openedhis first club, the Ken-Cho-Kai, in Limavady in

the far North of Ireland, he was only a green belt.He opened it alongside a brown belt called BillNorris (Uncle Bill to me) and they were bothconsidered high grades in those days.

My Dad’s job meant that we grew up aroundmilitary and air bases and he always had accessto gyms and mats. I have three brothers andDad would take us on base, lay the mats out andwork through various throws, holds, and movesfrom books; working out what worked and whatdidn’t as we went along. It all sounds veryhaphazard and it was, but two of my brotherswent on to fight in the Southern Area BJA squadwhen we moved to England in the 1970s.

One of the downsides of being in a military familywas that we had to move a lot and as a kid, thatmeans trouble. We would not arrive at a newschool and not have a fight – that was unheardof until we eventually moved to the South ofEngland where, much to our consternation andconfusion, the kids all said ‘hello’ and werefriendly. We, being unused to such a lack ofhostility, didn’t immediately reply in kind and wegot into a fair bit of trouble in the early days.

As I said, my Dad was something of anobsessive and he would not accept one of uslosing a fight. If one of us came home battered,

Gavin Mullholland InterviewInterviewed by Michael Rosenbaum

Gavin Mulholland is the Chief Instructor forDaigaku Karate Kai. Born in Northern Ireland,he has been training in the martial arts since the1960’s and his latest book ‘Four Shades of Black’has received critical acclaim on both sides of theAtlantic. During the summer of 2009, Iinterviewed Gavin for JISSEN.

Jissenmag.com - 31

he would ask the details and if we had not won,he would send us back out to do a better job.Once when we first moved to Scotland my brotherJohn was threatened by another kid with a knifeso he ran away and came home. When my Dadfound out, he still sent John back out to deal withit – which he did.

•When you grew older did your father expectmore from you as a martial artist?

I think he did. We had been training in a Judoclub in Southampton when one day we visitedanother club in Winchester. Our Southamptonclub was BJC but the Winchester one was BJAand it was a lot tougher - we were thrown all overthe place so he moved us there and was happyto drive us the 70 mile round trip to WinchesterJudo club two to three times a week.

He loved us training in the martial arts and Ithink he was very disappointed in me when I gaveup Judo and moved over to Karate. He camearound but he wasn’t happy at first.

•Did your father influence the way you trainedlater, as an adult?

My father continues to influence me and mytraining to this day. He trained in a time when ifyou wanted knowledge, you would really have toput yourself out to get it. Nowadays, everyone isspoon fed and they expect everything on a plate.That’s not a good thing. Other than that he taughtme to love the martial arts, to obsess about whatyou want, and to strive to be as good as you canpossibly be.

•During the 1970’s you witnessed ademonstration by Kyoshi Kim Roberts and asyou stated “became an immediate convert.”Why was that?

This would have been very late 1970’s and I sawKim Roberts giving a demonstration at a schoolfete. Sensei Dave Arnold was there and so wasMick Lambert who I think was a 5th Dan at thetime. It was the sheer power and raw ferocity ofGoju that grabbed me. They appeared to just layinto each other and Dave eventually broke a chairover Kim, who fell over and got up laughing. Ifound out years later that none of it was scriptedand that’s how they used to do their demos – nowonder we never had many students! Mick alsopunched a paving slab in half and I’d never seenanything like that before. I wanted to train underKim and I didn’t care what style he was doing. Infact, I didn’t even know that there were styles atthat time – I just knew it was Karate.

•You describe Goju-ryu as an “holistic fightingart” could you explain what makes it holistic?

I’m sure that there are other holistic systemsbut I basically mean that Goju has remained morein tact than many – well mostly anyway. Karategot pretty badly chopped up when it went to Japanand a lot of it was removed but Goju retained allof its grappling and ground-fighting which a lot ofthe other systems lost.

Also with the renaming of ‘China hand’ to ‘Emptyhand’, people also stopped using the weaponsthat had always been a part of the old systems.Fortunately Goju retained much of its weapons


work and Yondan (fourth level black belt) is still aweapons grade today.

Finally, Goju has never been a catalogue oftechniques featuring 12 kicks, 17 wristlocks and45 punches – it is a principle based approach tofighting; a philosophy of combat and as such,almost everything that I have ever come across Ihave found to be in Goju as well.

•Are there other styles of karate that you wouldconsider holistic fighting arts?

Anything that actually claims to be a fighting arthas to cover both stand-up and ground fighting. Ifit doesn’t, it’s not an holistic system. As I say, I amsure there are many holistic systems out there butI don’t think I’m really in a position to name them.

•Do you feel that Goju-ryu is superior to otherkarate styles, or is it the practitioner whoultimately decides a style’s fate?

The PC answer would be to say no, that I don’tconsider Goju to be superior but that wouldcompromise my integrity as a teacher and as amartial artist. If I knew of something better, I wouldbe doing it, it’s as simple as that! Having saidthat, I have no doubt that there are other ways toachieve what we achieve, (because I have seenthe results), it’s just that I know the Goju way, Iunderstand how it all fits together, and I haveconfidence in it.

Ultimately it is of course down to the individualbut the style still has a part to play. If, as I do, youbelieve that we are all striving to build the fighter,

we are all aiming for the same goal. All a style is,is a different set of opinions and trainingmechanisms to achieve the same thing. The endresult will probably look identical as there are onlyso many ways to punch, kick, bend, or breaksomeone, but its how you got them there thatdiffers.

•Gavin your approach to karate is aremarkably well balanced one. You embraceboth tradition and pragmatism? How did youdevelop such an open minded view of karate?

I guess the true answer would be that I seepragmatism in the traditions. I believe that most,if not all, of our traditions have direct and relevantfighting implications – be that technique, mindset,focus, or intensity – somewhere it will have valueand if you believe in the system, you have to findit.

I also think I was very lucky with the clubs andinstructors that I found. In fact it wasn’t until Imoved to London around 1990 that I was evenaware that other Karate clubs didn’t train, spar,and grapple in the same way that we did. Someof what I saw was completely unrecognizable tome but I try to see the value in what they do.

I learnt that lesson from one of Alfie Lewis’students at a tournament sometime in the 1980s.At that time we were not what you might call goodsports. We were encouraged to intimidate and‘bother’ opponents in the changing rooms – justlittle things like changing were they werechanging, cuffing someone as you put your gi on

Jissenmag.com - 33

– all nonsense really. Anyway, we used to fightfar too hard and at this time I had yet to figure outthat that was simply cheating. Going in full-contact against a semi-contact fighter isunacceptable but we had no respect for semi-contact fighters and I was yet to learn that lesson.We were up against Alfie Lewis’ team and myopponent was wearing a red silk suit. Well, backthen that was a red rag to a bull and I decided Iwould knock him out as soon as Hajime wascalled. Hajime was called and I launched at himwith a totally illegal head punch. But…before Ihad time to think, this guy slipped my punch,leaned back and kicked me twice in the face –gently! I was out of the tournament and I wasstunned. I went over and shook his hand andfrom that day to this have seen the value in whatthose guys do. I wish I knew his name becauseit was a seminal moment for me and it changedmy outlook entirely. I always look for the benefitsin how others train now and if you take thatattitude, you will often find something of value.

•You’ve also trained in Japan, Thailand,Indonesia and China. What did you gain fromthose experiences?

I had a fantastic time everywhere I went but if Iam brutally honest, the main thing I learnt, wasnot to fear an Oriental in Gi. In hope that doesn’tsound too bad but I think it is a demon that we inthe West have to slay. Far too much of the rubbishwe have seen perpetuated in the martial artstoday has come about because of an almostslavish respect for the Japanese or Chinese.

Don’t get me wrong, I met a great many peoplewith talents far superior to my own and I took afew kickings along he way, but I also met mypeers, and I met those worse than me. As youmentioned earlier, it is the man that makes thefighter, not the style and definitely not the race.

If you think about it, in the 1970s our bestprobably had 20 years experience at the mostcompared to their 40 or 50 years. But today, wehave the 40 or 50 years as well. There are goodreasons to want to train in the East but if you arelooking for higher skills or greater knowledge, youare going to have to look long and hard and Ithink you’ll find a lot of what you need is a lotcloser than you think.

•How has cross training benefited you?

I don’t really consider myself to cross train. Withthe possible exception of Judo as a child, I havedone very small bits and pieces in other thingsand as I said, I found all of it in Goju anyway.

What I would say is that as an holistic system,Goju covers pretty much everything. That meansthat specialist styles are going to be better thanus at certain aspects of what we do. For example,for every 20 minutes we spend throwing, Judodo 2 hours; for every 20 minutes we spendgrappling, Ju jitsu do two hours; for every 20minutes we spend kicking, Taekwondo do twohours; etc. Therefore, if the time comes whenone of our students needs to get his throws up toscratch, I think it’s a good idea to visit a Judoclub for a while. I suppose you could call it cross


training but to me, it’s just putting on a differentset of clothes to specialize in an area that wecover anyway. I think it was Iain Abernethy thatfirst pointed out that it’s not cross training, it’scross dressing… (I.A. – It was actually Bob Sykes… but I like the phrase so much I do use it a lot!)

•Kata is one of the most widely debatedsubjects in karate today. What role does it playin your training?

Kata underpins everything that we do. If you tryto define what ‘Karate’ is, pretty much the onlything that distinguishes it from the other Japanesearts, is its use of kata. It guides the phases ofour training in the Kyu grades, and it addsknowledge and wisdom in the dan ranks.

•Gavin in ‘Four Shades of Black’ you indicatethere is an unseen side of kata, techniquesnot formally presented that should be usedwith those inside the kata. In layman’s termswhat is the unseen side of kata?

I wouldn’t exactly call it an unseen side –neglected might be a better term. I am talkingabout something that goes beyond the simpleperformance of the kata (that’s like getting amartial arts DVD and simply watching it);something even that goes beyond deconstructingthe kata and pulling out its techniques bunkai;I’m talking about training in the very ‘spirit’ of thekata itself.

So for example, the first kata in the Goju syllabusis called Gekisai Dai Ichi. This translates as‘Attack and Smash Number One’, and is referring

to developing a straight-line, hard, direct, attackand smash mindset in your training. That can ofcourse be used as a fighting strategy, and thebunkai you pull out should be direct and attacking,but that mindset should also feature in all aspectsof your training during the time you are majoringon that particular kata. Your fitness should beattack and smash, your padwork should be attackand smash, your kihon should be attack andsmash. You should eat, drink, and sleep attackand smash until such time as you are ready tomove on to the next kata which, in the Gojusystem at least, get progressively ‘softer’ – hencethe Go first, Ju second.

•Do you believe one kata can berepresentative of an entire style of karate?

Yes I do. If we look at the second Goju kata,Gekisai Dai Ni (attack and smash number two)you find it is focused on evasion, angles andfootwork. It is still attack and smash in nature,but it is much more subtle and highly skilled. Sonow, instead of a headlong attack and smashstrategy, we are talking about using footwork andevasion to get you into a position of positionaladvantage before launching an all-out attack andsmash counter. That pretty much describesBoxing to me. I don’t need any ripping skillsbecause I am not allowed to grab. I don’t needany grappling skills because the fight is notallowed to go to the floor. Boxing is Gekisai DaiNi.

•Why is there so much confusion surroundingkata today?

Jissenmag.com - 35

You know why! It’s because people don’tunderstand kata. But that doesn’t stop them fromgoing ahead and teaching it anyway! I believe alot is to do with Shodan’s opening clubs andteaching that has led us to this sorry state ofaffairs. A Shodan is a beginner’s grade. Theyhave mastered the basics and are supposed tomove on and learn in depth what karate is allabout. Third dan is supposed to be the teachinglevel and by that stage hopefully you will have abetter understanding of what the approaches,practices, and mechanisms of your style areactually for.

I recall recently reading on a forum, a newlygraded Shodan (Sho meaning ‘beginning’ by theway) writing his experience of what he hadrejected along his journey! In this case I think itwas pressure points, or Chi – whatever really, butit just showed how people really view Black Beltas a destination, not a start point. It was like anewly qualified architecture graduate telling abunch of established working architects what hewas rejecting from the world of architecture.Totally ridiculous. I think you know exactly whythere so much confusion surrounding kata today!

•Is it possible to transcend kata?

Yes of course. Kata is like a DVD. Once youhave the messages, you could simply throw itaway. The problem arises if and when you wantto pass it on to the next generation. How wouldyou do that? You could try passing on a bunch oftechniques but without them being connected to

anything or themed in any way, what use is that?

Also, what if better techniques come along todo what you want to do? If you have only passedon techniques they may become redundant oreven obsolete, but the kata is the spirit of combat,so for example, a new and unheard of smashingtechnique would fit right in with Gekisai kata -the kata indicating when and for how long to trainin this phase of fighting without being overlyprescriptive.

•Gavin has your 15 years’ as a doormanchanged the way you practice kata, or for thatmatter karate?

I have to say that doorwork was never my fulltime job, but nevertheless, I think it worked tocalibrate and recalibrate what we do in terms ofgetting actual real-life feedback about what worksand what doesn’t. In fact, it is an interesting pointthat you can only ever prove what works, not whatdoesn’t. Just because you couldn’t make it workdoesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t.

It didn’t change how I trained in kata but thereare some kata that are more applicable thanothers. The attack and smash of Gekisai wassometimes necessary but usually over the top.The breaking free and controlling aspects of Saifaand Seiunchin were far more applicable for thatenvironment.

Having said that, I’d hate to go into aconfrontation without the concrete knowledge thatI can knock the other guy out so it’s always best


to build from the basics up. All the other stuffworks but if it goes wrong for whatever reason,you definitely want to be able to lay someone cold.Do not neglect that basic karate trait of hittinghard – very hard.

•Is it possible for a karate-ka to developeffective self-protection skills inside the dojo?

That’s a very good question and I take it youare talking about all the pre-fight awareness and‘soft’ skills associated with self protection asopposed to self defense. I guess that is down toa) the instructor – does he have the knowledge?and b) the student base – do they need theknowledge? At one time all of our Black Beltshad to do six months on the door in order todevelop those very skills but it all became toounwieldy and controlled so we don’t do thatanymore. I touch on it but I guess the majority ofkarate schools are going from a position of worst-case-scenario – i.e. its already gone wrong sowhat can I do about it.

•After having spent so much time as adoorman do you believe that all fights go tothe ground?

No, that is unmitigated rubbish. Only a tinyproportion of the altercations I have been in overthe years have ever gone to the ground. In allthat time I reckon I can count the number of timesI went to the floor on one hand and I worked withmany people who had never gone to the floor,ever! It simply doesn’t happen like that.

When it comes to the punters, admittedly, twountrained, unskilled, drunken fools, flailingaround may eventually bump into each other andfall over. But it doesn’t happen with skilledfighters – why would it? Even in the cage, thefight only goes to the floor if one or both of thefighters want it to. The cage is the onlyenvironment where someone would willingly goto the floor.

•What role does grappling play in self-defense?

As I said, we train for worst-case scenario andthere is not much worse than ending up on theground with someone on top of you. Given thenature of the intended assault, male on femaleattack is more likely to end up the ground butthat’s fairly irrelevant. Personally, I don’t like todistinguish too much between ‘female’ selfdefense and everyone else’s. That being thecase, you need the skills to control your attackerand regain your feet so it’s not an area you canafford to ignore. The emphasis should definitelybe on getting to your feet though.

Having said that, I recently heard about one ofmy students in the States getting mugged. Hewas hit in the face with a brick and went down.He managed to drag his attacker down with him,roll him, break his arm and phone the police(and his wife to tell her that he was going to belate) – all while still controlling his attacker andsitting on him till the police arrived. He made apoint of telling them on the phone that he would

Jissenmag.com - 37

be the one on top when they arrived!

Not the way I would advice using them butundoubtedly good skills to have.

•Several of your students have achieved ahigh degree of success in cage fighting. Doyou feel that MMA complements karate?

Yes, in our first 20 fights we had 16 wins. One ofour guys won the Ultimate ChallengeHeavyweight World Title and another is fightingfor the British Welterweight title in a couple ofweek’s time. Having said that, I am very clearthat I am not teaching MMA, I teach Goju andthat is where my interest is. I think Karate hasalways been about facing your fears andchallenging yourself and I think, for young menthese days, the Cage is a really good test. I thinkit’s fairly inevitable that karate guys would endup testing themselves in that environment.

•What can the traditional karate-ka learn fromMMA?

I love the intensity, mindset, courage, and ofcourse, conditioning that is displayed in the cage.I think what it has done has reminded us all thatwhat we do needs to be pressure tested. In thatway we are able to calibrate the worth of whatwe are doing. Everything we do should in someway be improving the fighter, or the person, andin the traditional world, we try to do both.

I also think that it acts as a reminder that allsystems are mixed – all of the founders used tolook around, beg, borrow and adapt techniques.

Again, it comes down to the fact that techniquesdon’t make a system, strategies, ethos, andconcepts do. If I come across a wrist-lock I havenever seen before and I use it, is it Goju? Theanswer is yes, it is – and it’s Goju because I amdoing it. Whatever ‘new’ technique it is, I wouldbe applying it with the mindset, delivery, andstrategies of the hard/soft principles of Goju. It isjust nonsense to think that any of the founderswould have rejected a technique because theyhad never seen it before. I think MMA remindsus of that.

•What do you feel the MMA fighter can learnfrom traditional karate?

Actually, I think a lot. Mostly around respect anddiscipline but also in the approach to the fights.When you are in there to test yourself, youropponent is really irrelevant. The reason we bowto our opponent is because without them tryingto tear us apart we are not able to test ourselvesin the way that we want to be tested. We aretherefore grateful to our opponents for theopportunity and, win or lose, because it is aboutself, you cannot really lose at all. To quote an oldmartial saying; never losing does not meanalways winning.

•In 2008, your highly acclaimed book ‘FourShades of Black’ was published. Could youprovide us with a brief summery of the bookand what inspired you to write it?

Four Shades of Black was an attempt to showpeople how the traditional arts used the sequence


of their kata to build complete and roundedfighters in the run up to black belt. I had noticedthat some fairly naive (but of course forgivable)questions about karate and kata had started tocreep from the lower grades into the higher ones,(presumably because those higher grades hadnever had their questions answered when theywere in the lower ranks), just the usual stuff like‘why are there no high kicks in the kata?’, ‘Whatis the point of tamashiwara?’ and ‘Where is thegrappling in karate?’, that sort of thing. I wasbeginning to see understanding of karate andkata really starting to slip as ‘family’ clubs andpyramid schemes became commonplace andstarted to steal and erode our practices, symbols,and good name. They were becoming whatpeople thought ‘Karate’ was. In the eyes of thepublic, Karate was becoming nothing short of ajoke.

At the same time there were people like IainAbernethy fighting back. He, and people like him,were trying to show how the kata should bedeconstructed and the inherent bunkai extractedto develop all-round fighters and fight strategieswhich is fantastic. With Four Shades, I wanted tostrip away one more layer of the onion and movebeyond even bunkai to show how the actual ‘spirit’of the kata that you are studying should actuallyunderpin and guide all of your training at that pointin time.

•Presently you’re writing another book, whataspect of karate does it cover?

The working title is More Shades of Black andthat is really the concept I am working with at themoment. Four Shades used the four stages upto Black belt and ended at Shodan and so,ambitious as it sounds, I want to take the nextfour ‘shades’ and talk about the Dan grade phaseof a student’s training. This book will take theBlack Belt student from Shodan to Godanshowing how each grade is supposed to bedifferent from the last with each having its ownarea of deep in-depth study and how the systemscontinue to build the students right up until thefinal testing grade of fifth Dan.

There is so much stuff out there written for Kyugrades but hardly anything for Black Belts andI’m afraid that is also starting to show. As Imentioned earlier, there is already a greatlymistaken belief that a Black Belt is a ‘master’grade when it is in fact a beginner’s grade.

However, it is worse than that – even amongstthose who acknowledge that it is a beginner’sgrade appear to be being let down by the systembecause simply put – they don’t know what theyare supposed to be beginning. And manysystems are no longer telling them.

I look at second Dans and what they are trainingin, and I can tell that they are doing exactly whatthey were doing as first Dans. Their training isthe same, what they are training in is the same,and their next grading will be more or less thesame as the one before. Sure, they might throwin a new kata every now and then, but essentially,they are doing the same thing and that is simplywrong. What’s more, everybody knows it is wrongbecause they arrive at the staging post of Shodanfit, strong, willing, and eager to ‘begin’ but becomequickly disillusioned by finding themselves doingexactly the same thing that they were doingbefore, but in a different coloured belt. Or worsestill, they are forced out into a teaching role waytoo soon and to the detriment of everyone.

•One last question Gavin. As a martial artistwhere do you hope to be in 10 or even 20 yearsfrom now?

Well, I’ve never really been one to plan in thatway so I don’t know the answer to that one. I’lltake whatever comes my way, look for the best init, and then move on. That’ll do for me.

Gavin Mulholland, thank you.

My pleasure, thank you.

Jissenmag.com - 39


Those of you that have ever moved house andhad to find a new place to train, or advised

newcomers to the martial arts on a forum, willbe familiar with the need to ‘find somewhere goodto train’. What is often interesting, particularlywhen reading threads on forums, is finding outhow other people believe you can judge a goodclub.

There are naturally many different factors thatmake a martial arts class good or not, no matterwhat style is practiced. One aspect that springsto mind is the value often placed on the intensityof the training experience in a class. The speedat which students drill within class, and thephysical demands placed upon them by this,might seem to be an integral factor to the intensityand quality of training. However the implicationsfor each student’s development through thevariations that can be made in training speedare so fundamental that they are rarely giveneven a moment’s thought.

No matter how long we train, whichever waywe turn, the roots of our progress lie in ourattention to basic principles, and the level of ourunderstanding as to why we train in the mannerwe do. To a student, new or old, the answer to aquestion of ‘why’ should never simply be ‘becausethat’s the way I was taught’ – a reply that dodgesthe question. Whether training fast or slow, theknowledge of the pros and cons of each methodshould be understood.

Static Training – Non moving Visualization

Advantages

Recreates the feel of a movement

Allows injury recovery with reducedperformance deterioration

Confidence

Time and location efficiency (can be doneanywhere, any time)

Disadvantages

No aerobic/anaerobic benefit

No strength benefit

Limited value for techniques that rely on tactilefeel unless practitioner is extremely advanced

Does not work/test timing or reactions.

How slow can you train? Static visualization isnot necessarily a training method associated withbeing in class, and yet is an extremely valuablemethod of improving performance. Musclememory is a myth, your memory is the result ofelectrical patterns in the brain – and your braincreates and stores those patterns from theinformation it receives from the body. The braindoes not distinguish between visualized actionsand actual actions, thus mentally rehearsing adrill can strengthen the neural patterns in muchthe same way as actual physical practice. Oneof the greatest advantages of this form of trainingis that mental rehearsal allows the ‘perfect’reproduction of a movement. Watching anotherperson performing when you know themovement they are doing triggers the samepatterns in the brain as actually doing the training.This is one reason why coaches shouldencourage injured students to watch lessons forfree since it reinforces their existing skill levelwhile making it less likely they will quit (becausethey are still reminded of what they are missingand remain immersed in the social scene of

SPEED IN TRAININGBy John Titchen

Jissenmag.com - 41

training). The greatest disadvantage to visualizedtraining for beginners is not the lack of aerobic/anaerobic load, but its reliance on priorproficiency in the trained skill set.

Slow Speed Training

Advantages

Ensures skilled technique

Can be used as a strength, balance andflexibility workout

Can be used as part of an injury recoveryworkout

Disadvantages

Limited value for increasing aerobic and aerobicfitness

Limited value for training timing and reactionspeed.

Slow speed training allows trainees to focus on‘getting the movement right’. There is a commonsaying ‘practice makes perfect’, but as AmericanFootball Coach Vince Lombardi observed,“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfectpractice makes perfect.” Training in slow motionallows trainees to perfect the biomechanicalmovement aspect of a technique, failure to trainin this manner will result in far greater time beingtaken to achieve an equivalent skill level – if it isever reached at all.

One of the great advantages of slow training isthe degree of precision and control it allows overmovement. This is of particular importance fortrainees recovering from injury since it allows atechnique, strength, balance and flexibilityworkout while lowering the risk of aggravatingthe existing problem.

The disadvantages of slow training are obviousand important. While slow training can assist inthe identification of the minute telegraphs thatgive away techniques, it does not test the ensuingreaction speed, or work the timing of how earlyor late to respond to an attack so that the otherperson cannot recommit. While you will burncalories during slow training, you will not workyour aerobic or anaerobic capacity due to thelack of pressure involved – a disadvantage if youare training for an event where greater efficiency

in this regard is essential. Slow training can beused to perfect technique, and in some respectsmay be the most beneficial (and safest) way fornew students to train, but can be very boring forinexperienced trainees and put them off attendingclass.

Medium Speed Training

Advantages

Training can be sustained for long periods

Good for the development of aerobic fitness

Good for maintaining interest.

Disadvantages

Training can lack psychological pressure

Sustained practice at this level reduces theoppor tunity to develop refinement in theexecution of techniques

Can reinforce bad technique and hamper skilldevelopment.

Medium speed training is the half way house.Good for many things, bad for many things,excellent at nothing and terrible at nothing.

By training at a medium speed students are ableto keep going for a long time, thus gaining anaerobic workout. The pace allows a coach to getthe students rehearsing a broad range oftechniques or combinations throughout the class,thus reinforcing a large number of neuralpathways and stopping the students frombecoming bored. In terms of keeping studentstraining (ie preventing them from quitting) this isvery beneficial because from the perspective ofthe average martial arts student, it ticks a largenumber of the boxes that match theirexpectations in training. For the instructor itseems beneficial because training at this paceallows the class to cover the majority of thetechniques they may need to know for theirgrading syllabus, thus the class can practice andthe instructor can assess.

The downside of this method of training is thatas students tend to focus on speed more thanprecision, if the movement is not alreadyingrained precisely, the technique performed willbe sloppy. Faults in performance will naturallyincrease as a student begins to tire. If this forms


the majority of training then what is beingrehearsed and drilled into the neural pathwaysover and over again is likely to be incorrecttechnique. Since the speed is not quite full tilt,the benefit of training for things such as timing isreduced. The greater risk of performing sloppytechnique due to fatigue increases the risk ofinjury.

High Speed Training

Advantages

Only real test of practicable ability

Develops anaerobic fitness

Excellent for developing reaction speed

Develops distancing and timing appropriate forthe activity being trained

Places students under psychological stress.

Disadvantages

Over use will reinforce poor technique

Generally does not allow for refinement as finemotor skills will be inaccessible if placed underreal pressure

Can only be sustained for short periods of time.

Full Speed training – the holy grail. Whether youare training for the competitive arena, or for self

defence, the ability to execute techniques withprecision at full speed under pressure is surelyone of the most important aims of any trainee.

There are many advantages of training this way,both psychological and physical.

Training at full speed, whether with or withoutany form of protection, brings with it the dangerof being hit – and the natural fear in many peopleof pain. This in turn puts an element of pressurein the performance that cannot be matched intraining at any other speed (unless students areengaged in static drills where they have to behit). Successful execution of techniques underthe conditions of high speed training builds realconfidence appropriate to the arena beingtrained.

In physical terms, only high speed training canassess the accuracy of students’ abilities inreading body movements and spotting thetelegraphs of techniques in time for threatavoidance, and put their reaction time and speedof movement to a real test – whether in attack ordefence.

The disadvantages of high speed training areultimately linked to the limitations of humanperformance and the nature of the trainingregime. A student cannot work at high speed allthe time as they will quickly fatigue. Real highspeed training is the equivalent of a 100m sprint,something that can only be sustained forseconds rather than minutes. The obviousanswer is to intersperse high speed training withtraining at other speeds, but there is anotherissue with working at high speed – technique.When a person moves fast and are underpressure, they tend to make mistakes – a posturethat is not quite optimal, over-extension, greatertelegraphing, not enough torso or hip rotation togive a technique as much power as it could have.How well a person performs under pressure isdependant upon a number of factors, but twovery simple ones are:

1. How familiar they are with working underpressure.

2. How good and ingrained is their existingtechnique.

Repeatedly working under pressure willaddress factor number one, but spending too

Jissenmag.com - 43

much time working under pressure can beexceptionally detrimental to factor number two,since the more you rehearse a technique suboptimally – the more likely you are to perform thatway consistently. As was said earlier “practicedoes not make perfect. Only perfect practicemakes perfect.”

Conclusion

On the face of it the speed of training maydetermine the visible intensity of training, but in

Coach John Titchen teaches Defence Attack &Resolution Tactics to students, education

professionals and corporate clients and can bereached via his website: www.d-a-r-t.org.uk,e mail: [email protected]. He is available toteach seminars in confrontation management

self protection, use of force and the law,physical intervention and restraint, and KarateBunkai. The author’s book, Heian Flow System- Effective Karate Kata Bunkai, is available on

Amazon and from all good bookshops.

actual fact is often a false indicator of the qualityof training. Consistently fast and hard does notnecessarily mean good, and slow training whileless visually impressive may be both technicallyand physically demanding. Too much of any typeof training has the potential to be detrimental.Ideally training should be balanced, with differentemphases on different speeds according to thehealth and level of the student, but it would behelpful for both students and coaches to knowwhat precisely they are aiming to achieve witheach training method when they do employ it.


Kyusho, Vital Points, Pressure Points, Dimmak- sweet child has many names…

This article is to clarify not the name, but thechild behind it. Even though the child has manynames, its still the same child no matter whatname is used.

You have probably seen the videos on youtube,where people fall to the ground, either after a shortseries of strikes, or what seem to be simple hits,to somewhat ordinary targets for all martial artists,boxers and mma-fighters alike.

If you haven’t go to youtube.com, write: “kyushoknockout” and watch some of the videos. You willprobably think, bullshit or shout out FAKE - if youhaven’t had any experience with this prior.

Go now - do it! Don’t just read - watch.

If you haven’t noticed yet, you will discover that,the names L5, LI18, Si16, H2 etc. might show up.This is the nomenclature used by practitioners ofkyusho, to map out, where the kyusho points arelocated. The nomenclature originates fromacupuncture.

The Kanji for Kyusho, consists of two, Kyu andSho. We have those words also, in most budoarts, meaning Sho - being, the first grade of black,Shodan. Kyu for the different grade-levels belowblack - ikkyu meaning 1st grade. But even thoughthe romanization of the Kanjis are the same, thekanjis are different. The Kanji for Kyu in Kyusho,means sudden or hasty - the Kanji for Sho inKyusho, can be translated with point. And togetherthey are translated into vital point.

There are a lot of vital points attacked in kyusho,most commenly it’s the nervous system. Not goingto deep into the nervous system, there is thecentral nervous system and the peripheralnervous system. The CNS consist of the spineand the brain, and the PNS of the nerves in therest of the body. The vital points, attacked inkyusho is mostly located at synaps’. Threedifferent targets exist; at a nerve ending(1), at twonerves intersecting or when a nerve is dividing(2).

These nerves require different method, for themost outcome of a potent attack. Meaning youhave to get the location, angle, method ofactivating the nerves, the correct tool foractivating, and the right intent.

The location is obviously needed. Without it youhave no target. The locations of the vital point, isno bigger than the size of a small coin. Thisprobably makes you think, well if I have a hardtime, hitting his head - how can I ever hit a smallpoint like that? Incorporate it into your practice -every time you train and target the head, don’tjust target the head, find a spot, the spot is onthe head, so you still get the head BUT you willalso get the spot. So it’s a Win-Win situation -nothing to lose!

Now the angle, if you have to categorize this,the second most important factor to understand,when attacking nerves. In kyusho you canactivate a nerve by either stretching it or pinchingit against a bone. Many of the nerves are placedclosely along muscles, and if a nerve is struckinto a muscle, the muscle absorbs much of the

KyushoBy Nikolaj Fænø Skarbye

Fig 1, The arrow points out the mental nerveending.

Jissenmag.com - 45

Here the tool refers to what part of your body,you will use at the point. The knuckles are greatfor rub points, the palm are great for superficialnerves and closed-hand strikes can be used topinch the nerves to the rips, at the right angle atthe right location - knowing which method shouldbe used to activate the point.

Finally the intent. When striking a person, youneed to really want it, you need to bypass yournatural safety issues, for hurting your trainingpartner. If you can’t do this, you can’t get focusedenough.

These five guidelines are not something youneed to remember, but something, with time, willfeel natural. It is just like, when practicing throws,you need to establish a base, and disturb thebalance of your opponent, as well as you need toget a good grip on him and many other guidelines.

Recently a guy, who was attending my training -wrote a review of the seminar I did, with acomment on: “kyusho is very effective, butperhaps best in the summertime”. I filmed thisvideo, where I am attacking the point Lung 5.Watch and see for yourself.

http:/www.youtube.comwatch?v=GTr3ZSNWRtc

You must notice, that when practicing kyusho,we only utilize perhaps 10-20% of the powerpossible, when performing a technique - in a realencounter, we use 120%! Ofcourse - so if yousay, “this doesn’t work on me”, simply strikeharder, adjust the angle and chose the correcttool. The light touch techniques performed intraining is to explore the theoretical universe toexpand ones understanding of the biomechanicsin the human body.

Frequent comments

“There are no shortcuts to being an excellentfighter!”

That’s absolutely true, in every aspect of yourtraining, you have to work it over, and over andover again, repeat it, drill it and work it as close tolive as possible - same goes for kyusho. You don’tmake the perfect spinning jumping backkick thefirst time you try it. So you won’t get the strike toL5, the first time you try it (unless your lucky,because L5 is alot easier hitting, than doing ajumping spinning backkick!)

I normally drill the vital points, finding it - standingstill. Drilling it from any type of grap, to explorethe possible angles, lapel, wrist, neck etc. Thentry with some punches, where you catch the punchand then target the point. Then you can strikedirectly at the point. Then start all over, with closedeyes, feel with your hands, and your body,measuring his size, and length of his limps andtry work it. Remember to get the feedback fromthe recipient. This can be done that he tells youhave the strike felt, and then he can give you anumber from 1-10. 10 being totally unconscious,1 not much happens. This should only be donefor absolute new starters, because the striker withtime, will be able to feel how great and impact hisattack had, watching the neurological effects ofhis technique. Feedback is important – whetheraudio or visual!

“The videos on the internet makes this workeverytime!”

Fig 2, Triple warmer/heater/burner.(SanJiao) Ulnar nerves split-thatis why, whenyou strike your elbow your little finger andyour ring finger wil feel dazzled oreventually numb it isthe same nerve thatruns to your little and ring fingers

power, the muscle may get sore, but the effectfrom the nerve attack, will not appear.

The method is closely related to the angle. Thereare mainly three ways to activate the vital points;Touch, rub or hit points. This is depending on whattype of nerve we are going for.


Would you, if filming a video, where it didn’t work- put it up? Ofcourse you only edit the clips, youlike, which looks good. In training, no it doesn’twork everytime, unless you’re a really skilledkyusho practitioner. But we are also using such alittle amount of force, as you saw on my video,that could easily be adjusted.

“I came back from a seminar, tried the stuff out Ilearned, and nothing worked!”

The first time, you learned a lock, and went hometo your brother or father, tried it, it probably didn’twork to. Practice and training. When you workedwith a partner at the seminar, his nerves and painstimuli might be different, from the one yourworking with, so you need to learn, to naturallyadapt to a person and adjust the strength andpressure needed for an application. Bear in mindthat at an eventually real life situation, you won’tmeasure - but just go full throttle immediately.

Now you’ve read, and watched, go try it out! Imade this video, so descriptive and instructionalthat it should be really easy for you to pull this off,try it out, and email me your experiences with it.

Just remember in every aspect of training thesethree sentences aren’t quite out of line:

-Point of Opportunity (if he is wearing a hugejacket, attack his legs, don’t go for his belly - ifyour arm is closest to his chin, hit it with it!)

-KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid (don’t think of the1.000.000 ways to break his arm - if its there,break it.

-If it hurts - It works

Hope you enjoyed my article. Be free to writeany questions, comments and or feedback to:

[email protected]

Also I would be happy if you commented andrated my youtube-videos, eventually feedback onhow to improve these.

Kyusho organizations worldwide:

RyuTeDillman Karate International

Kyusho InternationalKyusho Aiki Jutsu

Hogan Karate InternationalDragon Society International

Kyusho Denmark

Jissenmag.com - 47

Ben Hockman Interview

Q: Hi Ben. Thanks for joining us for this interview.Tell us why you think that training in Urban KravMaga is beneficial to those working within thesecurity sector?

BH: On a general basis, I feel that training insome sort of reality-based self-protection/survivalsystem is essential to those operating in thesecurity sector. Any training in this regard shouldalso address intervention techniques andscenarios for defending others and property, aswell as oneself.

Whilst others may feel an ethical or moral dutyto intervene in order to help defend 3rd parties,it is actually our professional responsibility to doso, i.e. we are paid to do it. That having beensaid, physical intervention should be a last resort,always superseded and preceded by excellentplanning, risk assessment, environmentalawareness, tactical communication and conflictmanagement skills.

In more specific terms, in my professionalopinion, Krav Maga, and specifically Urban KravMaga, provides an ideal training system forsecurity operatives for the following reasons:

a.)It places great emphasis on the pre-emptive‘soft’ conflict management skills I mentionedpreviously. It also places significant emphasis onthe ‘hard’ pre-emptive skills, vitally important tosurvival in any confrontational situation

b.)UKM champions principals above specifictechniques, a must when the pressure is on withlimited decision-making time and high levels ofstress

c.)Through various means of training, itaddresses both the emotional and physicalresponses to conflict that we are likely toexperience in any given situation

d.)Its techniques, concepts and principals arequick to learn, dynamic, not reliant on size/

On Training in Urban Krav Maga


strength and always supported by intensivescientific research and pressure testing, as wellas being tested by those UKM Instructors whoalso work operationally, such as myself

e.)The way the system is taught helps re-create,in a safe training environment, the variouschemical reactions that take place in the bodywhen under stress and gets students used to,and confident in, performing under theseconditions

f.)Unlike other self-defence systems, UKMdevotes a significant portion of its syllabus to theprincipal of defending others, as well as oneself,which, for the reasons I mentioned previously isvery important to us security professionals

Lastly, I would just like to briefly address thedifference between training in a martial art, andwhat we are talking about here. For me, martialarts can be divided into 3 broad categories:Sport-based, Tradition-based and Reality-based.I have no doubt of the various benefits to begained by training and developing the attributesthat both sport and tradition-based martial arts

bring. This however is far removed from thesubject area at hand, where we are ultimatelypreparing for what could be the most important5-10 seconds of our lives, or in the case of someoperatives, our Principal’s life. Through thetraining I offer through my business BeyondFighting, specifically the Urban Krav Magasystem, I address this specific gap in ‘standard’martial arts and/or self-defence training.

Q: How does UKM differ from other self-defence, martial arts and combative systems andhow is this relevant to security operatives?

BH: UKM was founded by a team ofexperienced Instructors, headed by StewartMcGill of the Central London School of KravMaga. The group pooled their experience todevise a system containing the following uniqueelements when compared to other self-defencesystems:

-The simplistic nature, never-say-die attitudeand highly impactive elements of the originalKrav Maga system developed for the IsraeliSpecial Forces shortly following WWII

-As I mentioned above, the concepts are easy-to-learn and not reliant on size and strength toensure effectiveness – I am 5’8” and weigh justover 70kg!

-Placing emphasis on the threats people facein modern society, both in the UK and overseas.For instance, many of our techniques aredeveloped based on Home Office statisticsrelating to the frequency and likelihood ofdifferent assaults and attacks

-Significant emphasis on pre-emptively dealingwith confrontation, either through awareness,avoidance, evasion, communication or as a lastresort, devastating physical force

-Significant emphasis placed on 3rd PartyProtection – I’m not sure why other systems andstyles do not really address this area. The law inthis country and others does give us equalentitlement to defend others (and property) as itdoes to defend ourselves after all!

In any event, that’s why UKM is a truly uniquesystem.

Q: You and some colleagues have just released

Jissenmag.com - 49

an instructional DVD boxset, Urban Krav Maga;tell us a bit more about this project:

BH: The boxset contains 2 DVDs and has beenfilmed over the course of a 2-3 month period inlate 2009. Disc 1 deals with MMA (Mixed MartialArts) Grappling for Street Self-Defence and isled by Leo Negao, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu WorldChampion and MMA Fighter for Team Nogueira.Leo addresses some of the differences betweensport-based and reality-based training that Iallude to above. For instance, the target areasruled out of MMA competitions such as the UFCare precisely the target areas we would want tohit, grab or manipulate in the face of a real-lifeconfrontation.

Any form of grappling will in my opinion alwaysbe a last resor t when it comes to self-preservation. However, to avoid training in it andto ignore preparing for its eventuality leaves asignificant gap in your preparation. In myexperience as a Door Supervisor, perhaps partlydue to working in clubs and bars with beer-soaked floors, if physical intervention isattempted, there is a high likelihood of endingup rolling around in said beer, not through choicebut because that’s simply the way events oftentranspire.

Disc 1 also includes the acclaimed Urban KravMaga Knife Defence and Avoidance system,taught by Stewart McGill. The media is rife withstories of rising violence associated with bladedweapons so this aspect of the DVD is veryrelevant for us all, regardless of the jobs we do.

Disc 2, led by myself, deals exclusively with 3rdparty protection. I relate techniques, scenariosand concepts to a.) the general public, b.) securityoperatives working alone and c.) securityoperatives working in teams

The DVD has received excellent reviewsincluding those from serving door supervisors,close protection operatives working in the UKand in hostile environments overseas, FightersOnly Magazine and security training providerssuch as Shield Consultants and ClearwaterSpecial Projects.

Stewart, Leo and I are also available forintensive, tailor-made courses and seminarsfocussing on the content of the DVDs or any other

aspect of your other physical intervention-basedtraining needs.

Q: What prompted you to produce this DVD,covering these specific areas?

BH: I think to be honest it was a combination ofa genuine belief in the system, based onexperience as well as putting it to excellent usein reality, coupled with the desire to put somethingtogether that was truly different from the variousother material out there in that its focus is ondefending other people as well as defendingoneself.

Q: Tell us a little more about your trainingbackground

BH: There’s more information about this, andme, on my website: www.beyondfighting.com butto summarise:

•Age 31

•13 years martial arts experience 3rd DegreeBlack Belt and Senior Instructor, British CombatAssociation under Peter Consterdine


•Commando Krav Maga Instructor

•Former Police Officer Protection and DefensiveTactics Instructor, South Yorkshire Police

•Senior Instructor – Urban Krav Maga with theCentral London School of Krav Maga

•Certificate in Protective Security

•United Nations Department of Safety andSecurity: Advanced Security in the FieldCertificate

•SIA Licensed Close Protection Operative

•SIA Licensed Door Supervisor

•Security Consultant

•Chief Instructor and owner, Beyond Fighting,www.beyondfighting.com

•Currently preparing for Masters Degree inTerrorism and Security

•Owner, Seguro Close Protection,www.segurocloseprotection.com

•Through my training business, Beyond

Fighting, provide bespoke training to civilians,security operatives and law enforcementpersonnel on a national and international basis

Q: Where can people find out more about theDVD box set and your training services?

BH: If people have any questions whatsoeverregarding this interview, the DVDs or my trainingand/or operational services they can e-mail meat either [email protected] [email protected]

My website www.beyondfighting.com alsocontains quite a bit of information and you cancontact me through the site as well.

The DVDs can be purchased on-line at AmazonUK. Here’s the link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Urban-Krav-Maga-M M A - R e a l / d p / B 0 0 2 Q R J Q M I /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1258538720&sr=8-1

Q: That was most informative Ben. Thank youfor your time.

BH: My pleasure. Hope to talk again soon.

Jissenmag.com - 51

The Way of KataThe Principles for Understanding Kata are Largely Unknown – Until Now!

The ancient masters developed kata, or “formal exercises,” as fault-tolerant methods to preserve their unique,combat-proven fighting systems. Unfortunately, they deployed a two-track system of instruction where an ‘outercircle’ of students unknowingly received modified forms with critical details or important principles omitted. Onlythe select ‘inner circle’ that had gained a master’s trust and respect would be taught okuden waza, the powerfulhidden applications of kata.

The theory of deciphering kata applications (kaisai no genri) was once a great mystery revealed only to trusteddisciples of the ancient masters in order to protect the secrets of their systems.Even today, while the basic movements of kata are widely known, advancedpractical applications and sophisticated techniques frequently remain hidden fromthe casual observer. The principles and rules for understanding kata are largelyunknown.

This groundbreaking book by Kris Wilder & Lawrence Kane unveils thesemethods, not only teaching you how to analyze your kata to understand whatit is trying to tell you, but also helping you to utilize your fighting techniquesmore effectively—both in self-defense and in tournament applications.

Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk & ymma.com

“This comprehensive book bridges the gap between form andapplication in a realistic, easy-to-read and easy-to-apply manner” –

Loren Christensen, 7th degree black belt


It’s Hard to Fight When You Can’t SeeBy Lawrence Kane

I purchased the wrong type of coffee yesterday,a ground drip blend rather than the whole bean

variety I normally buy. When I popped the top ofthe vacuum-sealed can, a blast of grit explodedinto my face and left eye.

Now I’m a pretty tough guy, a black belt inkarate who’s been in more than 300 violentaltercations working stadium security. And I worecontacts for years before getting Lasik surgeryso I’m somewhat used to having foreign objectsin my eye. Yet I experienced a nearlyoverwhelming desire to fall onto the floor andscream like a little baby. I didn’t, but I really, reallywanted to. If you’ve every gotten smoke, sand,or similar substances in your eyes you have agood idea of what I mean.

I stumbled to the bathroom and then took thebetter part of five minutes, and most of a bottleof eye-drops, to rinse the sludge out of my eye.It’s still red and sore some five hours later.

So, what does a face full of coffee grounds haveto do with self defense? It’s very tough to fighteffectively when you cannot see. That makesan assailant’s eyes an important target in alegitimate self-defense scenario. Compared toall our other senses, eyesight is dominant in itsimpotence. It’s not only how we view the outsideworld but also how we acquire targets anddefend ourselves against assaults.

A Couple Hundred Words of Caution

Assaulting the eyes is dangerous stuff. In alegitimate self-defense scenario it can be life-saving, but where it’s not warranted it can leadto serious jail time, or worse...

Not only can you cause horrific injuries, butyou also let the other guy know that he is in avery serious confrontation. If you attack his eyesand miss, you’re going to piss him off in a primalway, becoming the target of a lot more angerand violence than you might expect. Anythinggoes from that point on.

Anybody who wears glasses can relate to this.

Having your glasses knocked off by anotherperson, even accidentally, pisses you off. It ispersonal, it is primal, and it’s instantaneous.Even in an accident, it takes real effort to controlthe instinctive reaction. This gives you a glimpseof the type of response you can elicit fromanother person when you attack his or her eyes.

So, while attacking the eyes can incapacitatean adversary, it can enflame him too.Consequently you need to know how to do itright. And practice effectively. The besttechniques use either your thumbs or fingers.Either way, attacks must be executed powerfully,with resolve, and often more than once. Thechances of failure without these three points arehigh.

Here’s how to attack the eyes most effectively:

Attack with the Thumbs

The thumb can be used as a wedge to displacethe eyeball from the eye socket. This is done byplacing your thumb against the inside of thebridge of his nose and pushing into the cornerof your adversary’s eye socket. Typically, you’lluse your fingers as a guide alongside the otherguy’s face. It works much better if you cansupport his head with your other hand or blockit against an immovable object such as a wall,the ground, or a parked car so that he cannotmove his head back or twist away.

When shoved forcefully into the eye socket,your thumb works much like a wood-splittingwedge, displacing the eyeball. This ultimateresult is not typically a full removal of the eyefrom the socket, which is very challenging, butrather a stretching of the optic nerve thatattaches the back of the eye and shootsexcruciating pain into the brain.

A thumb to the eye can cause blurred vision,disorientation, shock, and in some casesblindness, more than enough trauma to let youescape to safety in most cases. If you actuallydisplace the eyeball, the disabling affect is evenmore severe.

Jissenmag.com - 53

Attack with the Fingers

If you are a trained martial artist you almostcertainly know how to do an open-hand block(e.g., hiki uke). After initially intercepting theopponent’s blow, you can bounce off his armand thrust your fingers into his eye socket. Or,you can rake across the eyes. Either way,whenever your open hand crosses in front ofthe other guy’s face, you have an opportunity toreach his eyes. Even if you do not make contact,such movements can be distracting, leaving theadversary open to a follow-on attack such as alow kick or a knee strike.

Attempting to jab your fingertips straight intoan adversary’s eye can be challenging. It is fastand effective, but will damage your hand if doneincorrectly, so advanced training is necessary.Horizontal raking across the eye, however, canbe nearly as incapacitating and can be easierto execute on the street. A good way to do thisis to thrust your palm against the attacker’scheekbone, which serves as an anchor and

guide. Then sweep away from the attacker’snose toward his ear dragging your fingertipsacross his eye. This motion is relatively natural,like twisting the lid off a jar.

Raking the eyes can damage the cornea, theouter lens of the eye. Scratching the eye withyour fingertips can cause excessive tearing, lightsensitivity, pain, and disorientation. While it maynot cause sufficient trauma to let you escapeimmediately, it is likely to set up a fight-endingfollow-on strike.

Practicing Eye Strikes

While the eyes can be a lifesaving target inlegitimate self defense situation, it ispsychologically challenging to place your thumbor finger into another person’s eyes with theintent to do damage. It is also hard to practicesuch things safely with a partner. However, thereare a couple of ways to practice eye strikeseffectively. As with any training regimen,oversight by a competent instructor is strongly


encouraged for the safety of everyone involved.

The first option is to use a BOB, BodyOpponent Bag. This training tool is shaped likethe torso and head of real person. It facilitatescontouring strikes to various vital points suchas the eyes, and is soft enough to strike hardwithout damaging your hands, assuming you doit correctly. Begin slowly and gradually buildspeed and power, practicing the aforementionedthumb and finger strikes against the BOB untilyou can do them instinctively.

The second option is with a live training partner.This can be dangerous if done improperly, soexercise extreme caution. Cut an orange in half,duct tape it to a set of safety goggles, and givethem to your training partner (despite thegoggles, your partner would be well advised tokeep his/her eyes shut tight and have a towelhandy to wipe away any juice that gets through).Practice striking the orange with theaforementioned thumb and finger strikes.Striking against a real human, even one wearingthis type of getup, can be disconcerting in a waythat using a target dummy is not. Even if youuse a BOB it’s a good idea to try the live drill

too.

The first time you feel the orange give waybeneath your finger tips should proveenlightening. It is important that a trainingpartner be wearing the fruit to better simulate areal person than can be done with an orangealone or taped to a target dummy. You may wellfind that you are incapable of doing strikinganother person’s eyes, something that is bestknown before encountering a life-or-deathconfrontation on the street.

Parting Thoughts

Self-defense really isn’t about fighting like mostpeople think. It is about not being there whenthe other guy wants to fight. Or de-escalatingthe situation before the first blow is struck.Nevertheless, despite your best intentions, thereare times when violence cannot be avoided.Consequently, if you find yourself in a badsituation where the only alternative is to fightyour way out, eye strikes can be an importantaspect of your martial repertoire. It’s very hardfor an adversary to fight when he/she cannotsee.

Jissenmag.com - 55

How Many Martial Artists Does ItTake to Screw In a Light Bulb?

By Eric Parsons

So, how many martial artists does it take toscrew in a light bulb? One hundred. One to

screw it in and ninety-nine to say, “That’s not howmy teacher taught me!”

Hopefully, most everyone got at least a smallchuckle out of that one, but as with any joke, itshumor lies in its relationship to the real world. Welaugh because it takes a fairly commonplaceoccurrence and makes it absurd. And exactly whatcommonplace occurrence is the joke poking funat? The propensity of martial artists from variousstyles and schools to argue ad nauseum aboutthe exact, precise way to execute a technique ina kata or the one true application of any givenmovement within a form.

Now, in my opinion, I find most of these argumentsextremely tiresome and typically pointless. Theyamount to little more than kinesthetic semantics– a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Still,it must be recognized that sometimes thesearguments do matter. There are correct andincorrect interpretations of kata, and it is certainlynot uncommon for small, minute details within atechnique to make all of the difference in the world,taking something that was not working and turningit into a devastating application. Hence, as martialartists, it is vital to be able to separate the wheatfrom the chaff, to understand when a valid pointis being made and when someone is simplyarguing style supremacy.

To help distinguish between the valid and theirrelevant, it is useful to distinguish between twotypes of arguments – arguments about theapplications of movements within kata versusarguments about the specific movementsthemselves.

The first of these arguments is the simplest to dealwith. In my job as a mathematics instructor, everysemester I have to teach the concept of exponents.To understand and use exponents effectively, thestudents need to know five properties or rules of

exponents and three definitions. However, for anygiven exponent problem, these properties anddefinitions can be applied in various ways. As aresult, after working a problem on the board, I oftenget questions such as, “Can’t I do it this way?” or,“What if I did this first?” I answer these querieswith two questions of my own – “Did you followthe rules?” and “Did you get the correct answer?”If the answer to both of those questions is yes,then the method used to solve the problem iscompletely acceptable.


Returning to the martial arts, those same twoquestions must also always be kept in mind whendeciphering applications from forms. In this case,a “correct answer” is an effective application thatcan be used to decisively stop an altercation underthe given scenario or in the given context. Andwhat about the rules? Well, until recently, findingthese was no easy task. Unless a student waslucky enough to have a good instructor who taughtthis information, the rules were obscure, hidden,

education goals or outcomes. Then, differentdegree programs are designed to reach thesegoals. These programs are then, in turn,constructed from individual classes, the contentof which is meant to support and build towardsthe program outcomes. Within each class, ofcourse, are units and within each unit are sectionsand so on down to the individual class periods.However, as the system is atomized, it is importantthat each smaller unit is building towards the goals

and typically only stumbled upon by accident.However, with the publication of books such asBunkai-Jutsu by Iain Abernethy and The Way ofKata by Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder, theserules are now much more readily available to ageneral audience. As such, students of the martialarts are in a better position to answer the abovequestions in the affirmative.

The second type of argument is a bit trickier totackle because, if the movements of a form cannotbe agreed upon, then there is little hope ofagreeing on its applications. However, in this case,educational theory can be put to use to help solvethe problem.

In the field of higher education, the system isdesigned to work from the top down. An institutionwill start out with an overarching set of general

and objectives of the larger unit directly above it.If this is done properly, then there is a unity of thecurriculum from the very bottom to the very top ofthe system.

Now, it is certainly possible to over-formalize thisideal. This often happens in the educationestablishment, where the goal seems to be tomake bad teachers passable, average teachersslightly better, and good teachers frustrated.However, this administrative fault does not makethe top-down linkage system any less valuable.In fact, it is something that good instructorsinherently understand and use when developingtheir curriculums. Moreover, it can also easily beapplied to the instruction of the martial arts. Tobegin this process, let’s start at the top.First, we need to define the overall goal of martialarts training. This is no simple question, as there

Square... Or sideways? Sanchin Dachi...

Jissenmag.com - 57

are varying reasons why people sign-up for martialarts classes. However, given the readership ofthis magazine, I think that it is safe to assumethat most of us would consider the primary goalto be the development of effective and practicalself-defense skills. In fact, I have argued in aprevious article why I believe this should be animportant goal for all martial arts schools(“Differing Visions” – Jissen #3). Hence, let usset that as the top level objective.

aspects or the style itself is going through somesort of identity crisis.

Below this strategic goal, many systems have aseries of forms or kata that are the equivalent ofthe courses that build the stylistic program. I havelong been of the opinion that each of these formscan be seen to have a small number of themesand principles that they are trying to impart. Thisis an idea that is explored in more depth in Gavin

Of course, given that objective, there are manypossible ways of achieving it. This is wheredifferent styles come in. Each style has a preferredstrategy that its practitioners will use to accomplishthe above goal. For example, the primary strategyof Goju-Ryu is to get in close and attempt toquickly disrupt the opponent with powerful strikes,possibly leading to takedowns, throws, or furtherstrikes that are continued until the opponent isincapacitated or there is an opportunity for escape.In contrast, judoka want to obtain a grip and throwtheir opponents to the ground with impetus, lettinggravity and a hard surface do the damage for them.These, then, are the second tier objectives andshould be fairly consistent across a given style.In fact, if two instructors from the same styledisagree at this level, either one of the two islacking understanding of the style’s deeper

Mulholland’s excellent book Four Shades of Black.For example, Sensei Mulholland sees the Goju-Ryu kata Saifa as an exploration of escaping fromgrips and the kata Seiyunchin as a form thatfocuses on grappling. Similarly, one could arguethat Saifa also imparts the use of broken rhythms,and Seiyunchin works to teach proper weightshifting and movement within low stances.

As can be seen, at this level, disagreements (inemphasis, if not in content) are likely to ariseacross instructors in a given style. However, thepresence of disagreement need not imply that oneinstructor is right and the other is wrong. As longas the various interpretations of the themes workto support the higher end strategic goal, there isno inherent conflict in the different positions. UsingSaifa as an example, clearly being able to escapefrom grips is a vital skill to becoming an effective

Or Zen Kutsu Dachi? Block and poke... Or rising strikes?


close-in fighter. However, using broken rhythmsto confuse the assailant and land strikes is also auseful ability in and of itself. As a result, thesetwo themes can coexist peacefully. There is noneed to drop one in favor of the other. In fact,these themes actually complement one another,as the application of broken rhythms is helpful inextricating oneself from an opponent’s grip.Similarly, the weight shifting and low stances foundin Seiyunchin are essential in the development ofgrappling skills.Continuing to work downward, each form is thencomprised of sequences of techniques. Of course,if disagreements can occur at the kata level, theyare likely to multiply exponentially when lookingat individual techniques. In this form, do you block/poke, block/poke, block or do a sequence of risingstrikes to the throat? Do you stand sideways orsquare to your opponent on this technique? Thelist goes on and on.

Now, clearly, if the techniques change too much,an entirely different form has been created andthe point becomes moot. However, as long asthe structure and techniques of the form aregenerally the same and recognizable, the questionof which version is right or wrong should not beanswered using some dogmatic and arbitrarydefinition of tradition, a definition that is certain tobe debated heartily (and often angrily) by bothsides of the argument. Instead, we should onceagain ask if the technique in question supportsthe higher level objective, in this case the goal ortheme of the kata. For example, the preciseplacement of the hands may not matter whenexecuting a grappling technique in Seiyunchin. Orperhaps one hand placement fits one grapplingapplication, while the second fits another. Sinceboth are grappling applications, however, they bothfit the theme of the form. On the other hand, ifsomeone is performing Seiyunchin using only highstances, one might wonder how effectively thatteaches the grappling principles that the kata putsforth. Hence, this might be seen as an incorrectinterpretation of the kata’s movements.

In addition to helping reconcile movements withinforms, working from the top down also makes itpossible to explain across style differencesbetween seemingly similar techniques. Forexample, the head block in Goju-Ryu (jodan uke)looks quite similar to the head block found in TaeKwon Do. However, in Goju-Ryu, the forearm ispositioned almost vertically (thumb facing the

blocker) as it is raised and is then turned over atthe end of the block, while in Tae Kwon Do theforearm is held horizontally as it rises. The reasonfor this difference, however, is the result ofdifferences in each style’s strategy. Since Goju-Ryu is a more close-in fighting style, there is aneed to generate force in tight spaces, somethingthat the more vertical head block does well. TaeKwon Do, on the other hand, focuses on creatingspace and driving in with hard techniques. Giventhis strategy, the horizontal head block is superior.Once again, there are no rights or wrongs here,just different strategies leading to differingtechniques. A similar explanation can be usedwhen looking at the hand chamber positions inthe two styles.

So far, this exploration has led us from theoverarching goal (Defend yourself.) all the waydown to the details of the specific techniques. Ofcourse, it is also important to work our way backup the structure, making sure each level supportsthe one above it. Does each technique in the formsupport that form’s theme or themes? If not, isthere an issue with the technique or has the overalltheme(s) of the form been misinterpreted orotherwise limited? Then, does the theme fromeach form support and build towards the strategicaim of the style? If not, is there something wrongwith the theme? The strategy? And at the verytop, does the strategy make sense in the contextof practical self-defense?

If all of these questions can be answered positivelyand the system continually error-checked andrevised, the result is an extremely unified style ofself defense that provides strong support andprotection to its practitioners. Moreover, just likewith a physical structure, by asking thesequestions we begin to understand that differentdesign elements can still lead to a solidly builtbuilding. Instead of expecting (and insisting) thatmy karate look like your karate or my Goju-Ryulook like your Goju-Ryu, I can instead say, “Myhouse doesn’t look like exactly like your house,but yours is solid, well-made, and could certainlyprotect someone from a storm.” At this point, wecan begin to see the beauty in the variation andno longer be satisfied with cookie cutter uniformity.This attitude can also be quite liberating, as itallows us to spend less time arguing and moretime training and learning.

Jissenmag.com - 59


Martial Arts Scepticism:How Factual is Martial Arts TV?

By Jaimie Clubb

I guess it is little coincidence that the dramaticrise in interest in martial arts and its subsequent

commercialization coincided with the amount ofchop socky being dished out on our TV sets. The1960s saw programmes like The Avengers andThe Green Hornet set a formula for martial artsexpert sidekicks. The 1970s transferred thisexpertise to the lead character in the hugelysuccessful TV series, Kung Fu. Of course, the1970s are now popularly remembered as the timeof the “Kung Fu Boom” as not only did Bruce Leemake his name as the world’s most successfulmar tial ar ts actor, but he also died thusestablishing an iconic status that would becomesynonymous with the popular image of martialarts. The aftermath of the ‘70s saw the growth ofthe global martial arts industry. Today martial artsare part of mainstream culture with clubs invirtually every town and many villages in thedeveloped world. Its success still owes a lot to

fictional TV series from cartoons to adult actionshows, but there is also a growing demand,particularly in the USA, for factual programmesabout martial arts. As time has moved on, theprogrammes have progressed from being juststraight documentaries that give us historylessons on various marital arts and more into therealm of hands-on training journeys for the TVshow presenters and purported scientificinvestigations. But just how factual and fair arethese programmes with their investigations andreporting?

I certainly don’t have the time to go through allthe various individual mistakes made in thegrowing number of marital arts TV documentaryseries. I admit that I don’t watch most of them ona regular basis. However, there are some prettyfundamental points that I have seen crop up fromshow to show.

First off, it is not difficult to see a large amountof pre-science and pseudoscience being carriedover from the world of martial arts and onto ourtelevision screens. Alternative medicinepractices, often with their basis in the supposedexistence of a mystical energy known as chi (qi)or ki or gi or khi, are pretty common in the westernworld now and it is important to remember thatmany martial arts come from the same culturethat spawned acupuncture, acupressure and theirlike. Therefore it is not surprising that we seeprogrammes repeating the mystical claims madeby many martial artists.

The BBC’s Mind, Body and Kickass Moves wasan entertaining British television series presentedby martial artist, Chris Crudelli and produced anddirected by Will Henshaw. As well as havingCrudelli travel to the Far East to train with variousmasters, each programme would also includesmall sections in-between with Crudelli showingvarious people simple martial arts techniques inan approach similar to street magicians. Theprogramme was well produced, directed andpresented with some interesting new angles such

Jissenmag.com - 61

as Crudelli looking at a zoo to juxtapose thevarious animal styles contained in martial arts.However, there was a fundamental problem fromthe off. Crudelli is promoted as being a master of“esoteric energies”. That claim should set off thewarning signals in any self-respecting martial artssceptic!

Sure enough episode two not only has a masterwith a mystical amulet, but also has Crudellilearning a martial arts skill which amounts totelepathy. The presenter has to endure 10 minutesunder an icy waterfall in order to be able to detect“satki” (or killing intent) in his opponent. To testthis Crudelli sits behind a screen and detectsevery time a swordsman delivers a “killing” strokeon the other side. If this really is a credible skillthen I am sure the James Randi fund would bedelighted to dish out one million dollars for it to beproven under real scientific conditions.Unfortunately any skill that remotely resemblestelepathy has yet to be proven under such clinicalconditions.

The series also has an episode with a renowned“kiai master” who can stop opponents by the sheerforce of his voice. Master Sasaki, sensei of HidaShiki Kyouken Jutsu, argues that as the humanbody is mostly made up of water it is susceptibleto the force of kiai. During his interview Sasakiexplains that chi/qi is “ambiguous” and that kiaihas a more “concrete” foundation in fact. He isdepicted knocking one of his katana wieldingstudents to the ground with a kiai shout and theTV show accentuates the feat with a shockwavevisual effect. The power of his kiai shout is thenshown as he rings a bell from 25 feet away.Interestingly Master Sasaki has to stamp his footevery time he shouts to ring the bell. Ockham’srazor would determine that vibration caused bythe stamp, if set up correctly, could ring the bellwithout the shout. I wonder if the same thing couldbe said about this feat without the stamp!

Chi, of course, is covered in the series. Sadlythis comes in the form of fakir tricks, which I alwaysfeel degrades Chinese culture more than itpromotes the effectiveness of their martial arts. Igrew up on a travelling circus and these featsalthough impressive are more a demonstrationof good physics and physical conditioning thanany sort of evidence of the existence of an energyfield being used to protect our bodies. Such featsbeing performed in Chinese martial arts turnedup around the beginning of 20th century when

martial artists turned street entertainers in orderto make money. They were derided and debunkedby the likes of no-nonsense martial artists likethe historian/rebel Tang Hao.

Interestingly although this series does report aliberal dosage of mysticism in every episode italso documents a good example of what happenswhen illusion in martial arts become delusion. Inshort, it shows what happens when a “master”believes too much in his own mysticism. One suchFilipino master from Manila tried to recreate anancient ritual he believed would make his body,or at least a part of his body, impervious to injury.He tried to demonstrate this with a razor edgedmachete with near disastrous results. Thedeluded master hacked at his arm withpredictable results. According to Crudelli the cutwent right down to the bone.

Mind, Body and Kickass Moves was very openabout its mystical slant and therefore, I guess,expected to take a fair amount of scepticism.However, in the USA there have been severalprogrammes that purport to use science toexplain or even test the martial arts. The HistoryChannel’s The Human Weapon was also anotherwell-produced show. This time the presenterswere two individuals with a background in verydown-to-earth training methods. “Big Bill” Duff wasno martial artist, but a 6’4” and 280lbs formerprofessional American football player. JasonChambers is a veteran of 25 mixed martial artsmatches, a senior brazilian jiu jitsu student underEddie Bravo and a jeet kune do instructor. Thepremise for the show was that they would visitdifferent countries all over the world to seek outmartial ar ts masters. They would then bechallenged to fight in a particular style of martialart and spend a week investigating the art so asto better prepare them for the fight.

Different techniques were explained inmathematical terms and demonstrated usingcapture-motion 3D animation. Physics would beused to explain how the force of a technique wasapplied to create the desired result. Theconclusions of these demonstrations were thatin theory every martial arts technique couldpotentially yield devastating results.

The premise of the show was pretty sound andto be fair most episodes went to great lengths toproduce a legitimate pressure test at the climax.In most instances the match would be a full


contact bout, showing the most extreme versionof a particular art. So, for example, the Russiangrappling art of sombo was shown as combatsombo, a type of jacket wrestling version of mixedmartial arts. Full contact combat sports such asmuay thai, pradel serey, judo, savate, mixedmartial arts and the revived ancient Greek sportof pankration easily provided suitable pressuretests. Karate, which for the most part, uses semi-contact and point-stop competitions for theirsporting expressions, put up their full contactknockdown format, which is fairly exclusive to theKyukushinkai School. eskrima produced a fullcontact competition using the no armour andpadded sticks format. Kung Fu is perhaps evenharder to define than eskrima and pretty muchencompasses all Chinese martial arts. Thatparticular episode had sanda, their full contactform of kickboxing, as its final test. Of course,some martial arts either didn’t have a sportingside or, on the whole, their main organizationdidn’t want to align themselves with sport. Kravmaga and marine corps martial art MCMAP, forexample, are marketed mainly on being selfdefence only and their pressure tests were a sortof ordeal/test hybrid. Silat produced a ratherdubious type of low contact test that seemed tobe a semi-ritual After an a episode that was areview of the series the producers seemingly leftthe two arts that have produced the most amountof controversy regarding effectiveness in themartial arts community: taekwondo and ninjutsu.Ironically the tests in these arts produced themost injuries to the two presenters, and Bill Duffwas even knocked out cold during his taekwondomatch.

The problem with the shows is the problem Iforesee in most martial arts shows: there is a neednot to offend. Despite using science and havingtwo practical presenters, there is no feel ofscepticism throughout the show. Instead humanweapon seems to fall over itself to explaininconsistencies and justify certain methods. Aclear problem is that when Duff and Chambersare given a week to prepare for sporting eventthey spend the week training at some prettydisparate places. This is an entertainment deviceto show the viewers the culture of a certain martialdiscipline. However, even Chambers has to admitthat learning a peculiar double uppercut from aquasi-traditional muay thai school is not going tobe of much use to him in the ring. The kung fu

episode stretches credulity even further with thetwo presenters learning tricks on a martial artsmovie set, which will supposedly prepare themfor the sanda kickboxing match.

Contradictions seem to leap out at you whenyou watch one programme to the next. Onemoment we have the episode on silat arguingthat the techniques being used are too deadly tobe properly tested in a full contact environmentand the next we have krav maga, which also sellsitself on being self defence only, providing a typeof pressure test under full contact conditions.

The over-the-top desire to be respectful thatspills over into a lack of self-respect comes outin earnest during the ninjutsu episode’s pressuretest, which seems to have little to do with theassault course training the two presenters haveendured at a ninja camp previously. It amountsto both presenters taking on a ninja with foamand plastic safety weapons. The comparison withthe sort of pretend fights you had as a child isvery apt. Every touch to an exposed body partsupposedly proves the effectiveness of thepractitioner in the art. Duff actually takes a bit ofa whack to the head via a plastic weapon.However, it is Chambers who almost accidentallyexposes the lack of efficiency on offer during his“test”. The 15th dan ninja he faces suddenlydecides having had a decent amount of successmatching Chambers with rubber throwing starsand plastic swords to throw caution to the windand use his tajutsu (unarmed combat) fightingskills. Chambers instantly reacts by easilyoverpowering him and then, as an afterthought,stabs him with the plastic sword. It was a ratherembarrassing moment that not so much exposedthe ninja’s lack of ability, but the validity of thetest as it was clear that the intensity and dynamicof the whole test went to pot as soon as the toys(I mean practice weapons) were thrown aside.

Jissenmag.com - 63

The history side of Human Weapon varies fromreasonable to the reproduction of common martialarts myths, such as the Shaolin Temple oncebeing the hub of martial arts knowledge orBodhidharma being the founder of Chinesemartial arts. However, they also contribute a fringetheory, which pretty much amounts to martial artshyperdiffusionism (the concept that a singlecivilization is responsible for the formation ofothers all over the world). In the pankrationepisode, it is explained that the shoulder throw,common in judo and various other wrestlingmartial arts, had its origins in ancient Greekpankration, According to the theory this techniquealong with many others were transferred to Indiaby Alexander the Great. The techniques thenspread from India to China, most probably viaBodhidharma. From China it then spread out toJapan and so on. There is no historical evidenceto support this theory whatsoever. Apart from thefact that wrestling and strike-based arts seem tohave developed independently in some form orother in different primitive cultures the world over,this theory hinges on the long debunked myththat Bodhidharma was a martial artist who taughtkung fu in the Shaolin temple and that the templewas largely responsible for the origins of mostforms of mar tial ar t. We have records ofsystematic forms of Chinese martial arts, suchas shuai jiao (Chinese wrestling), which uses ashoulder throw, being practiced many centuriesbefore the founding of Shaolin.

Approaching martial arts from a scientificperspective is a brave but admirable endeavour.There are so many different variables in violenceand methods to use against violence that it couldbe argued that the term “Martial Science” is amisnomer. The trouble is that you could arguejust about any martial arts technique is effectiveor possible so long as it doesn’t fall under the

category of pseudoscience. Human weaponseemingly led the way with their impressivelooking animated sequences, which beautifullydissect individual techniques and break themdown into mathematical explanations. Thephysics might be good, but as some YouTubecontributors have noted they get their biologymixed up in the savate episode, where the liveris first described as being on the left side of thebody. Interestingly it is shown on the correct sideof the body later in the same episode!

Nevertheless, science is a fairly robust disciplinethat takes a sceptical view and prompts bothquestioning and testing. Human Weapon wouldn’tbe the only martial arts show to employ it. FightScience actually based its premise on testing thevalidity of martial arts techniques and theeffectiveness of individual arts. It also set aboutthe task of putting martial arts legends on trial.This seemed to be more like it, but unfortunatelysome basic considerations were taken intoaccount. For example, when it came to measuringwho had the most powerful punch it was littlesurprise that the winner was the heaviestparticipant and the striker with the lowest scorewas the smallest. These points were openlycriticized by Rhett Allain, professor of physics atSoutheastern Louisiana University. Furthermorethere seems to be no attempt to applycommonsense or any sense of probability. Forexample, the ninja “death strike” to the heart wasrevealed to be the deadliest martial arts strike.This was due to it being like a reverse version ofCardiopulmonary resuscitation. In theory this


could do more damage than any of the otherstr ikes being tested. However, it is alsosignificantly rarer than any of the other strikes. InHuman Weapon, Jason Chambers mentions thetechnique, reporting that the only case of ithappening was during a freak accident in an icehockey match where an ice puck hit someone inthe heart. And yet full contact competitions theworld over allow full contact strikes to this areawith no reported fatalities or even much in theway of stoppages. Yet we have case historiesgalore, in competition and on the streets,reporting people being stopped by blows to thehead and strangulation techniques.

The Deadliest Warrior is probably the mostsuccessful martial arts documentary series inrecent years. It has a popular formula and bringsboth history and science into the frame. Thepremise is to hypothetically compare two warriors(sometimes two groups), often from different timezones, to see who would win in a confrontation.An impartial team of scientists and generalweapons experts br ing in contemporaryrepresentatives to argue the case for theirparticular warrior (or group) and then after aseries of tests on individual categories, the resultsare put into a computer and a hypothetical fightto the death is created. Fantasy enactments offights that never happened are a popular sourceof debate among males. Little boys oftenpostulate who they think would win in a fightbetween two imaginary characters, which oftengrows into discussions over real historical figures.The subculture of martial arts seems to be nodifferent with films and many an online debate orpub argument centring on which martial art ismore deadly. Despite the childish nature of this,it is very easy to see the appeal.

Great pains are taken to create experiments totest the weaponry of the different warriors withmodern day experts put on the spot. In the endthe number of kills concluded from each test areadded up and processed by the computer,producing the victor. What tends to prevail is thetechnology of the weapon. Generally a moremodern weapon wins over a more primitive one.To a certain degree this is a fair point, but it is farfrom a satisfactory conclusion or one that isalways backed up by historical evidence. Duringthe 100 years war the primitive English long bowfamously defeated the more technologicallyadvanced French crossbow again and again. One

theory for this was that Englishmen were trainedin using the long bow from when they werechildren whereas part of the reason for thecreation of the crossbow was so that untrainedsoldiers could operate it with ease. Therefore alongbow man could reload and shoot his bowtwo to three times faster than a crossbow man.The 1879 Battle of Isandlwana not only saw howa better strategy and intent by a more primitiveside, the Zulus, could best a more technologicallyadvanced side, the British colonials, but also howreliance on these more advanced weapons couldalso bring about one side’s downfall. Thisparticular loss is said to have stunned the worldas although the Zulus outnumbered the Britishby over 10,000 men, they were only armed withessentially stabbing weapons against rifles andartillery, which should have had a far higher killingrate. Even in the 1990s during the Johannesburgriots there are reports of traditional weaponrybeing matched against firearms. Many a policeofficer died on the assumption that he would beable to stop a knifeman with his fire arm. TheTueller drill exercise was designed to test howmuch room and time trained gunmen would needto put down a knifeman.

Now don’t think for a second I am arguing thatadvances in technology are not a major factor indeciding a battle or a duel, but that there are otherconsiderable factors that Deadliest Warrior doesnot take into account. Furthermore, we comeback to the lack of actual pressure applied in anyof the tests, a fundamental problem I havediscussed about Fight Science. We can have anacrobatic kung fu artist showing a tremendousdisplay of agility and speed when he is using hisweapons on a moving target, but does this reallyprove how efficient the Shaolin monk was incombat? The test that pitted him against a Maoriwarrior who had proven superiority in every

Jissenmag.com - 65

weapon category bar one put him ahead purelybased on the kill rate of a more advanced steelweapon in his armoury and his supposed moreeffective agility. If there is one thing we have seenfrom case studies on interpersonal violence it isthat the success’ of flashy and complextechniques are the exception to the rule, and thatattitude and natural attributes are proportionatelylarge advantages. Subsequently the Maori’s welldocumented savage ferocity and clear differencein size was not taken into account.

On writing this article I really had to swallow alot of my own personal preferences. I like most ofthe shows I have described and each has strongunique traits I would love to see furthered in futureprogrammes. Mind, Body and Kickass Moves, notonly served well to discuss self defence withpeople on the street, but also actually exposedthe dangers of delusion in that one particularepisode. That alone would have been a great areato explore in the martial arts and a useful lessonfor future martial arts students who have becomeenraptured by the mysticism of the arts. HumanWeapon had a strong format with two greatpresenters. The formula was improved on withFight Quest, a show that spent more time ongetting its presenters (Jimmy Smith and DougAnderson) ready for a fight rather than feelingthe need to tie itself in knots with various piecesof archaic or pseudo-traditional martial artsculture. Having said that, the Hapkido episodehad difficulty marrying up the techniques used inthe end of show fight with those the presenterswere made to present before hand.

Fight Science could have been the Mythbustersof martial arts TV shows with its scientificapproach and it would have been good to seesome form of pressure test set up to prove/disprove a certain martial arts claims. However,even Mythbusters, a non-martial arts scienceprogramme with a strong sceptical core, cameup with a rather disappointing show when it wentafter the world of martial arts. Before any of thetests began one of the presenters compliantlyallowed a ninjutsu practitioner to demonstrate oneof his defence moves. After that it is all abouttesting some pretty outlandish claims that fit moreinto action movie myths than martial arts myths.It wouldn’t surprise me, but I don’t think there aremany ninja schools that teach their students howto catch swords and arrows. At best this is a strawman argument that sceptics should keep away

from. However, there is a test whereby a studentwith their eyes closed has to avoid the strike of asword. It would be interesting to see just how validthis test really is under scientific conditions!

Growing up in showbusiness all my life I am notnaïve to the pressures that are put on creators ofentertainment. The second series of RickyGervais’s Extras is a wonderful morality tale onhow easily a person’s artistic integrity can becompromised by the might of those with themoney or the power. Martial arts media oftenmakes it harder with the fact that they are dealingwith a relatively small world, broken up into evensmaller worlds and so on. It’s also a world largelymade up of retailers and promoters rather thanprofessional artists who get paid to their thing.This means that it is heavily networked and, in amanner of speaking, everyone seems to knoweach other. Such an environment makes it hardto become overtly critical, and we often see thisin the various magazines whereby most articlesare virtually mini-adverts for a particular martialart. This spills over into factual documentarymaking, whereby filmmakers need thecooperation of martial artists who are protectiveof their small businesses and subculture.

However, as I have explained, there istremendous potential for more rational-basedmartial arts investigations. More scepticalprogrammes are being produced today and areproving popular as sceptics become activists. Thepublic consumer is beginning to outweigh theprofessional critique due to the influence of theNet Generation, and they are beginning todemand more honest reviewing. Previously themainstream had little interest in the innerproblems of the martial arts world – suchproblems were often shielded by the insularnature of martial arts schools up until the 1990s.However, this was before the internet. Now wehave students in regular communication on aglobal scale, sharing and showing experiences.There are at least two website I know dedicatedto scepticism and debunking in the martial artsworld, one of which is a very large and very activeonline community. The nature of the NetGeneration is to be an investigator rather than apassive receiver of information. Given the strongconnection between the media world and theinternet this can only mean good things for criticalthinking in the martial arts.


Fighting Dirty With Karate/TKD/TSD’s MostCommonly Used Technique

By Charlie Wildish

As I believe has beenmentioned in Jissen

before, Hikite is the mostcommonly practicedtechnique in Karate, andTKD/TSD. Hikite isJapanese for pulling thehand back (usually to thehip), and is usuallyperformed in conjunctionwith a punch, strike or“block”.

Applications for Hikiteare usually depicted asgrabbing the opponent’swrist and pulling themon, whilst the other hand/arm attacks theopponent, either bystriking or applying somekind of joint lock/break.

However, for this article,I would like to look atother self defenceapplications for Hikitewhen the fight gets closein and dirty. I would liketo approach this from thepoint of view of beingattacked by an untrainedthug, rather than atrained fighter (of anydiscipline). A trainedfighter might well be ableto cope with thesetactics, but an untrainedthug probably would not.And let’s face it; we aremore likely to beattacked by a thug, thenby a disciplined andtrainedfighter.Whenevera fist is made (in basics or kata/forms/patterns),it is quite safe to assume that it is either to strike

or to grab. As Hikite ispulling back to the hip,then it is safe to assumethat the fist in Hikite isgrabbing.

First of all though let’slook at Hikite moreclosely as it varies fromstyle to style. It normallystar ts with the armextended, palm facingdown. Some styles startwith an open hand whilstothers start with a fist. Ifthe hand is open, thenthe first thing it does is tocloses into a fist, whichmore or less gives allvariations the same startpoint; a grab. From here,some styles rotate the fistto palm facing up as itstarts to pull back to thehip. Other styleshowever, begin to pullback and rotate the fistto the palm up positionnear the end of the travel(as fist reaches the hip).

The applicationscovered in this article willwork with eithervariation. However, inthese specificapplications, the twist isused to increase thepain threshold. I wouldtherefore suggest thatthese specificapplications willprobably work better ifthe twist is performed at

the beginning of the pullback, rather than at theend of the pullback.

These pictures demonstrate the forming of thegrip used for the flesh grab described on page 70

Jissenmag.com - 67

The first application I would like to look at ispulling somebody’s hair. Although oftenconsidered “girly fighting”, it can be a good wayto control an opponent (pain compliance) andbreak their structure/balance. With training witha partner, try grabbing their hair and just holding.This will not be too uncomfortable for them. Ifyou then pull, it hurts them. If you stop pulling,it stops hurting. This is why in a “girly fight” theygrab the hair and keep pulling backwards,forwards and sideways, to keep the pain going.

Now grab your partner’s hair and apply theHikite. First just grab and twist. The act oftwisting, drives the small knuckles of your fistinto your training partners head and at the sametime, maintains the pulling tension to the hairwithout you having to pull and push their headall over the place. Whereas with normal hairpulling, your training partner/opponent can move

of the twist at the beginning, the opponent willbe able to resist the pull a little bit more at thisstage.

Once you have them prone, in pain with theirhead by your hip, if you judge the situation as

with the pull/push to lessen the effect, theycannot do anything to lessen the effect of yourgrab and twist. The pain is constant for as longas you keep the twist on.

Now pull back to the hip as usual and theirstructure and balance will be compromised asthey are distracted with pain. It will also work ifyou pull first before twisting, but without the pain

being not too bad, then you may try to talk somesense into your prone opponent. If the situationis serious, then you can beat some sense intoyour opponent without them being able to resistvery much.

This would have been particularly useful whenthese techniques were first introduced as manymen wore their hair in a top-knot, which is quiteeasy to grab. However, today many men weartheir hair short and many are, well . . . folliclychallenged. In this scenario, grab the earinstead. There is a reason why many of us canremember parents and/or teachers grabbing usby the ears as kids; it because the ears aresensitive and it hurts. It just requires a bit moreaccuracy than grabbing the hair.

Another application is grabbing the throat. Thishas to be reserved for all but the most seriousof confrontations. Grabbing the throat andsqueezing is always dangerous, but grabbingaround the windpipe and twisting applies more

pressure and can seriously damage thewindpipe which can lead to death (and a longjail sentence). A much safer way is to use aflesh (or skin) grab. This is common in manystyle of Kung Fu, but has not been transmittedvery much into Karate. For this application, let’sgo back to when we first started to learn martialarts and we are taught how to make a correctfist. First, close up the outer set of knuckles (inthe fingers), then close the last set of knuckles

so close to each other, your opponent may notnotice if you lower one hand to the side of theirbody, preferably just below their ribs, then grablower torso flesh by closing up your first set ofknuckles as before. You don’t need to grab largeamounts of flesh, just some skin on the sidewill do. Then of course, grab, twist and pull.This should be enough to make them loosentheir grip, off-balance them and give you the

carefully). This is more painful than the hair pull,but you end up in almost the same proneposition where you can talk or beat sense intoyour opponent.

If you are in a clinch and you are both trying tocontrol each other, grabbing hair, ears or throatswill be awkward, as both of you will be trying toguard your heads from attack. However, whilst

(where the fingers join the hand).

With a par tner try clasping their neck(carefully), fingers one side and thumb the otherside. Now close the first set of knuckles (in thefingers), but as you do so make sure that yousecure some skin of the neck. Be careful withyour training partner as this can be very painfuland usually leaves marks. Now continue toclose up the rest of the fist, twist and pull (again,

opportunity to land a clean blow.

Just be aware however that if the opponent isdrunk, they may not feel the full effect. Thatsaid, as long as you can pull them off-balance,you can follow through.

Take another scenario where some thug hastaken you to the floor and is sitting astride youwhile trying to hit you. Grabbing the flesh aroundtheir waist, twisting and pulling will, to say theleast, get their attention and probably stop themtrying to hit you as they try to release your hands.From here, pull with one hand whilst pushingwith the other to remove them sideways. Thisshould be enough to move the average Joethug; though again, be aware that if they arevery drunk or high, they may not feel it so much.

Another defence if you are caught in thisposition is believe it or not gedan barai (lower

sweeping block). The hand that you wouldnormally “block” with is always pulled back tothe opposite ear before sweeping downwards.Use this position to cover your head from youropponent’s blows. Your Hikite hand, slides downthe centreline of your body until you find youropponent’s testicles. From here, your handshould already be in the palm up position(usually only here after twisting). Grab and pullat the same time as you sweep downward topush your by now very distraught opponent offyou. You could actually twist your wrist in theopposite direction, just to add some insult toinjury. If you opponent is too drunk to feel this,then he should be too drunk to walk, never mindfight.

Basics and kata/patterns don’t just teachtechniques, they teach principles and theprinciple here is grab, twist and pull (or pull andtwist –depending on style); close in and dirty.The flesh grabbing can be applied to most partsof the body, not just the examples above.Anywhere that you can grab flesh/skin, be ittorso, limbs, head, wherever, this Hikite principlecan be applied.

It should also be noted that our biceps are ourmain pulling muscles and our triceps are our

main pushing muscles. To get the best pull, wewant our biceps to be able to effectively contract.They contract better when we twist our palmsupwards as Hikite teaches us to do. Hikitetherefore teaches us to use our body in itsstrongest alignments.

This actually leads to one more application,pulling clothes. Although it does not directlycause pain, it can give a momentary jerk to theopponent (another jerk) which can unbalancethem just long enough for you to hit them

These techniques may not be fight finishers,but they can give you an advantage to distract(through pain) and break the opponent’sstructure and balance. It is a human instinct totry to correct the balance first. If somebody hasto re-gain balance at the same time that anopponent is trying to hit them, they willinstinctively try to regain balance BEFORE theytry to fend off the blow. This gives you a smallwindow of opportunity to finish them off. A smallwindow should be enough for a well trainedmartial artist of any style.

By Charlie Wildish 3rd Dan (whotrains under Paul Mitchell 4th Dan:

www.WellsShotokan.co.uk)


Dead or AliveBy Kris Mansfield

Having recently re-read ‘Streetwise’ by PeterConsterdine and finding it still to be

absolutely fantastic, I believed it was high time tocheck out ‘Dead or Alive’ by Geoff Thompson,which is a perfect accompaniment toConsterdine’s modern classic.

Now, before I begin let me state that I have beeninvolved in “real” fights, though not hundreds, dueto the area I lived in and had trained on and off ina few different martial arts. Whilst in University Idecided to take up World Tae Kwon Do Federationstyle Tae Kwon Do and was making goodprogress. Or so I thought. I was actually busyreprogramming what had always come quitenaturally to me. I wasn’t punching as muchbecause they don’t score points in competition. Iwasn’t head-butting or grappling because, yes,you’ve guessed it: you can’t do that in competition!I was almost starting to believe that I could pulloff a spinning hook kick in a real encounter (alaTerry O’Neil) due to minimal success with thetechnique in sparring and competition, but inreality couldn’t throw it at all. A few years ago Iwas given a massive wake up call. I was quicklyforgetting what a real fight was like. There is noreferee, there are no rules.

Five years on from starting TKD, with my firstDan grading looming on the horizon, I was out intown for drinks. It was your average Saturday nightout in Liverpool city centre, my girlfriend, step-brother and I had met friends, had a few too manydrinks and had a good night. Walking to get a taxiwe met trouble. We were subjected to a nastyand unprovoked attack involving eightNeanderthals. Needless to say, we didn’t “win.” Imanaged to get away with a split lip, fending offthree of them with my arms forming a barrier(which I later discovered was a form of ‘the Fence’)my girlfriend was armed with a bag of chips, whichshe launched at the nearest person (ancientOkinawan technique, I’m sure) and my step-brother, well... he was on the floor at this point,after throwing maybe two punches and wasunconscious having his head jumped on andkicked into the curb by the remaining cave-dwellers.

I feel questions coming on at this point. Maybesomething like, “Well, what did you do when yousaw this happening? Did you use your previousTKD training?” The answer quite simply is no. Inall honesty, I froze and watched the assaulthappen in slow motion. After what felt like anactual eternity, I ran to help my…what?Unconscious? Dead? Step-brother/best mate.

Thankfully he began to regain consciousness,still lying in the middle of the road, with carsdriving past. I was so angry at myself. Why did Idrink that last pint? Why didn’t I cross the roadwhen I saw a group of drunken idiots? Why didn’tI start dropping them as soon as they were infront of me? Why did they pick us? It took me agood while to take control of these feelings. Thisfeeling, which Geoff Thompson refers to as the‘Black Dog’ in his book, was well and truly chasingme around the park and I couldn’t out-run it.

When the police finally arrived and we identifiedthe culprits, we were then faced with questionssuch as “Who started it?”(!) I was told to “calmdown” and to “stop swearing” or I would bearrested. I had never experienced this sort ofsituation before. We were the victims of theassault, yet we still needed to justify this to the‘second-enemy’, the police. Both Geoff and Peter,remind us that even if you do act in ‘self-defence’and with ‘reasonable force’, it is what you sayafter the encounter that determines the outcomein court.

I told the Police officers that I had ran after twoof them chasing them on to a bus. I was asked“why” I had chased them, as the attack was over.If I would have hit one of them following this Icould have been charged with assault. Thissubject matter is explored in great detail in ‘Deador Alive’ and is something that should becontained in every book on self-protection.Following this assault, no charges were made,as there was no evidence that the people whowe had identified had been the ones who attackedus, even though my blood was on one of theirshirts. CCTV, we were informed, was not workingthat night.

Jissenmag.com - 71

Fortunately, the only damage was a severelybruised ego and a lot of pent up anger. I realisedthat something needed to change. As a child andteenager, growing up in your typical working classarea, my Dad’s advice was always, stay awayfrom trouble, but if you can’t, make sure that youget the first shot in! This is basically the crux of‘Dead or Alive’ and all sound self-protectionadvice. Avoid violence at all costs. Escape asituation if possible. But if you need to protectyourself, hit first and hit hard. You do not want toend up in a fight.

As a result of this, I decided to stop training inTKD as I found it unsuitable, in its sporting form,for an actual street encounter. I was learningtechniques that are used in a sport with rules. Ihad spent no time training in workable bunkai,as you only needed the patterns/forms to passyour grading. I also realised that I, myself, needto take responsibility for what I was doing.

Mo Teague, in the Appendix of ‘Dead or Alive’reminds us all of the dangerous and debilitatingeffects of alcohol and fighting. Basically they arelike oil and water. They do not mix well. Alcoholcan make you aggressive and become the loud,an obnoxious ‘Two-can Van Damme’ type, whowants to take on the world, or simply it reducesyour perception and decision making skills. I know

that I was too drunk when we were attacked; Ithought that it happened ‘out of the blue’ becauseI was not switched on. I was in ‘Code White’,happily devouring my take-away, thinking aboutbeing home with the missus.

This is not to say that I blame myself or myfriends for the attack, rather we/I should haveperceived the problem before it was, quite literallyon top of us. The people who attacked us did itbecause they wanted to. It’s that simple. ‘Dead orAlive’ explores this mindset in far more detail,interviewing “people” who purposely go out toattack random people for enjoyment.

With regards to actual ‘fighting,’ there are acouple of chapters in ‘Dead or Alive’ whichdemonstrate techniques, but it is the otherinformation contained in the text that is essentialin a real situation. In particular, ‘Coopers ColourCode’ system is explained, something that is alsorecommended in ‘Streetwise’ and is definitely amind-set which I use now. In addition to this, GeoffThompson covers all of the pre-fight rituals, whichmust be understood and trained in order to survivea violent encounter.

Having become a member of Peter and Geoff’sbrainchild, the British Combat Association, fouryears ago, under the tutelage of Sensei Jon Ryley,I have never looked back. The training is realisticand honest. The training can be painful at times.But this is needed. We ‘absorb what is useful’ fromthe likes of Western Boxing, Kali, Karate Jutsu,JKD, Torite Jutsu and apply them to realisticscenarios.

I have wanted to write this little article for a whilenow, as I am an avid reader of martial artsliterature and have read some seriously bad/dangerous books in the past few years. Alsohaving been in a number of dangerous situations,I have a minimal, but actual understanding of whatis required to survive a street encounter. I am noexpert on the subject of self-protection nor am Itrying to convince anyone that I am. GeoffThompson’s ‘Dead or Alive’ however, is straightto the point and contains some of the mostimportant martial arts information that you canfind written anywhere and is by an actual experton the subject. This book is an absolute must foranyone interested in the life protection arts and Icannot urge you enough to read this book. Deador alive, what do you choose?


Mike Liptrot is one of the UK’s premier grappling coaches. A full time international judo coach, Mikestarted training in Judo at the age of six. Thanks to the massive influence of legendary Judoka TonyMacconnell, Mike had a successful competition career, competing in his first International at sixteenyears old. Presently the Chief Coach at the Kendal Judo Centre (an official Olympic facility to be usedby international players in preparation for the 2012 games), In addition to his role as a top Judocoach, Mike also coaches MMA fighters, traditional martial artists, and self-protection practitionerswho wish to develop their grappling skills. Mike is available for seminars and private instruction.

Learn Grappling!Learn Grappling!Learn Grappling!Learn Grappling!Learn Grappling!Seminars, Classes & Private Lessons!

Top Grappling Coach Mike Liptrot

UK Phone: 07708968194Overseas Phone: 00447708968194

Email: [email protected] Address: Mike Liptrot, c/o Kendal Judo

Club, The Dojo, Parkside Business Park,Parkside Road, Kendal, Cumbria

LA9 7EN, United Kingdom

Jissenmag.com - 73

“The Martial Arts Unanswered Question”By Ron Breines

In Leonard Bernstein’s book, “TheUnanswered Question,” based on his Norton

lectures at Harvard, he said that the reasonmusic is universal in terms of its artisticprogression and expression is because oftonality, which is fundamentally an internalnecessity that all cultures, primitive andmodern, share. He theorizes that the tonalnature of music is innate and therefore hasintrinsic impulses that drive the inspiration; anyelements of dissonance within the largercontext of the piece, is not only acceptable,but necessary. Once composers likeSchoenberg and Webern started throwingaway that innate universal formula – by creatingmusic through mathematical equations orgraphs, etc. - it ceases to be art because itloses its functionality – the reason for its verybeing. It no longer serves the purpose thatdrove it in the first place.

Likewise, we can view the paintings of therealists, renaissance romanticists,impressionists and even pop ar tists asuniversal because their tonality also serves apurpose dating as far back as prehistoric times.Great art tells a story, tugs at our emotions orcompels us tothink. Once we get into theabstract, like the atonal expressionists, it ismuch more difficult for the viewer to grasp thepurpose, except to see it in a self centered light.We simply lose the connection to what isfamiliar and necessary.

So then, is abstract art, art? I suppose it is,but I think to myself, “If a monkey or elephantcan paint a painting and I can’t tell that ananimal painted it, is it art?” At least not howBernstein describes “functional tonality.” Andis a bird’s singing or a lion’s roar art? No,because there is no explicative creationinvolved in it. It is purely driven by an internaldrive to simply be, rather that to create anything.In other words, there is no act of creation; thereis just the natural act.

Likewise, we tell stories to interpret and thenexplain the human endeavor. We use language,words, to do that. But if we take those wordsand rearrange them in orders that do not makesense (Gertrude Stein and the expressionistwriters and poets come to mind) is it art? Well,babies talk this way when learning tocommunicate, and it is not really art. Why wouldadults making baby talk on paper, etc. be art?

Of course, these are all subjective arguments,but I think the crux of the issue Bernstein wasdelving into is that without some reason forconnecting the creative endeavor to the internalneeds of human beings, the creation becomesless universal, merely an experiment inceaseless dissonance.

And so I come to the “martial arts.” If we goback to the origins of martial arts, in all cultures,we understand that they were created for selfprotection or combat. We know that wrestlingand later on, judo, was extrapolated from theseancient grappling martial arts and turned intosport. The Greeks and Romans competed invarious games to demonstrate their athleticabilities. Rules of engagement were developedto keep the participants relatively safe. JigoroKano did the same for judo. And we haveboxing, MMA, etc.

But the question is, are these combat sports,martial arts? If we call them martial arts,shouldn’t they be artistic in nature? Shouldn’tthey share the functional tonality Bernsteinspoke of in music – the necessity of purposefor which the ar t was designed andprogressed?

If we look at “traditional” martial arts vs.combat sports, we’ll find similarities in both thatconcern physical acts of defending oneself –one for points, the other for safety or even lifeand death. But that simple difference is major,and it is that difference that convinces me thatcombat sports are not martial art at all. If we


look at the history and growth of classicalmartial arts we find a continuous growth in notonly technique, but in the study and thereforethe expansion of the art. Art, by nature, isorganic, because again, it is universal in itsmost basic necessity.

But sport, which is an outgrowth of ourcompetitive drive, is, dare I say, reallyentertainment; the competitors, performers, notartists. Therefore the skills derived from combatsports are negligible when applied to streetattacks or combat. The “point” tapping systemwill do little for a victim in combat. In fact, evenat the highest levels of today’s karatetournaments, the karateka do not really knowwhat it feels like to be seriously hit whileengaging in their sport, therefore, they don’tdevelop the functional skills to avoid at all costsbeing struck in a way that can permanentlydamage or kill them.

Recently, I attended a tournament andwatched black belt karateka bounce around intheir fighting stances - resembling those ofMarquess of Queensberry boxers - leaning wayback, keeping enormous distances betweeneach other until one finally attacked, often withhis/her face, throat, groin or knees unguarded,only to tap the opponent for a point score.

I thought back to when I competed in the late1970s in full contact competitions without anysparring gear, and remembered that when I gothit, hard, it hurt, and so I quickly learned tonever let my guard drop and to attack with afierceness that might help me avoid the painof the punches or kicks I would endure ifhanging back while sizing my opponent up. Ilearned to jam the kicks rather than block them,beat the punch rather than counter it, move tothe side rather than straight on, and hit, nottap. I learned to do what the masters had taughtthrough kata, through Okuden waza. There wasan innate sense of self protection which wasindeed, martially tonal.

Yet even in full contact karate, I knew thatcompetition was still a game with rules, andmore than likely, I wouldn’t get too hurt. It wasn’tthe street fighting I had experienced firsthandIn New York as a youth. But the question is, do

today’s competition warriors understand thatdifference? Do they even know what it meansto really get hit? Do they realize thattournaments are games and that their skillsare being developed for show, not for selfdefense?

My sensei some years earlier, an ex-militarycombat instructor, had us do a lot of what IainAbernethy and other self defense orientedsensei - classical artists - call kata basedsparring. In thirty seconds of hell, we practicedwhere to strike to maim or to kill – in essence,end the fight as quickly as possible usingapplications that would need to becomesecond nature. Our focus was to do quickdamage to end the fight - just as the masterstaught - even though we knew quite well thateven this type of practice has limitations (i.e.controlled punches, etc.) But there were nothree minute bouts, because there was no timeto “size up” an opponent or opponents. Realfights are usually over within seconds, notminutes, so we needed concepts that camestraight from the origins of the art, when artistswere fighters who understood why they werelearning these skills, and over time, how theycould make them more efficient and yes, deadly- again, the functionality of artistic purpose. Ifwe went to grappling, we’d be on the grounduntil we were able to get back up, strike andget away.

I thought again about this modern tournamenttraining and how detrimental it actually is tothe reality of the art of self defense; that therereally is little relation between the two. Thedistance between these “fighters” is unrealistic,and so these tournament warriors size up theiropponents in ways a predator, or an attackerhigh on crack would never, ever do. There isno surprise in any of these contests as thecontestants have practiced over and overchoreographed kumite which basically makesup the bulk of their defenses and attacks.Rarely do these attacks go beyond one or twostrikes before the referee halts the action andthe fighters return to their fighting stance. Inreality, a street attacker will try to pummel adefender into the wall or ground, continuously,and the defender better be effectively swingingor grappling until escape or he/she might be

Jissenmag.com - 75

permanently disabled or killed.

So where in sport karate/judo/wrestling is theart? In my humble opinion it is in the mind only.The sport fighter thinks he/she has deadlyfighting skills handed down over centuries, butin reality he/she does not. How many sportfighters really study, I mean study, kata bunkai?How many actually practice the total essenceof their art? The master artists practicedthousands of kata and bunkai (not kihon andkumite) until they understood the completefighting systems each kata was designed toexpress. Fancy high spinning jumps weren’t thegoal.

Today, bunkai means: gedan barai against maegeri, kizami zuki/gyaku zuki chudan responsefor a finale attack. Where are the myriad ofOkuden waza in kata?

In judo, judoka learn throws, escapes,reverses, but they are not allowed to strike. InMMA, they can do strikes, throws and locks,but they are often limited by a lack of masteryof any one art and are again subjected to rulesdesigned for relative fairness and limited injury,

mainly for sensational entertainment - thecompetitors, martial performers, albeit, athletes- but not artists.

Prior to Rubber Soul and Sergeant Pepper,the Beatles arguably were really not artists,even though record companies use the terminterchangeably for all performers. It was afterthey stopped performing and went off to astudio on Abbey Road with a trained classicalmaster named George Martin that they beganto explore the processes of creation, breakingnew ground while creating music within theframework of functional tonality, whichBernstein considered the essence of art in thehuman endeavor.

I believe this must be the same path for themartial arts. Unless we study, practice and“create” within the framework of the functionaltonality designed for street combat as the earlyclassical masters did - and yes that meansbuilding on their work, not just stagnating insideit - the martial arts will simply devolve intocombat sport, disguised as what used to be,art.

Jissenmag.com - 77

The Roundhouse Kick, Karate’s BestKick Or A Risk To Your Survival?

By Martin O’Malley

Roundhouse kick is one of the most commonkicks thrown in striking based competitive

Martial Arts. Competitors generate tremendousforce in the impacts from this fantastic kick, andanyone who has received ‘a good one’ will knowthat it has a significant effect on the whole body,from the pain of the impact to the disorientationas you try to locate the opponent again to giveit back to him/her.

Yet, despite its unquestionable effect,roundhouse kick is not seen in Karate Kata.Gichen Funakoshi the ‘Father of JapaneseKarate-do’ doesn’t mention it in his books in1925 or 1936.

Shoshin Nagamine, one of the great masterson Okinawa doesn’t mention it in his 1970’straining manual, the Essence of OkinawanKarate, while Choki Motobu, contemporary ofFunakoshi and one time teacher of Nagamine,noted for his practical applications of Karatedemonstrates kicking in his Okinawan Kempo,and yet roundhouse kick doesn’t feature.

In fact, I have not seen any book by any Karatemaster pre-1940 which includes the roundhousekick (please advise if you have a genuine copyof one which does), and even our own W. E.Fairbairn doesn’t include it in his training manual‘Get Tough’.

Incidentally, Funakoshi, Nagamine andFairbairn all include front and side kicks, but notside thrust kicks as performed in modern Karate,rather sokuto geri (of a type in Fairbairn’s case)is demonstrated.

Why, would such eminent masters of Karateneglect to mention, even in passing theformidable roundhouse kick especially whenFunakoshi and Nagamine both list the basictechniques of Karate in their written works? Andwhy would Fairbairn not include this devastatingkick in his preparation of the military personnel

for battle. The only conclusion that I can cometo is that it was not considered a good kick forself protection/combat situations.

Then, how did it end up in Karate? Accordingto some sources, including written work by somemembers of the Shotokai organisation, it wasactually Funakoshi’s son Yoshitaka (Gigo)Funakoshi who introduced the roundhouse kickto Japanese Karate, along with yoko geri kikomiand ushiro geri. These developments wouldseem to have come about or at least presentedto the world sometime between his father’spublication of Karate Do Kyohan in 1936 andhis premature passing in 1945.

Now, some will be thinking to themselves, ‘whois this guy saying that it isn’t a good kick’, or‘just because it was developed recently doesn’tmean it’s no good’, but to be honest, I cannot


see that generations of people who trained forgenuine life threatening situations, cross trainedwith Martial Artists all over the oriental/southPacific trade routes, which according to mapsin Shuri Castle, included Thailand where someclaim the roundhouse kick was originallydeveloped, over the course of several hundredyears didn’t even consider the technique ofroundhouse kick, but a guy who trained for lessthan 20 years, suddenly and inspirationallydeveloped this exceptionally powerful techniquewhich could devastate the legs of any opponent.

If it had been practiced in Shorin-ryu whichNagamine and Funakoshi both studied, or inNaha-te which according to some Funakoshitrained in under Higashionna, and of whichNagamine’s friend Chojun Myagi was a greatmaster, then surely they would have recognisedits importance and included it in their teachings,however, the fact remains, they did not and sothe question must be asked, why not?

When we consider the key factor in generatingpower in the roundhouse kick we can see thatthe supporting foot must rotate significantlyduring the kick. There can be varies discussionsas to at what point and how far, but the factremains that the rotation must occur. We canalso see by just standing and slowly bringingour leg around without rotating the supportingfoot, pressure starts to come on the knee, ankleand depending on how far you go, the thigh/hiparea. We can literally feel that this is adangerous movement for our joints. Asinstructors, we advise students to make therotation, not just for the power development, butalso to protect their bodies.

If we suppose for a moment that you are in aconflict situation, and for some reason, your footcould not turn, suppose it was obstructed bysomething and you put everything into the kick,I would suggest that you would at the very leastseriously damage the ligaments of the knee andankle joints of the supporting leg, decimatingyour chances of successful counter attack.

Should you be in a combat situation on thedirt roads, fields or mountain sides of oldOkinawa would the surface have been clearenough of obstructions to risk such an injury?Would the battlefields of WWII be any better?And if you did receive such an injury would youropponent(s) stop and bring you to the nearestdoctor for treatment or continue with their formeraction?

The environment of application must beconsidered as an integral component to therealistic application of any technique. Example– no one would question the effectiveness of ahand grenade, but no police force would issueits members with them. They don’t suit theenvironment of application.

So what exactly are the risks to us in our day?Of course, we have tarred roads, pavements,

Jissenmag.com - 79

etc, but pot-holes in roads, cracks in thepavements, man-hole lids, kerbs, rubbish bins,steps and stairs, still make for a relatively unevenor obstructed surface. How many times haveyou personally or someone you’ve seen trip ormiss their footing while walking down a street?

Go into bars and nightclubs, with steps andstairs, beer soaked floors, the act of trying tobalance on one foot in this environment is crazy,but then add another component, twisting onthat foot, and it’s down right dangerous.

Combat Sport-wise, in a clean, clear, dry,unobstructed matted area such as a tatami,boxing ring or octagon, the benefits areimmense, however, in the streets and backalleys, pubs and clubs, where obstructions,rough ground and wet surfaces are verycommon (particularly in our rainy weather), it isquestionable as to whether or not roundhousekick should be even considered for inclusion inKata applications/self protection training at all.

I can hear people saying, ‘but we have alwayspracticed roundhouse kick, it has become anintegral part of Karate and self protection, wehave to do it’.

Ask any security officer who is involved inMartial Arts how many roundhouse kicks theyhave used at work over the last year, in fact,ask any security officer at all how many of anykind of kick they’ve used in the last year. I’dsuggest that for all but those in the ‘fight everynight’ pubs and clubs the answer will be lessthan three. Yet time is taken, practice is doneand participants of classes and seminars alldevelop their skills at roundhouse kicking.

What does happen is that participants get thefeeling of hitting a hard, low roundhouse kickand feel that they are ready for action (whichdoes in itself have some inherent psychologicalvalue), however, in actuality, front kick is ofinfinitely more value.

Then there’s the other statement I can imaginepeople saying – ‘when we enter the fight, we’lldecide what techniques we are going to use inparticular situations’. Sorry, you’re not going tobe able to think of your own name, never minddecide whether the situation is environmentallyfriendly enough for one particular technique.

The purpose of this particular piece is not toupset or offend people, but to highlight the needfor those interested in the combat applicationof Karate to examine the techniques from theusual perspectives, base meaning, entry, exit,responses, stopped technique, etc., but alsofrom the perspective of environmental factors,where is the technique going to be used, andwhat are the limitations on it’s use within thisenvironment.

When we take all of these into considerationwe can then make a better decision as to wetherwe are teaching techniques because we alwayshave, or because they are genuinely useful tothe people who place their faith in us asteachers.


Karate’s history: Is it a thing of the past?By Iain Abernethy

Is an understanding of the history of karateimportant? Or is it an irrelevant distraction from

the pursuit of combative efficiency? Perhaps it canbe both? As I see it “history” can be a force for eitherprogress or stagnation and in this article I wouldlike to talk about a number of issues relating tokarate’s history and how that may effect ourapproach to the art today.

Those who are familiar with my previous articleswill know that I draw a distinction between“pragmatists” and “historians”. An historian wouldbe someone who is interested in how the martialarts were practised in the past. Historical accuracywould be their primary concern. Conversely, apragmatist is someone who wants to make themartial arts as efficient as possible in today’s world.Combative effectiveness would be their primaryconcern. Although I find the history of the martialarts to be of great importance, I would neverthelessclass myself as a pragmatist as I always placecombative efficacy above adherence to thepractises of history.

My personal identification as a pragmatist maysurprise some due to the heavy emphasis I placeon traditional kata. However, kata is part of mypractise precisely because it serves my aims as apragmatist. I don’t practise kata for historical interestor to “remain true to tradition”. I practise kata andbunkai because of my interest in their combativeapplication.

When we begin our martial practise we are taughtthe system of our teachers. As time passes, weshould begin to discriminate and decide whataspects of that teaching we wish to keep as is,reinterpret, and which aspect we will totally drop.This is the “shuhari” process and I talked about thatprocess in greater detail in my “Styles: Are TheyKilling Karate?” article in a previous edition of MAI.

As part of my own martial development, there arepractises that I have dropped. For example, in mydojo we do no one-step, three-step or five-stepsparring. It matters little to me that these werepractises passed onto me. It also matters little tome that that such practises could be considered“traditional” (although I would personally dispute thatdefinition) or of historical importance. It is myexperience that such practises do not lead tocombative efficiency – indeed they get in the wayof it by introducing many falsehoods – and hence Ihave not kept them as part of my practise.

I can assure you that had I found kata and bunkai(kata application) to be of little combative value, Iwould also have dropped it without hesitation. I alsofully support those people who have not found valuein kata and have hence dropped it from theirpractise. However, it has been my personalexperience that kata has had a lot to offer and henceit is central to what I do. I’ll reiterate that kata iscentral to what I do, not because it is “historical” or

Jissenmag.com - 81

“traditional”, but because it has proven valuable tome and my students for its combative value.

Kata was something taught to me as part of myinitial martial study. As time passed, I endeavouredto understand kata in greater depth. The more Istudied kata, the more combative value I found inthem. Kata provided a syllabus and a structure tothe physical “self-protection” or “civilian combative”aspects of my study and teaching. I found kata andbunkai (kata application) to be a very valuable partof my practise and teaching; so I invested more timeto its study and practise.

As part of my study of kata, it was important that Iunderstood the process of its development. I neededto appreciate, what kata was originally created forand how kata practice and the kata themselves havedeveloped over time. I found that kata was originallya method of ensuring information relevant to civiliancombat was preserved and passed on through thegenerations. Kata was then reinterpreted into a veryformal karateka vs. karateka affair in the early 1900s.

(I’ve written about this elsewhere and would askanyone interested in this to checkout previousarticles or the ar ticles section of IainAbernethy.com). So for me to find value in kata, Ineeded to be aware of these historical changes soI could strip them out in order to achieve thecombative efficiency that I sought. Even though Iam a pragmatist, an understanding of history wasdefinitely needed to achieve that pragmatism whenit came to kata and bunkai. All of this brings us to avery important distinction.

I believe my approach to kata and bunkai to beinline with the historical information available to us,and I also believe it to be combatively functional.But can I say that the specifics of the bunkai I teachare exactly the same as the combative techniquesthat gave rise to the kata in the first instance?

In a small number of cases – where we havespecific references to certain motions i.e. an arm-bar in Naihanchi and the double leg pick up in Passai(both referenced in Funakoshi’s early writing) – theanswer would be “Yes”. But in the majority of cases,I could not be certain that my bunkai is the same asthe originator’s bunkai; because that information isnot available to us. I can be certain that the preceptsthat gave birth to that bunkai are the same; forexample the fact that the angle in kata representsthe angle you are in relationship to the opponent isreferenced in the wrings of both Mabuni and Motobu.So I would expect that when addressing the sameproblem (civilian conflict), through the studying the

same solution (kata) via a common set of principles,that the end results would be similar. But we cannever be certain that they would be exactly the same.Back to the important distinction: For an historian –who is interested in the specifics of how things aredone in the past – this is a problem as there is nofirm historical certainty. But as a pragmatist, itmatters little if the bunkai being practised is“historically pure” or not. All that matters is that itworks.

The evidence is not there for the historian to drawcertain conclusions on the specifics of bunkai. Wecan rule things out though, because although theinformation may not be there to confirm specifics,the evidence may be there to rule things out. Thefact remains though that the historian is reliant onhistorical information for validity. The pragmatist,however, can check their conclusions in live trainingand hence the validity can easily be confirmed ordenied. It’s not adherence to the past that we shouldbe seeking, but adherence to what works. After all,that was the process adopted in the past! More onthat later.

Before we move on with this discussion, its worthpointing out to those who feel pragmatic bunkai is a“modern falsehood” (and they are a few of themabout), that there is not the historical evidence tosupport their view that kata is about other karatekapatiently waiting on the eight cardinal compasspoints to launch their oi-zuki on cue … and not amoment before!

There is some relatively modern writing thatespouses that view to be sure, but there is nothingto suggest such practises were part of karate beforeit reached the shores of mainland Japan. There is


however evidence to say such practises were notpart of karate before this time. So not only doeschoreographed karateka vs. karate bunkai not workpractically, there is little to support it historically aswell.

The key point I wish to make here is that, in myview as a pragmatist, we should always putpragmatism ahead of adherence to either historicaldogma or pseudo-historical dogma. There is valuein history in so far as it helps us understand ourfoundations, but we should be building upon thesefoundations and measuring by effect, not perceived“historical accuracy”. Are we martial artists orhistorical battle re-enactors? Do we want to know ifour skills are valid today? Or if they would have beenvalid in a past age?

To my way of thinking being “traditional” is not aboutrigidly sticking to historical dogma, it is aboutpursuing what has always been pursued (well asidefrom the last few decades or so). When we takewhat has been passed onto us and do all we can toensure ever increasing combative efficiency throughinformation gathering, testing and refinement, weare walking the path that the past masters walkedand it is then that we are being traditional. We shouldnot get “stuck in the past” as one thing thateverything is the past has in common is that it is nolonger current. Karate will die if we place too greatan emphasis on history.

Do we stick to something we know to be lessefficient because it is “historical”? Now an historianor “battle re-enactor” may well do that. But as amodern martial artist who wants useable skills thatwould seem to be a bizarre and very tenuousposition to take. And yet we see it all the time.

I’ve lost count of the times when “traditional martialartists” reject obviously effective methods on thebasis that “it’s not traditional”, “it’s not what they didin the past”, “it’s not what master so and so originallytaught” or “it’s not how my ‘style’ does it”. These areall examples of past history being placed ahead offunctionality. And, perhaps paradoxically, it is notwhat the old masters themselves did!

Gichin Funakoshi (founder of Shotokan Karate) in“Karate-Do: My way if life” said of his two mainteachers, “Both Azato and his good friend Itosushared at least one quality of greatness: Theysuffered from no petty jealousy of other masters.They would present me to other masters of theiracquaintance, urging me to learn from each thetechniques at which they excelled.” So we can seethat Azato, Itosu and Funakoshi were keen on the

idea of seeking the best methods out there, asopposed to rigidly sticking to the teachings of anyone master or method.

The Okinawan masters did not preserve theirnative arts or the Chinese systems; they meldedthem together and tried to make them better. Indeedif you look at what happened, not one generationkept things exactly the same as they were passedonto them. They all took what was taught to themand tried to make it better. That’s how all the variousstyles evolved in the first place! Not a single one ofthe masters of the classical generation took whatthey were taught and passed it on totally unalteredwithout revision, subtraction or addition.

To again quote Funakoshi from “Karate-Do: Myway of life”, “Times change, the world changes, andobviously the martial arts must change too.” In thesame section Funakoshi talks about the changesto karate during his own lifetime. Change istraditional!

This idea of things being passed on without changeover endless generations is a pure myth. I don’t wantto get into this too much, but I feel the notion ofthings remaining historically fixed only really takesoff when you are no longer measuring by effect –and things have warped so much that effectivenessis being lost – that you need a new datum by whichto measure “improvement”. So an arbitrary“standard” is set – which is justified with the myth ofbeing “traditional” or “historically pure” – and thenwe are then no longer perusing what the mastersoriginally sought, but instead have “deified” anempty and hollow shell.

Let me make totally clear that I am in no way sayingthe karate that has been given to us should not bevalued or respected. Quite the contrary! It’s greatinformation that saves us from having to start fromscratch. As in all fields of human endeavour, whatis passed on to us and what we don’t need to“rediscover” provides us with a base on which tobuild. Without the work of those who came before,we would not have that invaluable base! We shouldthen build on that base to hopefully provide a betterbase of the next generation.

When we see “history” as something that we mustrigidly adhere to, we kill all progress. Imagine ifscientists, inventors, doctors, etc. all decided thatwhat was passed onto them should be rigidlypreserved instead of being used as a base of furtherprogress? Civilisation would stall, perhaps evenstart to slide backwards.

It is my view that we betray the work of the past

Jissenmag.com - 83

masters and we dishonour it when we say it shouldnever be altered. Because when we do that, weensure karate’s stagnation and demise and wecontribute to the death of the art that the pastmasters worked so hard to create and develop. Wehonour the past most when we use it as a basefrom which to learn and from which we can do ourbest to further advance the art.

One very important point is that not everything willneed to be revised or developed. We have to becareful to avoid change for change’s sake in orderto provide the illusion of progress. If certain aspectsof what has been passed on are working fine asthey are, then of course we should keep them asthey are (while simultaneously accepting that futuregenerations may disagree and change it furtherdown the line). We should concentrate our effortson the areas where we feel we have the informationand experience to make genuine improvements. Soit’s far from being all or nothing.

I do get people (both traditionalists and modernists)writing to me to object that I’m not being consistent!The modernists generally like the pragmatism ofwhat I do, but they don’t like, or get confused by thefact that I place a heavy emphasis on kata. Thetraditionalists on the other hand, like that fact that Ivalue kata, but get upset when I spar differently (i.e.holistically) and reject things like three-step sparring.They see it as being all or nothing. The traditionalistsin particular get upset when I will agree with a pastmaster on one point, but disagree with them onanother. To their minds, this is being “inconsistent”.But I don’t see it that way. I don’t have to accept thepast entirely or reject it entirely. I also don’t have toagree with the past masters (or anyone else for thatmatter) entirely or disagree with them entirely. It’san issue by issue, technique by technique, andpractice by practise affair. It’s a matter of taking whatworks for me and rejecting what does not work forme. It’s simply a matter of choosing pragmatism overhistorical dogma.

As I frequently say at the seminars, there are twovery common errors when it comes to the traditionalmartial arts:

Error 1 – Thinking that the old master goteverything right (as the more blinkered traditionalistsare prone to do).

Error 2 – Thinking that the old masters goteverything wrong (as the more blinkered modernistsare prone to do).

The truth, as is so often the case, is found between

the two extremes. History has passed on someamazingly effective things, but not everythingpassed on is amazingly effective. We need to bediscriminate and examine all that has been passedon without wholesale acceptance or rejection.

I’m very lucky that I get to spend a lot of my timetravelling the globe and swapping ideas with othermartial artists. What I see is a growing number ofkarateka who are honouring their historical rootsby studying them in-depth, not in order to acquireknowledge for knowledge’s sake, but to ensure totalrelevance to the modern world and to ensure thegrowth of the art. This leads to a form of karate thatis living and vibrant and has a bright future. However,those karateka who choose to be totally bound bythe past – through a misguided sense of “tradition”– will cause their karate to stagnate and become athing of the past. The irony of course is that theyare not being truly traditional when they do that!

Karate has a strong history that all karateka,regardless of preferred approach, should be veryproud of. However, I would say that looking to thepast only had value when we use that informationto take us forward into the future.

Jissenmag.com - 85

Your Website on JissenMag.com!This page of the magazine is used to list all the websites where readers can download Jissen. Websites can use thismagazine as an attraction and service for visitors (so long as no charge is made for it). If you have uploaded this issue toyour website, and intend to also make future issues of Jissen available, please let us know and we’ll add a link to your sitefrom Jissenmag.com and we will also list your website here. You’re helping spread the word on the magazine and pragmaticmartial arts, so we’ll help spread the word about your website!

All we need from you is your web-address, the url of the page where Jissen is hosted, a very brief description of your site(12 words max) and a contact email address.

As a host of the magazine, you’ll be among the very first people to be sent each issue. It is our intention that you’ll be sentthe magazine at least one week before anyone else so you have time to upload it to your site.

Please make the magazine available to visitors to your site, email us the details ([email protected]), and thenwe’ll get you added to the website and this page! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

If you’d like to contribute to Jissen, please send us an email with an outline of your article (not the article) and if we think it issomething our readers will be interested in we’ll ask to see the full article. One of the main aims of this magazine is to give aplatform to all martial artists. It does not matter what grade you hold, what arts you practise, or how well known you are at themoment. If you’ve got something to share, we’d like to help you. You will always retain the copyright of your work and we do notrequire any form of exclusivity. Also, as a way of thanking you for sharing your knowledge, all contributors will qualify for acompletely free half-page advert which you can use to promote your group, website, or even any products you have produced.

Want to write for Jissen ?

iainabernethy.comrakeshpatel.comgenjitsu.co.ukkaratemand.dkraynerslanetkd.comrivervalleymartialarts.comimacusa.comchristianmartialartscouncil.combluerivermartialarts.orgscottishkaishinwadokai.co.ukdunbarselfdefence.comtipsarchive.inforska.co.ukkalkwarf.cominstytutbuokan.plnagashi-shukokai-karate.co.ukredsunkarate.org.ukpractical-martial-arts.co.ukguinnmartialarts.comdonwell-karate.orgeskk.co.uk

samuraikaratecornwall.co.uksanchin-ryukarate.co.ukfightingforms.netnorthwoodtkd.comshotokan.dkkaratekit.co.ukewrk.co.uksandokai.co.uktaishodo.co.ukteesside-shukokai.co.ukfulwellkarate.co.ukblog.fudoshinkarate.comhemeltkd.co.uknortondojo.co.ukhinnerup-karate.dkfreedommartialarts.netmushinkarate.comBlack-Ronin.combeladiri.co.nrmaec.com.audakota dragon defense

Want to advertise in Jissen ?Please visit the “about us” section of www.jissenmag.com for more details, and then contact us via the details listed on the“contact us” page. We’ll quickly get back to you with all the information you need & answer any questions you may have.

Issue 7 - Asian Martial Arts of Medina

Documents

Transcript of Issue 7 - Asian Martial Arts of Medina