So I write about knives, do I know anything about using them? I'm sure many of the modern textbook experts never stepped onto a dojo floor or fencing strip. Here is a long answer to a short question. Maybe some of the forum armchair experts have spent as much time training as I have but I doubt it.
Influences on the Shiroi Kage (White Shadow) Style of knife fighting.
In response to a few inquiries I have put together this short bio. The influences on my knife work come from studying Western stylists like John Steyers, William Fairbairn and William Cassidy. I have read Biddle and Rex Applegate but they were less influential. My entries into an attack are almost always straight-in because it is the shortest distance, ie the quickest way in. Straight-in is also the best way to unbalance your opponent mentally and physically. I have used attacks along chords, using rapier style techniques like punta mandritta or punta reverso, still linear but at an angle. Admittedly moving to an outside line places you in a safer position, assuming that you make it past the point of the attacker's knife/sword, and you can maintain a solid base and balance. Going to the outside line requires quicker reflexes, more time, and under pressure may not work as well. If you move too early a good martialist can track your movement, shortcut your techniques, and hit/cut you.
I also use some circular techniques that probably come from my study of Michael Echanis' two books on knife fighting and knife defense. Circular moves, and some of the movement along chords, also come from Robert Cook Sensei and Shihan Bruce Juchnik of Kosho Kempo karate. Their Kuntau-Silat-based knife work involves a lot of weaving in and out of an attack. This is where most of my hand movements derive from, including soft blocks, slapping parries, and trapping. The Kuntau slapping parries that I use are a simple means of redirecting my attacker's knife-hand off-line, similar to a fencer’s beat attack. From Maestro Steve Wilson I learned something of fencing and rapier work, fencing again being linear and rapier being more circular. I have successfully used passatta soto and in-quartata moves in knife sparring. Although by no means do I consider myself even semi-skilled at fencing. Through reading many of the rapier and small sword manuals of the masters I feel I have gained a better understanding of angles, timing and distance! I even have adopted the four primary rapier stances of Prime, Seconde, Terce, and Quarta to my knife work. One of my favorite stances being the hanging guard from Irish fencing legend, and scoundrel, Donald McBane.
My daughter and I trained in a hard style karate called GoJu ryu (our base art) for years and we were introduced to bits of jujutsu, judo, Indonesian and Filipino knife styles. I have also studied Muso Shinden ryu Iaido, some of Saruta sensei's Shizen batto do, as well as studying Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (YSR) for over 12 years. So you can see that a lot of different influences seep in. Most of my conceptual martial arts philosophy; my understanding of timing, baiting, angles, etc are from Yagyu Shinkage Ryu. My penchant for acting second, in response to an attack instead of initiating one, definitely comes from YSR. Classic texts by Yagyu Muneyoshi, Miyamoto Musashi, and Takuan Soho also provided me with many spiritual and mental insights.
Big knife fighting techniques, i.e Bowie and Arkansas Toothpick, were influenced by James Keating, Dwight McLemore, and Pete Kautz. So many hours spent on learning and reading!
Hopefully this brief article provides an interesting overview of where my understanding of knife-work comes from. I have to warn you that nobody’s empty-hand techniques, including ours, are foolproof against an edged weapon attack! Knife defense, and/or counter-offense, are best learned from weapons-based schools, not empty-hand schools. Book-learning can only take you so far. Very few martial arts offer what I would consider reliable, life-saving techniques against a knife attack. That is why I have also taken courses in handgun and long arms. If anything, some of the "martial Arts" schools provided me with a good list of "what not to do" and a starting point from which I began my own journey.
david
Influences on the Shiroi Kage (White Shadow) Style of knife fighting.
In response to a few inquiries I have put together this short bio. The influences on my knife work come from studying Western stylists like John Steyers, William Fairbairn and William Cassidy. I have read Biddle and Rex Applegate but they were less influential. My entries into an attack are almost always straight-in because it is the shortest distance, ie the quickest way in. Straight-in is also the best way to unbalance your opponent mentally and physically. I have used attacks along chords, using rapier style techniques like punta mandritta or punta reverso, still linear but at an angle. Admittedly moving to an outside line places you in a safer position, assuming that you make it past the point of the attacker's knife/sword, and you can maintain a solid base and balance. Going to the outside line requires quicker reflexes, more time, and under pressure may not work as well. If you move too early a good martialist can track your movement, shortcut your techniques, and hit/cut you.
I also use some circular techniques that probably come from my study of Michael Echanis' two books on knife fighting and knife defense. Circular moves, and some of the movement along chords, also come from Robert Cook Sensei and Shihan Bruce Juchnik of Kosho Kempo karate. Their Kuntau-Silat-based knife work involves a lot of weaving in and out of an attack. This is where most of my hand movements derive from, including soft blocks, slapping parries, and trapping. The Kuntau slapping parries that I use are a simple means of redirecting my attacker's knife-hand off-line, similar to a fencer’s beat attack. From Maestro Steve Wilson I learned something of fencing and rapier work, fencing again being linear and rapier being more circular. I have successfully used passatta soto and in-quartata moves in knife sparring. Although by no means do I consider myself even semi-skilled at fencing. Through reading many of the rapier and small sword manuals of the masters I feel I have gained a better understanding of angles, timing and distance! I even have adopted the four primary rapier stances of Prime, Seconde, Terce, and Quarta to my knife work. One of my favorite stances being the hanging guard from Irish fencing legend, and scoundrel, Donald McBane.
My daughter and I trained in a hard style karate called GoJu ryu (our base art) for years and we were introduced to bits of jujutsu, judo, Indonesian and Filipino knife styles. I have also studied Muso Shinden ryu Iaido, some of Saruta sensei's Shizen batto do, as well as studying Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (YSR) for over 12 years. So you can see that a lot of different influences seep in. Most of my conceptual martial arts philosophy; my understanding of timing, baiting, angles, etc are from Yagyu Shinkage Ryu. My penchant for acting second, in response to an attack instead of initiating one, definitely comes from YSR. Classic texts by Yagyu Muneyoshi, Miyamoto Musashi, and Takuan Soho also provided me with many spiritual and mental insights.
Big knife fighting techniques, i.e Bowie and Arkansas Toothpick, were influenced by James Keating, Dwight McLemore, and Pete Kautz. So many hours spent on learning and reading!
Hopefully this brief article provides an interesting overview of where my understanding of knife-work comes from. I have to warn you that nobody’s empty-hand techniques, including ours, are foolproof against an edged weapon attack! Knife defense, and/or counter-offense, are best learned from weapons-based schools, not empty-hand schools. Book-learning can only take you so far. Very few martial arts offer what I would consider reliable, life-saving techniques against a knife attack. That is why I have also taken courses in handgun and long arms. If anything, some of the "martial Arts" schools provided me with a good list of "what not to do" and a starting point from which I began my own journey.
david
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