jissen - issue 4

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EDITORIALISSUE 4 - Winter 2009

Welcome to the fourth edition ofJissen! The main announcement isthat JissenMag.com is now live!The magazine’s large readershipand ever growing profile means thatJissen now needs a dedicatedwebsite. On the new website youcan download all the back issuesand get your free subscription! Bysubscribing you’ll automatically besent an email as soon as the nextissue is available for download fromJissenMag.com and all the other websites that host the magazine.Please be sure to check out the website and let us know yourthoughts.

In this issue you’ll find the usual thought provoking mix of pragmatism,true traditionalism, questioning of “established facts” and cutting edgemartial arts. The fact that we are totally independent of any group orgoverning body, and that we are not motivated by financialconsiderations, means that all contributors to Jissen are totally freeto express their views. We will always give a platform to well writtenarticles, regardless of how “controversial” or “out of step with themainstream” they may be considered. With that in mind, I’d ask youto read through this issue’s offerings and query if an article thatquestions what many see as the core philosophies of the martialarts would find a platform elsewhere? What about an article thatgraphically discuss the realties of knife wounds? What about an articlethat questions the emphasis martial artists place on traditionalweaponry? What about an article that suggests we must use “badlanguage” in the dojo? And which other martial arts magazine wouldpublish an article discussing in detail how a street gang operated?

Don’t get me wrong, there are many other great magazines out thereand they provide a superb service to the martial arts community.However, I think we can agree that most other magazines would feelvery uncomfortable publishing this kind of material. And there is nodoubt there is some wisdom in that as many readers don’t reallywant the reality of violence. Nor do they want their views and whatthey have been taught called into question. That’s not the readershipwe are catering for. The tens of thousands of downloads we aregetting tells us that are many martial artists out there who want the“established wisdom” to be challenged and who also wantuncensored and uncompromising information. And that’s what weare committed to bringing you.

Thank you all for supporting this publication and helping it to grow. Ifyou know of fellow martial artists who would also be interested inwhat we have to offer, please let them know about us! Be sure tocheckout the new website, enjoy this issue, and we’ll be back in thespring with more!

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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!

Martial Arts Scepticism: Philosophy and Ancient Wisdom by Jamie Clubb

The Myth of the Quick Kill by Rev. Arthur Chenevey

Getting to The Root of it All by Eric Parsons

The Four Stages of Man by Tony Somers

Kushanku Kata: History & Application by Iain Abernethy

Whatever Happened to “Rock Kata”? by Brian P. Struchtemeyer

Bassai Bunkai by Mark A. Cook (aka “Oldman”)

Tales of a Street Gang by Keith Le Bihan

Adaptable Karate: The 3 stages of kata analysis: Part 2 by Chris Denwood

The Way of Kata: Part 4 by Kris Wilder & Lawrence Kane

Forearmed for Combat: Strengthening and Hardening the Forearms by Robert T. Tuohey

Creating Kata: Historical Precedents by Dave Nielsen

Words by J. W. Titchen

The Bunkai of Basics: Part 2 by Matthew Miller

Taekwon-do’s Black Holeby Stuart Anslow

The Little Black Book of Violence by Kris Wilder & Lawrence Kane

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Issue 4 Contents

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Philosophy and martial arts have beenassociated with each other since… well, not

really as long as we would like to think. As muchas we want to believe that all the great warriorsof old were virtuous and wise sages, it seemshighly unlikely. Systems of truly efficient combatare developed by, or derived from, the methodsof those who are truly proficient at violence. It isas simple and straightforward as that. The martialartists who have made the biggest tremors in themartial arts community are those who have testedand applied their skills in real life violence or, atleast, those who have trained under others whohave this level of experience. The true roots ofmartial arts are found in fighters, be they soldiers,pugilists, street brawlers or people involved insecurity, who passed their knowledge onto others.The philosophy came later and the esoteric and“character building” stuff came much later.

If we look back further than the twentieth centuryit is difficult to find many texts that see philosophyas an integral part of physical martial arts training.There is nothing, at least on the surface, thatproves that famous literature like Sun Tzu’s “TheArt of War” or Miyamoto Musashi’s “The Book ofFive Rings” is about anything else other thanefficient combat strategy.

Tzu’s work, as the title implies, is a treatise onwaging war, perhaps the oldest in existence,where he states his most famous sentence, “Allwarfare is based on deception.” That early line,which is the eighteenth paragraph of chapter onein most translations, should have been a deadgiveaway: this is not a discussion on the virtuesof love and peace.

Likewise the proof that Musashi was a greatphilosopher is not found in his most famous text,

“The Book of Five Rings”. Like Tzu’s work thistreatise deals with combat in an efficient,pragmatic and, arguably, amoral manner. It is abook that describes the best strategies Musashifound worked in the practice of Kenjutsu,Japanese sword-fighting. Musashi apparently wasalso a keen calligrapher. So what? Hitler liked topaint and it didn’t mean he was a peaceful or“spiritual” person. Musashi, it would appear, wasanything but a peaceful person. From an earlyage he wanted to fight, and throughout his life hewould use any means necessary to win, most ofwhich involved outright deception. ome historianshave regarded him more as a bully than thearchetypical figure of samurai virtue. Before hisdeath Musashi wrote “Dokkodo”, which is perhapsthe closest we have to his life philosophy.However, don’t expect to find a text that speaksdeeply about loving your fellow human beings orattaining spiritual enlightenment. The 21 preceptsfor self-discipline contained within the text aremore in line with the selfish ideologies of AynRand or Friedrich Nietzsche than an altruisticcode of ethics.

It is fair to argue that the principles containedwithin both “The Art of War” and “The Book of

Martial Arts Scepticism:Philosophy and Ancient Wisdom

by Jamie Clubb

“Prior to the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese martial arts had one goal, pure and simple: winningconfrontations through intimidation, the use of weapons, or the use of one’s fists…Chinese martial artswere considered to be a physical skill, a manual skill; they were not linked to any esoteric philosophy,nor were they viewed as a from of character development, religious practice, or spiritual development.”- “Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey”, Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo

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Five Rings” has stood the test of time, but thereis always the danger of reading too deep into whathas been written or, as is too often the case,twisting the meanings and principles in the textto correspond with one’s own beliefs and ideas.This is avoided when you keep in mind the clearreasons why both texts were written; theirhistorical context and their target readership. Inshort: why, when and for whom. So, Musashi’sseventeenth century manual on Japanese swordfighting strategies for pupils of his samurai schoolmight share some interesting parallels with theruthless attitude taken by a 1980s yuppie whenhe attacked the stock market, but I don’t think itis the best text for advising an early twenty-firstcentury suburbanite how to contribute towards amore caring community.

Readership, now that’s another point worthremembering when we consult ancient texts.Widespread literacy is a modern phenomenonand this brings us onto the reason why we havegreat historical philosophical martial arts writers.Philosophers were learned people. They couldwrite. Therefore it is not surprising that theirinterpretations of the martial arts are the mostnumerous. They could leave a legacy where theirilliterate contemporaries could not. It has onlybeen since the early 1990s that the “True Crime”subgenre of factual books has spawned dozensof ghost-written autobiographies that detail the“philosophies” of real fighters. Such biographiesvary from earlier works where violent men wereseemingly repentant about their violent lives tothose who see violence as a type of celebratoryculture.

There are modern exceptions to the rule,perhaps even pioneers, like the realistic martialartist/doorman Geoff Thompson, who is also alegitimate writer and motivational philosopher.Geoff Thompson, in many ways, is a link to allthese sides of the martial arts and gives us aglimpse of what the scholarly martial artspioneers were like and how they developed intheir respective journeys. He was a martial artistfirst who decided to test his skills in a real-lifeenvironment. He became a doorman, a personwho would face the realities of fighting. Thelessons he learnt were brought back to his martialarts classes. However, once the “fight outside ofa chip shop” area was covered thoroughly andthe physical limitations were established, it was

only natural for the great martial artist to pursueother attributes that had been developed as bi-products through his intensive trainingexperiments. These attributes moved furtheraway from the visceral area of last resort civilianself-defence and more into developing character.Although Geoff Thompson has maintained hisroots in “hard skills” it also important to rememberthat he always had a literate soul. He wrote playsat home and he wrote his autobiography “sittingon the toilet” when he worked at a factory. Heworked as a nightclub bouncer, but even in those“blood and snot” days, as he gradually went froma martial arts denier to martial arts sceptic, hecouldn’t help but notice the poetry in the languageof the door and the culture of the door. With thisin mind, it is little surprising that as GeoffThompson changed there were cer tainprinciples, deep within him, that were alwaysgoing to emerge.

However, it is with an early twentieth centuryexample of the fighting philosopher thathistorians like Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guosay that “for better or worse” our ideas relatingto martial arts religious philosophy have beenshaped.

Sun Lu Tang was both a highly respectedmartial arts fighter and an esteemed scholar. Hewas also a follower of Taoism and was able tosynergise his knowledge of the three greatschools of internal martial arts training with hisreligious and philosophical training. Sun had athorough education in philosophy and taught italongside the martial arts. His books made linksbetween the martial arts and Taoist cosmology.Furthermore, as China entered a new more openand modern phase that would make martial artsmore accessible to the general public, Sun

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promoted the concept of practicing martial artsfor health reasons rather than combat.

This gave birth to the modern idea of Tai ChiChuan, Pakua and Hsing-I being the “new age”systems for wellbeing, often reinforced withpseudoscientific and superstitious ideas relatingto the cultivation of mystical energy. There is noempirical historical evidence to prove that Tai ChiChuan or any of the other internal arts have theirroots in anything more mystical thanstraightforward combat efficiency.

There are many different reasons why the Asianmartial arts became entwined with religion andphilosophy, but a major factor has to be Chinaand Japan’s conscious decision to modernize.This modernization, representative of theJapanese change to “Do” from “Jutsu” in theirmartial arts, meant throwing off the old image oftheir feudalistic past. The arts’ central message,one that would be embraced by the westthroughout the twentieth century, would be aboutspirituality, health and other non-combatactivities. Such areas were the zone ofphilosophy, and it was the philosophers whopushed it. Sun Lu Tang in China and UeshibaMorhei, the founder of Aikido, in Japan, leadthese efforts. It was no coincidence that Judowas founded by a man who had a high rankingcareer in the Japanese education system.Education was the way to ensure martial artssurvival. If you could prove that martial arts wouldbe helpful to motivate and discipline the subjectsof a government then you could rely on thesupport instead of the oppression of thatgovernment. Martial academics led the way forbetter and for worse, for just as martial artsbecame more accessible, their objectivesbecame obscure and it let mysticism,

showmanship and outright charlatanism throughthe backdoor.

A point I have tried to make with this essay isthat great martial arts masters weren’t also greatscholars and philosophers and vice versa, it justso happened that the most influential martial artsteachers in the last one hundred years or so werealso scholars and philosophers. By way of a moremodern comparison the most famous martialartists in the latter part of the twentieth centuryand today also happen to be actors. It is just asludicrous to say that being a good actor is integralto being a proficient martial artist or fighter. Inboth examples we can see why the philosopherand actor have become successful martialartists. They are influential. They can appeal toa wider audience through their ability to articulateor perform. They might well be good martialartists, and this is in no way a slight on theirtechnical ability, but what has helped keep themnoticed is their ability to work another skill set.

Nevertheless, the philosophical martial artistbelief persists to this day. This belief is at theroot of something I have come to call the “By-Product Myth”. It is of no surprise that fictionalmartial arts media is the natural conveyor of thisidea - after all it was a martial arts novel thatstarted it all in the first place. Stanley E. Henningwrites in his article “Politically Correct Treatmentof Myths in Chinese Martial Arts” that the ideaChinese martial arts that descended from theShaolin Temple came from a novel writtenbetween 1904 and 1907 entitled “Travels of LaoCan”. Henning remarks that “there is noindication that it was ever a part of an earlieroral tradition”. After the novel there came thebook “Secrets of Shaolin Temple Boxing” writtenin 1915 by an unnamed author. This book is oftencited as the main source for the pseudo-historicbelief in the Shaolin Temple’s high level ofimportance in pre-twentieth century Chinesemartial arts. It didn’t take long for this myth to becompletely debunked by an outspoken nativeChinese martial artist and historian called TangHao, but it still spread to the West and via popularmedia was repeated enough times for wholeschools of martial arts to consider it a fact.

In conclusion, martial arts survived in the Eastdue to the fact that they became recognised bythose who taught and practiced them as a partof their cultural identity. This was also something

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oppressive governments and occupying powersrecognised and it is the reason why theysuppressed them. They survived throughadaption and taking advantage of the changingtimes. Those teachers who had skills outside ofmartial arts used these skills to ensure thesurvival of their arts, their legacy and, in manyinstances, their livelihood. This is anunderstandable reason why the philosophicalmartial artist became popular. However, there issomething else more fundamental than this. Intimes of peace martial arts teachers realise thelimitations inherent in violence. Furthermore,when their students don’t have the short term ofgoal of having to face violence, as a soldierwould, they become more preoccupied with otherless tangible battles. Martial arts are then turnedinto a positive activity. And with positive activitycomes a human desire to explore positivethinking. Philosophy is a natural strategy for thosewho fight intangible battles. With this in mind, Ido not believe it is wrong for a martial arts teacherto not only teach philosophy as part of hismethodology, but to also use martial artsanalogies. After all it makes for good andintelligent writing. However, what is imperative

is to understand where the two might not co-existand also where the analogies and metaphorsend. Some argue “Why stay in the forge?” Whyindeed, but when you have first looked to martialarts as a means for self-protection it is importantto make sure you go through that forge in thefirst place.

Photos in this article taken by Sonia Audhali

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The Myth of the Quick Killby Rev. Arthur Chenevey

If conflict is totally unavoidable, and we mustenter into battle, we must do so with absolute

resolve, holding back nothing. There is nodefense. There is no attack. The two entities arenot separate and distinct. On the contrary theybecome one thing—situationally correctproaction. As Kazuzo Kudo spoke: Do not thinkof attack and defense as two separate things.An attack will be a defense, and a defense mustbe an attack.

Within such a life and death confrontation, ourmind must surrender itself solely to the task athand, with no thoughts or considerations ofdeath, pain, injury, litigation or any otherconsequence. Our focus is not on the knife—beit ours or the enemy’s—or on what we plan ondoing with the knife or against the knife. Our focusis to engage in the necessary process neededto negate or neutralize the threat by any and allmeans, knowing when we must stop, neverrelinquishing this focus until we are far out andaway from this battle.

We must understand this before we can evenapproach this subject of knife and counter-knifework. Fundamentally, a knife is a simple tool—alever combined with a wedge. Being a lever arm,it is a force magnifier and the fine wedge (twoincline planes together) combined allows this toolto slide between molecules easily. It is,essentially, a lethal force tool.

We must understand all of the legalramifications, responsibilities, and technical

essences of this lethal force tool. It’s not amagical device. It is inanimate—not living—incapable of independent action. It is only aseffective as the human wielding it makes it. Wemust completely understand the structure of thetool and how to maximize this structure’s inherentuse. By thoroughly understanding the tool wenot only have a better idea about how to counterthe tool, but also how best to apply the device.

So folks, buckle your seat belt and here we go.I pondered long and hard about whether to dothis or not, but since there is so muchmisinformation, incorrect information, and make-believe information about knife defense and knifeoffense, I decided to offer clarity.

It’s not pretty, fancy or complicated. Let’sremember the simple version of Hick’s Law aswe proceed, which is about mastering a fewthings that work across the board, nothing extraor extraneous.

Mastering knife and counter-knife is not aboutbeing macho-bad or Billy-Bad, or some fantasysuper-antihero with ice water running throughour veins like Wolverine in a Marvel comic book.It’s actually quite simple, direct, straightforwardand as ugly as it gets. Killing up-close-and-personally with cold steel is as intimate as ahuman can get in battle.

An example of what I mean is copied directlyfrom my personal favorite military “Combatives”manual: the U.S. Army’s FM 21-150 (DODDocument, Published: 30SEP1992).

THE KNOWLEDGE OF SWORD TECHNIQUES…IS UNDESIRABLE IN THE MARTIAL ARTS.THINKING OF THE VARIOUS WAYS OF CUTTING SOMEONE DOWN CONFUSES THE MIND. —

Miyamoto Musashi, “Wind Chapter,” BOOK OF FIVE RINGS (William Scott Wilson, Trans., Kodansha Intnl., NY 2004)

READER BEWARE! THIS ARTICLE IS NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART. MATERIAL IS GRAFFICAND FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. THE AUTHOR AND PUBLISHERS ARE NOT

RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW ANYONE MAY USE OR INTERPRET THIS INFORMATION.

Important Note: All readers are encouraged to be aware of all appropriate local and national lawsrelating to self-defense, reasonable force, and the use of weaponry. All readers are also encouraged

to act in accordance with those laws.

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7-4. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS

Killing a sentry is completely different thankilling an enemy soldier while engaged ina firefight. It is a cold and calculated attackon a specific target. After observing a sentryfor hours, watching him eat or look at hiswife’s photo, an attachment is madebetween the stalker and the sentry.Nonetheless, the stalker must accomplishhis task efficiently and brutally. At suchclose quarters, the soldier literally feels thesentry fight for his life. The sights, sounds,and smells of this act are imprinted in thesoldier’s mind; it is an intensely personalexperience. A soldier who has removed asentry should be observed for signs ofunusual behavior for four to seven daysafter the act.

Addressing this issue of sentry removal withblade, while I don’t quite agree with thepracticality and feasibility of using this tool todispatch an enemy sentry, I do agree with theramifications a human soldier can potentiallysuffer from such an act up close.

Plainly, sentry removal with a blade is highlyimpractical and extremely difficult to pull off. Butwe see in the movies and on the television ourhero quietly and quickly disposing of enemyguards and bad-guys with a swift slash to thethroat, and the poor sap drops immediately,gurgling to a quick and easy death. Quick killslike this are reserved for the movies. If they occurat all they do so only as an exception, not as anorm. Let’s learn why.

Addressing the difficulty of sentry removal witha knife, first of all, it’s hard enough to breach asecured perimeter. Good security measures havesentries working in pairs, aided considerably byfixed positions as over-watch with electronicsecurity devices (motion and sound detectors,trip wires to claymores and flairs etc.). Not onlydo we need to get in good position in relation tothe sentry, close enough to grab, control andinsert the blade, we must do it alone, quietly andswiftly, totally undetected by any and all meansof security. If we manage to pull all of this off,now we must contend with our lone guard andhis human anatomy and physiology.

Say we were so silent, swift and stealthy to getthis close without the sentry being the least bitaware, once the assault is launched, the swiftmovement, alone, will now alert him to such anassault. Reflexively, he will turn to meet theattack. From there, the guard will resist violently,making a swift and silent kill highly improbable.We are now in an incredible struggle for life. Thiswill alert other security personnel on duty. Astruggle such as this will draw attention fromother enemy personnel mulling about.

Elaborate silenced weapons systems havebeen devised for sentry removal or quiet quickkills needed in the military. These integratedsilenced firearms are built for this purpose.

Dispatching an enemy up-close-and-personalwith a blade is possible when the enemystumbles into our hide and we are ready for hisapproach. Sometimes a shot may be heard, butthe gurgling grunts and groans combined with

MY FAVORITE, ALL-PURPOSE KNIFE (IF I CAN CARRY ONLY ONE) ONTARIO KNIFE COMPANY’S BOLO, HIGH CARBON STEEL

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thrashing around and violent dynamics of twohumans fighting for life, will not.

We must first look at the common causes ofdeath from the blade are: massive hemorrhaging(exsanguinations), air embolism from a puncture,suffocation caused by bleeding into the air-way,collapsed lung not immediately ventilated(pneumothorax) and infection. Punctures to themid-brain or C-3/C-4 vertebrate are just notcommon. Quick kills with a knife are highlyimprobable.

Quick incapacitations are also difficult tofacilitate against a dedicated combatant. If thebrain stem and motor strips are not destroyed,there will not be a quick incapacitation from theknife. People have had a variety of things piercetheir skull and become lodged in the cortex awayfrom the mid-brain and have survived very well,with full recovery.

Looking at the common kinds of physicalwounds we get from a blade up close, I will beusing the kind of damage received from a seveninch double-edged wasp-shaped “dagger” as our“fighting” knife for this article. Such a weapon inskilled hands by its design, is incapable ofgenerating a quick kill in a human being unless(as already mentioned) one can plunge it directlyinto the medulla oblongata (brain stem)—hiltdeep or puncture into and destroy the brain’smotor strip (positioned inside the skull, near

where the ears are located for an externalreference. The brain stem is partially exposed atthe back of the head, at the base of the occipitalplate. However, it’s a very small target, the headmoves quite a bit and quickly, so it is not a viabletarget for which to aim.

Accessing human arterial tissue is also muchmore difficult than people imagine. Mother Naturebuilt the human body quite well, actually. Arteriesare deep, near bone, under lots of skin andmuscle, and in young people and healthy people,flexible. Even in the neck, the carotids are notthat easily reached and are not in the front, butalong the sides of the next. The Jugular vein,located somewhat in the front of the neck, is avein, and it has a tendency to clot. A deep cut tothis area creates a lot of damage and a lot ofbleeding, but not a quick, silent death.

When an artery is completely severed by a niceclean blade, this fully severed artery still withinthe body will often automatically seal itself shutfrom surrounding visceral pressure. A full grownmale subject does not bleed out as quickly asmany imagine, especially from a single knifepuncture from a sharp knife.

Surrounding internal pressure will seal aroundthe blade, which actually keeps the wound frombleeding profusely. If the artery is nicked orpunctured, and the knife withdrawn abruptly, thistype of withdrawal can create additional damage

THE FOLLOWING SCARS ARE FROM WOUNDS RECEIVEDIN 1971, CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE FROM A SINGLEENEMY. THIS FIRST IS A DEEP GASH UPPER RIGHT

PECTORAL THAT, IN SPITE OF ITS DEPTH—TO THE RIB—IT DID NOT BLEED.

THIS IS A STAB FROM THE SAME “BAYONET” WIELDED BYTHE LEFT HAND OF THE ENEMY. IT IS POSITIONED AT MY

UPPER BACK, NEAR THE SCAPULA

to the surrounding tissue, and the wound willbleed profusely. It is difficult to withdraw a thin,sharp, metal blade out of a human torso, forexample, without using its inherent affinity forcutting to cut out from the thrust, which willgenerate more tissue damage and subsequentbleeding.

Regardless, one will lose consciousness beforewe will bleed out completely

We see in the action movies a man beingquickly dispatched from his throat being cut. LikeI mentioned above, there is no quick kill from aknife unless the brain stem or motor strips aredestroyed, which is highly improbable with a knife.

Cutting the throat to kill the man requires thatwe completely sever through at least the entireone half of the man’s neck to his spinal columnto access and cut the carotid artery. And it willstill be a bit before the man will loseconsciousness. There is another carotid intacton the other side still directing blood to the brain.In the mean time, the assailed can manage todispatch his assailant. Severely cutting into thefront of throat may cause the subject to suckblood into his lunges from the slice in his air-way, and panic. But the veins in the front of thethroat bleed with much less pressure pushingthe blood. Veins also are able to clot more quicklythan arteries. Unconsciousness from such a knifewound to the throat will not come immediatelywithout first some kind of a struggle.

In Washington DC, when I worked as a psychaid at one of the University Hospitals long ago,we had a man brought in alive, agitated, pacingaround like a caged animal who had severed hisown throat in the front quite substantially, severedhis own wrists and still had use of both hands.He even severed his ankles and was still able towalk. The wounds were rather deep and thebleeding had been controlled with pressurebandages alone. His clothing was soaked in hisblood, but he was still conscious and quitecapable of running, had he made up his mind todo so. We had to transfer him to a county hospitalfor administration reasons. But for a man with somany deep, self-inflicted knife wounds atseemingly vital areas with visible significant bloodloss, he was doing quite well—physically at least.

At this same hospital, we had a female attemptsuicide in the hospital. She had obtained a

scalpel, fixed herself a hot bath. While soakingin the warm tub, she stuck herself with the scalpelseveral times trying to cut the femoral artery. Shemanaged to dig around in her leg a bit and didnick the artery. We found her unconscious—notdead—soaking in a tub of her own blood. Shedid need blood transfusions, but she did not dieand her leg was not damaged too severely.

As a Safety Services Officer in the Mid-westUS, we had a horrible bar fight (a woman wasthe cause) that resulted in a man beingrepeatedly stabbed in the right inner thigh. Thefemoral artery was clipped several times. Thesurrounding soft tissue was badly mangled,however, from the repeated stabbings from arather large folder. Blood was every where, asthe two rolled around fighting in it. By the timethe two were separated, the man who hadstabbed the other, ran and tried to dispose ofthe weapon. The wounded man was able to standand walk around, momentarily.

The assailant was apprehended that night, andafter a years worth of court, the assailant wasconvicted for aggravated, attempted murder,receiving 17 years in prison. Interestinglyenough, the assailant was my neighbor. Thisidentification made it easier for us to “catch” him.

The victim survived but he had a long mentaland physical recovery. The knife’s repetitivestabbing to the inner thigh caused serious

THIS IS ANOTHER STAB RECEIVED ON THE LOWER BACK,JUST LEFT OF THE SPINAL COLUMN NEAR: L-3, L-4. THESTAB IS THE HORIZONTAL SCAR THE VERTICAL IS FROM

BACK SURGERY

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damage to his leg with chronic infections. But noone died.

The femoral and deep femoral arteries arelocated well within the leg structure near bone(femur bone)—not an easy access point. It takeswork to get it, as the above stories reveal.Repetitive blows with a knife will cause significantsoft tissue disruption, but not necessarilyincapacitation or death.

Looking to other arteries of the body, workingfrom top to bottom of the human subject, we havethe subclavian artery located at the neck/shoulder junction. We have the brachiocephalicartery, which is near the “notch” of the throat/chest juncture. Then we have the axillary arterydeep under the arm-pit, which becomes thebrachial artery riding along the humerous boneof the upper arm.

The really big artery is the aorta, the mainartery from which all others branch. As a childgrowing up on a farm in West Virginia, when webutchered pigs, we bled them not by cutting thethroat, but by inserting a long thin fillet blade downtheir “chest notch” to cut the aortic arch.

Cutting a man’s throat, having him collapsequickly without a peep, is strictly television andmovie occurrences. It doesn’t happen like that.How quickly a man will bleed out tounconsciousness, let alone completely, isdependent on the nature and severity of thewound and the biological uniqueness of theperson. There is no set time table one mayaccurately follow saying that, if I sever artery “A”this subject, if still, will bleed out in 3 minutes.

Under duress of battle, a peripheral knife woundmay actually bleed little if at all. Personally, I oncereceived a deep laceration from a knife,horizontal along my upper right chest that cut tothe rib, and it did not bleed until much later. Therewas no pain at all.

Accessing and destroying all of the essentialtendons responsible for articulating the limbsmean the wrist/hand ankle/foot must almost becompletely amputated.

A lot of theory has been written about thisprocedure of “defanging the snake.” When itactually comes to slashing types of knifeapplications to the human body, we mustunderstand that the one receiving the cuts isn’t

going to stand there and let Mr. Cutter proceed.If the receiver of the slashes has clothes on andaccessories like a watch or jewelry, these objectsprovide a physical barrier to the cuts. Clothingmay provide only a frail barrier, but it may providea substantial barrier if the material is leather orheavy multiple layers.

In addition, power cuts are needed to createthe kind of damage needed to the anterior wristarea. I don’t care how sharp a seven inch knifeis or smaller, power must be behind the knife tocut deeply. And it takes a lot of practice to executespecific, accurate power cuts to a small, rapidlymoving target under duress.

Precision, art-like executions of flowing knifeslashes, accessing these anterior wrist targets,

IN ALL, I RECEIVED TWO STABS TO MY BACK, ONE TOTHE INSIDE OF MY LEFT ARM EQUAL DISTANT FROM

ELBOW AND WRIST, A DEEP GASH HORIZONTAL ACROSSMY RIGHT LOWER TRICEPS, THIS BARELY VISIBLE ONE

TO MY L EFT UPPER FOREARM AND ANOTHERHORIZONTAL ACROSS THE LATERAL PORTION OF MY

LEFT THIGH. THESE LAST APPEAR ONLY AS THIN WHITELINES ON MY SKIN.

AS WE CAN SEE, SLASHES HEAL NICELY AND THERESOLUTION ON OUR CAMERA DOESN’T ALLOW ME TOPICK UP THE SCARS WITH DISTINCTION BECAUSE OF

HOW WELL THEY DID HEAL UP AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THIS INCIDENT AFTER THEENEMY WAS NEUTRALIZED, I ENGAGED ANOTHERENEMY IN CQB WITH NO ILL EFFECTS FROM THE

WOUNDS RECEIVED FROM THIS AFOREMENTIONEDENGAGEMENT. KNIFE WOUNDS ARE FAR MORE

PSYCHOLOGICALLY DEBILITATING THAN PHYSICALLY.REMAINING COOL AND CALM, FOCUSED AT THE TASK AT

HAND ARE WHAT ALLOWS ONE TO PREVAIL WITH AKNIFE AS WEAPON.

I DID NOT REALIZE I HAD BEEN WOUNDED TO THISEXTENT UNTIL AFTER MEDICAL EVALUATION BACK AT

BASE.

Jissenmag.com - 13

specifically, are unrealistic and I am not sure oftheir utility. What do we think the enemy is doingwhile we try to access these targets? Possiblytrying to do the same to us? I do know, the isn’tgoing to stand there and let me try to cut hiswrists with offering some kind of resistance.

In spite of what is spoken about the lethality ofa sharp knife’s edge, to succeed at cutting deepinto flesh through any measure of clothing, weneed to be power hacking, whacking andchopping, hard, at whatever is near or stickingout as we move to body and head. We cannotworry about hitting specific precision targets. Ahand comes out we hack at it and keep hackingat it as we close hacking and whacking andchopping.

We must understand that the human skin andmuscle are tough and pliable, actually resistingbeing cut under duress. Slashing movementswith a knife must be power hacks and whacksand chops, otherwise known as gross motorskills. The execution of fine finesse movementswill abandon us under duress, but the hacks willbe there.

For one to lose the use of the entire hand, suchthat one can no longer hold a knife as a functionalweapon, the inside of the wrist (anterior portion)must receive a deep wound, severing throughall soft tissue, stopping only at the radial/ulnajunctures. That’s one heck of a cut.

If one has a machete or heavy blade, one maybe able to accomplish this, or even better,amputate the entire hand.

Tendons are deep, and to incapacitate the handfrom flexing (holding), no less than three majortendons must be completely severed to renderthat hand useless. If only two are severed, underduress, that hand is still capable of securingsomething in the hand. Theory and reality arethe same in theory, but they differ quite a bit inreality.

When using a blade, offensively or counter-offensively, we hack and whack away at the hand/wrist/arm to gain access to deeper targets in thetorso/head/neck regions. The snake is defangedwhen the head is gone, not from trying to pull itsteeth.

As long as a man is capable of fighting, he canwin the battle. Even when a single hand is

rendered useless, that arm is not, and thebleeding is insufficient to cause any impedimentin immediate actions. The arm can still hit, over-hook and under-hook an adversary’s arm, whilethe other hand can still flex and extend and doits nasty deeds with a new knife or the sameknife, or secure the opposition’s weapon with theone good hand.

I have witnessed men who had lost thecomplete use of the primary arm yet continuethe good fight and kill many more enemies.

Moving on to thrusts to vital organs, a lot offiction resides here, too—and arguments. “Thethrust is better because it kills more quickly.Others argue the cut is better as it takes out thecarotids swiftly.

This is not even an argument. Both argumentsare exaggerations. Both applications of cuts andthrusts are needed and both have their limits andutilities. Offensively we need to master bothequally; counter-offensively we must know bothintimately. All arguing which is better: “Thrust orCut,” simply informs me those who make theargument know little of the truth of knife work.Theirs is a pretend ideal.

When a major organ if penetrated and severelydamaged from a seven inch knife, this does notmean there is going to be a quick kill or

THIS IS MY FAVORITE EDGED WEAPON—SAMSON.THOUGH HE ONLY HAS THREE LEGS, THIS 90 LB.HARDENED VET HAS ALL OF HIS TEETH AND IS A

MASTER AT USING THEM.

incapacitation. Unlike a bullet, a knife wound hasno shock wave accompanying it to destroy softtissue along its path. Humans have been stabbedin the head (missed the midbrain) and heart andhave survived nicely, even remaining consciousand functional with the implement still impaledin the organ. Likewise, humans have survivedbeing stabbed many times over again, all thethrusts missing major organs.

Abdominal knife wounds may be very painfulor not. Pain is relative to the individual.Interestingly enough, even a small nick to theabdominal wall that severs through the perineumnear the intestinal tract will allow portions of theintestines to rupture forth, due to the internalpressure of the human gut. This does nottranslate as immediate incapacitate nor createrapid blood loss. Depending upon the mindsetof the recipient of such a wound, it may grossthe recipient out enough he stops from panic andmental shock, or the recipient becomes soenraged he gets the knife and kills the wielderwith his own weapon. Infection is the big killerhere.

Penetrations to the delicate liver can be painfuland cause severe internal bleeding leading toshock. Bile maybe released into the abdominalcavity, causing infection—but no quick kills, norimmediate incapacitation results from this. Thisis also true of the stomach, bladder, and smallintestines punctured by our seven inch blade—there may be pain, or not. Infection is like as isinternal bleeding, if not external bleeding andshock.

Other organs like the spleen and kidneys, ifdamaged by a blade, can cause much internalbleeding, and in the case of the kidneys, sepsis.These organs, however, are not easy targets. Thekidneys are higher than most people believe, andnot many even know where the spleen lies.

Knife thrusts to the chest mean that the blademust traverse the naturally protective rib-cageand sternum cartilage. If a knife manages topuncture a lung, creating a sucking chest wound,this can slow a man down quickly enough, butgetting a substantial wound with a knife to thisregion is difficult.

Repetitive blows from a blade to the humantorso are highly traumatic and extremelydamaging—but do not cause immediate death

or incapacitation. The person may stop what heis doing, immediately, due to the psychologicaltrauma of such an attack. But physiologically,human systems do not normal shut downimmediately from knife wounds. There areexceptions, but as a rule, knife wounds do notcause a quick kill or a quick incapacitation.Whether the blows are slashing actions orstabbing actions, both up-close-and-person typeattacks weigh heavily against the recipient’smental state more than upon the physical state.

When organs are punctured internal andexternal bleeding are possible, especially whenthe blade is ripped out or it cuts its way out. It’sthis bleeding that causes a drop in bloodpressure, shock and unconsciousness.Regardless what people believe about the knife,the knife is a poor quick kill and immediateincapacitation weapon, but a powerfulpsychological tool.

A blade’s effectiveness as a weapon againstother humans has much to do with humanpsychology, than as an effective killing tool. Aswe can see, the blade actually is not all that


effective when wanting an immediateincapacitation or quick kill. Firearms in skilledcool, calm hands that put the bullets where theyneed to go (brain stem and motor strip) bestfacilitate such ends. Nevertheless, what makesthe knife effective is that humans appear topossess an innate revulsion to blades slicing,dicing and impaling us as we do for snakes andspiders biting us. Surveys have been downaddressing this revulsion, and the majority ofparticipants designated that they would rather bekilled with a bullet as opposed to human using aknife to the same end.

Now that we have a realistic view of wound-damage blades can cause and what thesewounds may or may not accomplish, we mustaddress the mindset of both the receiver of knifewounds and the executor of those knife wounds.The idea of cold steel slicing, dicing and stabbingmay paralyze someone or enrage others, andothers, somewhere in between. The person’smind-set, i.e., how he sees himself in the worldand how he sees others, how he sees battle, howhe sees life and survival, and how he perceivesclose quarters battle with edged weapons andother cold weapons, determines how he surviveslethal force or not.

An important principle we must engrain withinany personal protection scenarios involving life-and-death combat, we presume that enemypersonnel (our adversaries) are capable,competent, well-trained, determined, motivated,well-armed with back up. Assessments that leadus to conclude an under-estimation of ouradversaries leads us down a self-destructivepath. This does not mean we cannot also be well-trained, competent, determined, motivated, well-armed with back up. We want to trust our ownabilities and proficiencies, owning confidence inour training, preparation, equipment andcompetency to manage any challenge before us.We just don’t want to over-estimate ours to under-estimating our foes’. It is only when we know ourlimits and abilities fully, and the enemy’s limitsand abilities fully do we have the best chance ofprevailing.

Any weakness in our mind’s ability to managelethal force can and will be used against us byus. We defeat ourselves, and we defeat theenemy because the enemy allows us to defeathim. This is very important to understand. Thesame holds true for the other side. Mind-setmeans more than technique in this arena folks.Sorry, but it does.


Getting To The Root Of It Allby Eric Parsons

Stances are the root of all martial techniques,the source from which their power is

generated. As such, the training of stancesshould be a vital portion of any martial artscurriculum. This is something that the oldmasters certainly understood. For example, it issaid that in the past, Sanchin Kata, anisometrically-performed koryu form comprised ofseemingly basic techniques, was the only katataught to Goju-Ryu students during the firstseveral years of their training. Why? Because itwas considered of fundamental importance tothe style. And what makes it so fundamental?Many factors, but one of the most important isits instruction in the use of stance. Granted, onlyone stance is used in Sanchin Kata (sanchindachi – hourglass stance). However, that onestance is drilled and practiced and tested until itis perfected and the karateka can use it togenerate an enormous amount of power. (Forthose looking for more detailed information onthis form, I recommend Kris Wilder’s book TheWay of Sanchin Kata.)

This leads to a second point about stances –stance training is about much more than footplacement. Proper stance training is concernedwith body architecture in its entirety. It involvesposture, body alignment, weight distribution,weight shifting, muscular tension, muscularrelaxation, and numerous other concerns – allof which are vital to that most important concept,utility. Stance training should work to make thestances useful and practical in self defensesituations.

So, does modern stance training meet thiscriterion? Does it lead to the practical applicationof stances in self-defense situations? To examinethis question, let us consider two common waysthat stances are practiced today and see howthey stack up.

The first of these methods entails the instructoror a senior student demonstrating the stance,the junior students attempting to mimic theposition, and then the instructor going around tocorrect the students as they hold the stance forsome specified period of time. Then, a new

stance is introduced, and the process isrepeated. Although a potentially goodintroduction to the stances of a given style, thismethod of instruction suffers from severalproblems – it is mostly inactive, quite boring,completely static, and does little to guide thestudent towards understanding overall bodyarchitecture as it pertains to their techniques.Granted, the first two of these flaws can perhapsbe seen as relatively minor issues. However,the last two deficiencies are extremely importantfrom a practical self-defense standpoint. This isdue to the fact that, when stances are taught inthis manner, students begin to think that stancesare something to stand in, not something to movethrough. They become mired in one position,unable to dynamically react to the changingcircumstances around them and incapable ofadapting their stances to fit the needs of varyingsituations.

Sanchin Shime (Testing)

Jissenmag.com - 17

Of course, the second primary method ofstance instruction is through the practice offormal kata, either solo or with a partner. This isan absolutely wonderful method for makingstances dynamic and learning how the variousstances and movements between them can beused to strengthen the applications found withinthe forms. However, as a method of stancetraining alone, kata practice suffers at theintroductory levels because there is simply toomuch going on for the students to really focuson their bases. Students new to kata and themartial arts are not only learning how to movetheir hands, feet, and bodies in new and differentways, but they are also adjusting to new postures,breath control, and a host of other concerns. Theresult is information overload. Since they can’tprocess everything, the students’ focus has atendency to move to the more intricate and visibleupper body movements with good stances beingone of the first things to go. Such degenerationcan even be seen in more experiencedpractitioners, particularly during partner drills. Asthe pace of these drills becomes more and morefrenetic, stances that were once solid will oftenlose all shape and structural integrity, leading toa degradation of overall technique.

Note that the situation described aboveillustrates one of the beauties of Sanchin Kata.Since the movements and techniques of the kataare so simple, it allows students the opportunityto focus almost solely on improving their stances/body architecture. In this context, the old-stylecurriculum makes perfect sense. The beginning

student was allowed several years to work onusing his/her body to generate poweruncomplicated by higher level techniques. Then,once this most important concept was mastered,other kata would be introduced, allowing thestudents to apply their finely honed powergeneration skills to a wide range of applications.

Now, most modern students would be unlikelyto remain students if they were forced to learnonly one kata for such an extended period oftime, especially a kata like Sanchin. This isperhaps one reason why Master Seikichi Toguchi(founder of the Sho-Rei-Kan) created the moresimplified Hookiyu Kata series. It allowedWestern students the opportunity to develop asolid foundation (pun intended) before movingon to the more complex koryu forms.

Yet another way to deal with stancedegeneration during kata practice is to removeeverything but the stances from the form, havingthe students place their hands on their hips andfocus solely on moving through the kata with theproper footwork and body structure. This is anexcellent training method. However, it never hurtsto have multiple weapons in the teaching arsenal.As such, the remainder of this article will exploreseveral other drills and practice exercises thatcan be used to make stance work both more funand more effective in the training hall.

The Push Game

This is a fun drill that is practiced in many schoolsbut can also be adapted to enhance stancetraining.

Push Game - Shiko Dachi


The typical way this drill is structured is for eachset of partners to drop into horse stance (shikodachi) while facing each other. Both partnersthen raise their hands in front of them to shoulderlevel. Once in position, the goal is push/slap thepartner’s hands, knocking him/her off-balance.A point is scored if one partner is forced to takea step backwards to maintain his/her balance,one partner is knocked to the ground, or anoveraggressive attacker either takes an off-balance step forward or falls into his/heropponent. To keep things fair, the combatantsshould not be allowed to move their hands to theside to dodge incoming attacks, forcing them tosimply cushion the blow through a soft recoil oftheir arms. Alternatively, after any sidewaysmovement of the hands, the defender should beinstructed to immediately return his/her handsto shoulder position.

Aside from enhancing balance, core flexibilityand strength, and teaching the importance ofsoftness in martial practice, stance work can beincorporated into this drill by simply changingfrom the traditional horse stance to any otherstance used in a given style. Not only will thisteach the students the stances, it will also teachthem how to effectively use the stances, as eachrepositioning requires a different weightdistribution, body structure, and strategy to besuccessful. Moreover, poor stances are quicklynoted, as the offender finds him/herselfrepeatedly knocked off-balance. Two stancesthat are particularly challenging and useful to

incorporate into this drill are cat stance (nekoashi dachi) and hourglass stance (sanchindachi).

The 360-Degree Drill

Another excellent drill for stance training is the360-Degree Drill. As this drill was discussed indepth in Issue #2 of Jissen magazine, a fulldescription of it will not be given here. However,to modify this practice for stance training, all thatneeds to be done is to slow the drill down,requiring the torite to attack, take a step back,and then come in with another strike. By slowingthe drill down, the defender can then beinstructed to get into a stance and maintain it,blocking/deflecting all of the attacks whileremaining in the specified stance. In addition,although this can start as a stationary drill forthe beginning practitioners, it can easily be madedynamic by instructing the defenders to movewith every block/deflection, requiring that theyfinish each motion in the desired stance. In sucha situation, the defender can focus on movingoff-line and then positioning him/herself for acounter-attack.

The Random Stance Drill

This is an entertaining drill that really gets thestudents moving while forcing them to rememberthe names of the stances. In this drill, severalpeople, possibly the instructor and a few of thesenior students, are the stance “callers”. Any ofthe callers are allowed to shout out any of a

Push Game - Sanchin Dachi

Jissenmag.com - 19

specified number of stances in any order. Whena stance is called, everyone must move into thestance as quickly as possible. To make the drillmore challenging, the callers shouldchange the cadence and pattern ofthe calls. Sometimes, a string ofstances should be called one rightafter the other. Other times, thestudents should be forced to hold astance for several seconds beforethe next one is called. Sometimes,a sequence should contain no twostances the same. Other times, thesame stance can be called severaltimes in a row. Moreover, the callerscan also be allowed to specify adirection for the movement, such as“cat stance, backwards” or “horsestance, forwards”.

There are also several ways tomake this drill more practical andinteresting for middle- and upper-level students. One of the best is torequire that all movements into thestances be done off-line, forcing thestudents to think about diagonalmotion, blending with attacks, andincorporating their hips into theirmovements. Another variation is toallow the students to “press” oneanother with their stances. This canbe done formally, with one partnerassigned to try and control theirpartner’s movement through thepositioning of their stances. Or, itcan be allowed to happenorganically with each student tryingto press the others without gettingboxed in and controlled him/herself.Such a free-flowing application ofthe drill has many advantages, as itforces the students to think aboutusing body motion to take controlof any given situation and applyingthe stances in an aggressivemanner to neutralize the threat. Italso forces students to learn howto transition from offense todefense, taking a bad situation andturning it to their advantage. Finally, it allows thecallers the opportunity to explore what stances

work best in which situations, as they canessentially call the stance they believe they needto redirect any given circumstance.

Metronome Sparring

This drill is one that has beenborrowed from Shihan JohnRoseberry and Sensei DavidOssian. Here, a metronome is setto a given rhythm and attacks areonly allowed to be thrown on thebeats, while in between beats, theparticipants should remain frozen,honoring their partners’ techniqueand not jumping back out of range.To begin, the partners shouldalternate attacks so that the beatpattern is attack-defend-attack etc.However, as the drill progresses,the number of attacks per turn areincreased. For example, for a cycleof three, the beat pattern would beattack-at tack-at tack-defend-defend-defend.

For starters, this is simply anexcellent sparring drill in and ofitself. It creates a rhythm and flowto the events, and as the numberof offensive techniques per turnincreases, it allows the participantsto begin to see openings and waysto combine techniques that wouldotherwise be invisible to them.Moreover, when the metronome isset at a slow pace, the reducedspeed of the attacks provides theopportunity for a broader palette ofoffensive techniques to be broughtinto play. For example, eye gouges,groin strikes, and other techniquesthat are almost always toodangerous to employ in practicecan now be shown in a slow andcontrolled manner.

Plus, not only is this drill awonderful addition to any sparringclass, it can also become aneffective tool for stance training. Toadapt the drill for this purpose, all

that is required is that the defender be instructedto always move into a specified stance in

Attack

Defend

Attack

Defend


response to any offensive technique. As a result,not only will the partners learn to evade andmove off-line in the given stance, but they willalso learn how to counterattack from the stanceas the cycle shifts from defense to offense.

Cross-Training in Tai Chi

Some martial artists have a negative view of TaiChi due to the fact that it has somewhat beenco-opted by the New Age Movement. As a result,there is a tendency to disregard it as a source ofmartial knowledge. To do so, however, is a gravemistake. Much like Sanchin Kata, the slownature of the movements in Tai Chi gives thepractitioner the opportunity to focus intensely onproper body movement, proper body alignment,proper weight distribution, etc. In a very realway, Tai Chi and similar practices are low-techversions of the high-end motion analysiscomputer systems that professional athletes useto zone in on and fix inefficiencies in their bodymotions. As such, they are an effective tool instance training, even if the stances in the TaiChi forms do not perfectly mimic those of a givenstyle.

Moreover, any form can be practiced using theslow, fluid motions of Tai Chi, providing anotherexcellent way to train one’s kata with a focus onstance and body architecture. In addition, couplethis type of practice with some knowledge of TaiChi postures, and one is likely to discoverpreviously unrecognized similarities between hisor her style of choice and this ancient Chinesepractice. For instance, of the Goju-Ryu forms,Saifa Kata in par ticular shows a strongresemblance to classic Tai Chi movements.

Conclusion

In the older days of karate, stance training wasconsidered of such vital impor tance thatbeginning practitioners did little else for the firstseveral years of their training. However, asmodern students and older teaching methodsdon’t always work well together, many schoolstoday have de-emphasized this aspect of thecurriculum. Fortunately, this situation can beremedied. As this ar ticle has hopefullydemonstrated, there are many ways to liven upstance training while still keeping the overarchinggoal of practical self-defense in mind. Until nexttime, Arigato gozaimasu.

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The Four Stages of Manby Tony Somers

Recently I was listening to someone quotingCarl Jung a very famous psychotherapist.

Jung said that there were four main stages ofman the athlete, the warrior, the statesman andthen the spiritual stage. This made me think ofmy journey through the martial arts, the ups thedowns and some of the people I had met alongthe way.

After twenty odd years of training mainly underthe tuition of Geoff Thompson; which includedAnimal days and all sorts of pressure training. Inow spend most of my time teaching people howto avoid conflicts. I do this through varioustechniques, which include awareness,communication skills, diffusion skills and manymore. I have heard this area described as softskills but to me this is wrong, obviously it dependson your own personality type but I believe thatmost people struggle with these so called softskills. As Sun-tzu said “To win one hundredvictories in one hundred battles is not the highestskill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is thehighest skill.” For me to get into a physicalconfrontation is not that scary, I have been thereand done it many times. I am not trying to saythat I am a hard man or that I don’t get scared itsjust a fear that I have faced many, many timesand in that arena my fears have been greatlyreduced, as Geoff Thompson would say it’sdifficult easy. A much harder arena is to let myego go and talk to someone in a nice way evenwhen I might think that they are behaving like anidiot. A few years ago I would never let anyoneinsult me or at times even look at me in what Iwould describe as the wrong way. Now I reallydon’t care as I have been travelling through thoseearly stages. I like the old Samurai saying “Whenman throws spear of insult at head, move head!Spear miss target, leave man empty handed,spear in wall not in you.”

You see I have been through the athlete stagewhen all I cared about was my fitness and howgood my body looked; I trained every day andshowed people my biceps at every opportunity.

Then I moved to the warrior stage I did myanimal days and pressure training I wanted to

test myself at every opportunity my motto beingbring them all on. I won some I lost some but Ikept coming back for more.

All the time through these stages at a deeperlevel I felt very insecure, I thought once I got myblack belt in Shotokan Karate I would be fine.Every one would respect me, look up to me; allof my problems would be answered. When Iachieved this target I was both elated anddisappointed. Elated because all of my hard workhad paid of and I had a new shiny black beltaround my waist. Disappointed because deepdown inside I still felt insecure nothing hadchanged.

What I now understand is that I was travellingthrough the stages, I was shaping myself and Isuppose I still am.

I see younger men in the gym posing in themirrors, pushing there chests out and flexingthere biceps (athletes) I see the boxers andgrapplers tearing into each other (warriors) andI understand that its all natural, they are on thereown personal journeys through the stages ofman.

Tony & Geoff Thompson

Jissenmag.com - 23

Obviously time is a big factor in this journey ifwe are on the correct path we will traverse all ofthese stages. I feel at my stage of life as thoughI am going through the statesman stage allthough I am very aware that all of these stagesoverlap. At this stage I am very aware of otherpeople’s feelings, where are they coming from?Why are they doing what they are doing? Whatstage of development are they at? I can see bothsides of a dispute and try to develop an out come(if possible) where both sides feel as though theyhave won. Having gone through the physicalstages and still doing so to a certain extent I nowspend my time helping people on their journeys,I work as a counsellor and life coach and get atremendous feeling of reward for doing so andguess what? My insecurities have also virtuallydisappeared.

The spiritual stage is the enlightened state thatall of the great masters achieved. There are manyways in life to reach this stage but for me whatbetter way than through Martial Arts. Martial Artsare a great vehicle towards enlightenment butthe journey definitely takes place in the mind.

One great and famous master whose life storytruly captures all of these stages is MoriheiUyeshiba the man who invented Aikido andbecame enlightened as he walked through abeautiful Garden. In my own life I look at peoplelike my great mentor and friend Geoff Thompsonwho has with out doubt done his forge trainingand travelled through the stages and nowdevotes his time to writing self-help books andfilm scripts about forgiveness.

Tony, Matty Evans & John“Awesome” Anderson

MASTERCLASS WITH TONY SOMERS & MATTY EVANSDon’t miss this unique opportunity to train with two of the UK’stop self protection experts; both 5th Dans with the BritishCombat Association. This is not a fighting class. Topics coveredinclude:

• Conflict resolution training as taught first hand to theemergency services, nurses, firefighters, paramedics, etc. (theart of fighting without fighting)

• Line up and fence

• Devestating Pre-emptive strikes

• Power striking

• Grappling and Anti-grappling

• Takedowns

• Mind strenghtening techniques

• Personal development

• A large section on overcoming fear

www.tonysomers.com or www.mattyevans.co.uk

E-mail: [email protected]: 07708273376

Matty & Tony


Kushanku Kata: History & Applicationby Iain Abernethy

Kushanku kata (also known as ‘Kanku-Dai’ and ‘Kosokun’) is one of the most popular

forms in modern karate. It is a physicallydemanding and visually impressive form (whenperformed correctly) and it is one of the mostpopular kata in modern competition. As well asbeing a popular form with kata competitors, italso has a great deal to offer the practicallyminded karateka. In this article we will briefly lookat the history of the kata and examine some ofthe key concept relating to its application.

The kata is a record of the combativetechniques and concepts formulated by aChinese martial artist who went by the name ofKushanku. Some karate historians believe that‘Kushanku’ was a military title rather than apersonal name – a breakdown of the individualcharacters used to write Kushanku would seemto support that – nevertheless the kata is namedafter a specific martial artist from China.

Kushanku is said to have come from China toOkinawa in the 1750s with other military personalat the request of Okinawa’s king. There is adocument called ‘Oshima Hikki’ (Note of Oshima).This document details a ship running ashore inOshima bay and includes interviews with thecrew of that ship. In one of these interviews thecaptain of the ship tells of an extremelyimpressive grappling demonstration hewitnessed that was given by Kushanku. Theinterview tells us that Kushanku was not aphysically strong man and yet he defeated muchstronger opponents with ease. We are also toldthat his methods involved placing one hand onthe opponent whilst striking with the other hand.We are also told that Kushanku also made useof effective ‘piercing’ leg movements (#).

One person who became a student ofKushanku’s during his time in Okinawa was TodeSakugawa. Tode Sakugawa began studying themartial arts after his father, who had frequentlybeen the victim of bullies, had encouraged himto do so (see ‘The Weaponless Warriors’ byRichard Kim).

Tode Sakugawa began his study of the martialarts under Peichin Takahara (‘Peichin’ being a

title as opposed to a name) and eventuallybecame one of his best students. It was Takaharawho said that Sakugawa should adopt the name‘Tode’ (which was an old term for karate) inrecognition of his outstanding fighting skill.Peichin Takahara is said to have seen Kushankudemonstrate his fighting prowess and wasgreatly impressed by him. Takahara thenencouraged Sakugawa to seek out instructionfrom Kushanku.

Tode Sakugawa studied under Kushanku for anumber of years and he eventually formulatedKushanku kata as a means to record thecombative methods Kushanku had taught him.Tode Sakugawa was the first martial arts teacherof the legendary Soken Matsumura; who wasthe chief bodyguard to three Okinawan kings.Matsumura became Sakugawa’s student whilsthe was still a child. Matsumura was in turn oneof the teachers of Anko Itosu. It was Itosu who iscredited with creating the ‘Sho’ (lesser) versionof Kushanku. Today, some karate styles practiseboth the lesser and greater versions of the form(Kushanku-Dai and Kushanku-Sho); whereasothers only practise the main version. Itosu wasalso the creator of the five Pinan (Heian) kata,and it is obvious from their many similarities thatKushanku kata heavily influenced thedevelopment and the subject mater covered bythe Pinan series.

Gichin Funakoshi (founder of Shotokan) – whowas a student of Itosu’s – gave both versions ofKushanku the Japanese name of ‘Kanku’(meaning ‘to view the sky’) when karate wasintroduced to mainland Japan as part of his driveto make the art more accessible to the Japanese.Kushanku / Kanku-Dai was said to beFunakoshi’s favourite form.

Kushanku is one of the longest forms and itcontains a wide variety of techniques. There areno detailed written records of the techniques thatKushanku originally taught Sakugawa. We havethe kata itself of course, but we have no definitiveanswer when we ask what the originalapplications of the form were. The applicationsof the form are therefore open to interpretation.

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From the Oshima hikki we do know thatKushanku was a skilled grappler, that he usedone hand to control the opponent whilst strikingwith the other hand, and that he used ‘piercingleg movements’. We can therefore confidently saythat the kata contains plenty of grappling.Certainly my own breakdown of the form includesmany throws, takedowns and locks.

The use of one hand to control and locate thehead whilst the other limb strikes it is mostdefinitely a key methodology of old style karate.Essentially the non-striking arm has two jobs inkata. The first is to locate and control the headduring the chaos of close range combat so thatthe accuracy of strikes is improved. This is amethod I personally refer to as ‘datum setting’and Oshima hikki suggests that this was a keypart of Kushanku’s methodology. The second useof the non-striking limb is to clear obstructionsi.e. if the opponent’s arms get in the way of thetarget, one hand will move them so that the targetcan continue to be struck by the other hand.

The final methodology referenced in Oshimahikki is ‘piercing leg movements’. It is not clearto me if this refers to kicking or driving in with thelegs to disrupt the opponent’s balance andposture. Both methodologies can certainly befound within Kushanku kata.

We can therefore say with a good deal ofcertainty that the motions of the form should beapplied in a way that includes grappling, datumsetting, kicking and driving in with the legs todisrupt the opponent’s balance and posture.Sadly, that is not how the kata is commonlyinterpreted in many of today’s dojos. The mostcommon interpretations of the form frequentlyhave the ‘combatants’ using unrealistictechniques, in an unrealistic way, at an unrealisticdistance. However, if we approach the kataarmed with the historical information we haveaccess to, and with realism and pragmatism thereis no reason why we can’t unlock the techniquesand concepts that the form was originally meantto record. It is simply a case of analysing thekata from the correct perspective and in thecorrect way. Indeed, in many cases it is blindinglyobvious how the motion of the kata is to beapplied. And even where our interpretation mayvary from the original then at least, if we approachthe kata in the right way, we are ensuring we

stay true to the original intent which was practicalfighting methods for use in a civilian environment.

Understanding the applications of the formsisn’t par ticularly difficult if you have anunderstanding of the nature of combat and havea grasp of the ‘language’ of kata. Indeed the activestudy of the kata (as opposed to just practisingthem) is something that all karateka shouldengage in.

My own study of Kushanku has revealedstrikes, traps, throws, takedowns, joint-locks,chokes, strangles, etc. Of particular interest tome was the way in which the ‘opening salutation’records a flinch that you may instinctively employduring the opening stages a fight if taken bysurprise. The opening part of the kata alsoexamines how that flinch can be used to gaincontrol of an opponent’s limbs and createopenings for strikes (see the 3rd DVD in myBunkai-Jutsu series for more details). This flinchis presented in a very formal way in kata; as canbe seen in the photograph of Gichin Funakoshiperforming the opening motion of Kushanku kata(Figure 1). However, in combat the flinch will ofcourse be instinctive and rough around theedges.

Figure 1


It should always be remembered that kata is arecord of information and as such it can becompared to a collection of recipes. We needrecipes to know how to cook good food … butwe don’t eat recipes! Similarly, the kata gives usthe information needed to fight and thisinformation is presented in a formal way.However, we should never mistake the formalinstructions for the actual fighting skills thoseinstructions are supposed to develop. The katais always formal and precise. The live applicationof the kata in the chaos of combat will be farfrom formal and precise! As Funakoshi himselfwrote, ‘Always perform the kata exactly; combatis another matter’. Kata tells us whatmethodologies we should drill and take into ourlive training. The solo kata should never beconsidered as an alternative to, or substitute for,that live practise. Sadly, that is a very commonmisunderstanding about the purpose and natureof kata.

It seems to me that the opening movements ofKushanku kata deals with the opening stages ofthe actual fight. The other movements toward thestart of the form are also quite easy to apply.Could it be that the kata records Kushanku’s‘syllabus’ in the order it was taught to Sakugawa?Certainly my own interpretation has the morephysically and technically demanding techniques(in actual application, not solo performance)towards the end of the kata, and the simplestand most immediate techniques towards thestart.

The final technique of the form records a ratheradvanced throwing technique that requires goodtiming and a good degree of physical strength.Throughout the martial arts, it is common toteach the simplest techniques first, and teachthe techniques that require a betterunderstanding of the basics later on. Kushankukata contains many throws and takedowns. Thefact that the most demanding throw in the form

2 3 4

5 6 7

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is the last technique recorded would againsupport the idea that the kata may recordKushanku’s syllabus in the order it was taught.Again, we have no way of knowing for certain,but the idea is certainly worthy of consideration.

The last three moves of the form see thepractitioner step around with their left leg (Figure2), assume a low stance as the arms are pulledin (Figure 3), and then straighten the legs as thearms are brought upwards (Figure 4). Theapplication of this sequence is as follows. Turn tothe side and take your arm underneath theopponent’s lead leg. Lift the opponent’s arm justabove your head as you step across (Figure 5).Pull the opponent’s arm downward so that theyare loaded onto your shoulders. At this point yourlegs should be bent, and your spine should bestraight (Figure 6). Straighten your legs to lift theopponent into the air. You can then dump theopponent onto the floor in whatever direction isappropriate (Figure 7).

As motioned previously, there are numerousthrows recorded in Kushanku kata (i.e. neck-ring,tackle, hip-wheel, etc.) but this throw is definitelythe most advanced and its advanced nature is

very likely to be the reason why it is the last motionin the form. The kata starts by working with ourinstinctive reactions and steadily progressesthrough more technically demandingmethodologies. It is my view that not only doesthe kata provide the syllabus of a holisticcombative system, it also records the correctteaching / training order in which to developcompetence in that system.

Kushanku (Kanku-Dai) is frequently said to beone of the most important forms practised withinthe various karate styles. History tells us that thekata is a record of the highly effective techniquesthat were designed by Kushanku and thensubsequently recorded by Tode Sakugawa. It isa very important kata and as such it deserves tobe studied deeply.

(#) – An in-depth discussion of Oshima hikkiand its impact on our understanding of thedevelopment of karate is found in the book‘Motobu Choki and Ryukyu Karate’ by IwaiKohaku – Gavin Poffley provided the author ofthis article with an English translation of thesection on Oshima Hikki).

Practical Karate for Real Combat

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Iain Abernethy’s approach to karate has revolutionised the training of thousands of people. Through hisbooks, DVDs and seminars, Iain has shown how the traditional kata were created to be a logical and structuredrecord of practical fighting techniques. Iain’s fusion of old and new, east and west, is highly pragmatic, easyto adopt, and will only add to your current training and study. A member of the “Combat Hall of Fame”, Iainalso holds the rank of 5th Dan in Karate (BCA & EKGB) and is one of the few people to hold the positionof “Coach” (the highest instructor rank) within the British Combat Association; one of the world’s leadingpractical martial arts groups. Iain is in great demand on the seminar circuit and each year he teachesmany popular and inspiring seminars in the UK, mainland Europe and beyond.

Jissenmag.com - 29

Whatever Happened to “Rock Kata”?by Brian P. Struchtemeyer

Watching the ongoing renaissance in bunkaiand karate applications is refreshing. I’d

had all I could take of “point your toes just so”kata practice. To survive the test of time thoughthe growing collection of bunkai applications willhave to demonstrate themselves at least asuseful as the methods currently used by selectlaw enforcement and other such professionals.Be that as it may, the current bunkai efforts havegiven traditional karate a chance for renewedrelevance in self-defense. What’s been painfullylacking in these modern karate applications areweapons. It’s a topic I’ve given some thought andwould like to offer some points for people toponder.

Because in the West we’ve grown up in asociety where new typically means better andscience equals solutions, people today over-focus on the technology aspect of weapons, butthe influence of culture is pivotal. Let’s firstconsider the traditional weapons of Okinawanand Japanese martial arts. What’s most notableis that they weren’t traditional. They were state-of-the-art for the time, place, and cultures theywere found. Japanese swords and bows werethe very best the artisans of Japan could make.The improvised weapons of Okinawa wereoverwhelmingly multitasked from farm tools, buteven those agricultural implements were themost advanced available on the island. A trulytraditional weapons would have been a rock.

Surely somewhere in unrecorded prehistory thekarate cave-man used a woolly mammoth stanceand saber-tooth cat slash in his famous anddeadly rock kata. Through the generations thisrock kata kept the tribe safe from cave-manmuggers and marauding beasts. But thenanother cave man invented the fire-hardenedwooden spear and the rock-kata cave man hadto adapt. This game of weapons improvementhas continued right up to the current day.Interestingly though it came to complete stop inJapanese and Okinawan karate. The perfectlycontemporary pre-Meiji weapons were frozen intime and made critical to the curriculum of karate.

The reason appears to be completely cultural.The Meiji restoration in Japan not only changedkey political elements, but changed almost everycultural element of the society as well. Havingobserved the Opium Wars (sometimes referredto as the Anglo-Chinese Wars) between Chinaand Great Britain, the Japanese realized that tomaintain their political and geographicsovereignty, Japan’s military practices and thesupporting economic, social, and industrialstructures would have to mimic Westernpractices.

While the specific details are fascinating, in anutshell the leadership of Japan found itnecessary to fully integrate and master Westernmilitary practices but simultaneously had toaddress certain reactionary factions opposed toeverything Western. As such, preserving whileredefining a great many traditional practicesmaintained a sense of self-identity uniquelyJapanese and conveniently facilitatednationalistic and jingoistic drives for thegovernment. This appears to have beenespecially significant around the time of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).

The situation on Okinawa was that much moredire. Japan destroyed the system of dualsubordination Okinawa had lived under since theearly 17th century taking it from China andmaking it an official prefecture in 1879 by way ofa rather impressive diplomatic slight-of-hand.Okinawan culture then openly faced the dualthreats of Japanese and Western influences. Forthe Okinawans then, maintaing what parts of itsculture it could was especially important. Thiswas the principle reason creating the distinctschism in martial arts weapons training whichremains with us to this day.

Lest it appear I’m picking on traditional martialarts, here are a few Western examples of thesame fundamental human behavior. Much to thebewilderment of current sensibilities, militaryleaders steadfastly fought the introduction ofrepeating firearms including the machine gun for


several decades. In the United States, reliablerepeating rifles along with early machine gunswere available for the Civil War. Famously, Gen.James W. Ripley opposed efforts by PresidentLincoln himself to introduce both in the UnionArmy. The fear was that soldiers would wasteammunition and that the ability to lay down avolume of fire would destroy the culture of well-aimed fire.

This concept of each soldier being an expertmarksman is something of an American mythborn in the revolution where groups ofbackwoods hunters armed with the famousKentucky rifle could hit any target they wanted.This concept stayed with the US Army for a very,very long time. Even after the Civil War, the USArmy refused repeating rifles and selected theSpringfield model 1873 (a.k.a the “trapdoor”), asingle shot breech loader for use. Gen. GeorgeArmstrong Custer and his 7th cavalry werearmed with these at the Little Big Horn and over130 years later the debate continues to ragewhether repeating rifles would have saved them.

Russo-Japanese war, the British Cavalry TrainingManual of 1907 continued to hold that the riflecould not replace the ‘effect produced by thespeed of the horse, the magnetism of the charge,and the terror of cold steel.’ Yeah, right.

While the generals were engaged in their fightagainst machine guns, the admirals were fightingthe a war against steam engines. Bizarrely, thefight in the navies wasn’t about putting steamengines in ships, but rather about taking themasts and sails off. The British navy in particularhad a number of reactionary elements holdingon to “a considerable spread of canvas.” Thereasons ranged from the economic argumentthat sails improved efficiency as it reduced theamount of coal needed. This argument wasflawed as it didn’t incorporate the energy needsto move the weight of the masts, sails, and sailorsneeded to operate them.

In a more cultural vein, it was feared thatremoving the sails would reduce the fighting-fitness and character of the British seaman. TheAmerican admiralty expressed the same fearsabout reducing the general level of seamanship,but much more candidly said they didn’t like thenoise and dirt the engines created.

Even today cultural battles linked to weaponsystems remain important. Right now the US AirForce is locked in a heated battle over who will“fly” UAVs (Unmanned aerial vehicles like thePredator). Historically, only officers have beenpilots because when airplanes were firstinvented, only officers had access to a completeeducation and mathematically would-be pilots

It wasn’t just us Yanks who were foolish aboutmachine guns. The British cavalry officers foughtmachine guns literally to their bitter dying end.The aristocratic leanings of cavalry officers hatedthe thought of a military engagement beingdecided by a machine rather than the will andélan of the fighting man. Even after both theslaughter of British cavalry during the infamous“Charge of the Light Brigade” during the CrimeanWar and the extremely successful use of crew-served machine guns against cavalry in the

CSS Alabama: A ship in theConfederates States Navy that had thedual propulsion of steam and sail - veryfamous ship sunk by the US Navy off

the coast of France.

Springfield model 1873 (trapdoor) Verysimilar in design, performance andproblems with case extraction as the

British Martini-Henry that served well,and unfortunately failed from time totime during the Zulu wars, notably

Isandlhwana.

Jissenmag.com - 31

have always greatly outnumbered actual aircraft.Thus, the requirement of being an officer actedas a useful selection filter. That math is changingwith relatively cheap UAVs, automation, and ageneration of 18-year-olds that can frequentlyfly the pants off of senior pilots in combat flightvideo games.

Returning to the topic of karate and self-defense, what is really unique about traditionalweapons in karate is that not only did a group ofpeople intentionally attempt to freeze them intime, but that the on-going weapon developmentin other cultures relieved those karate weaponsfrom the burdens of reality. It didn’t matter ifnunchaku still worked because people could justgrab a pistol. So where does that leave us? Ifyou want to study traditional weapons for art andculture - great; go for it. You won’t hurt my feelings.

If you’re looking for practical self-defense andfor traditional karate applications to remainrelevant, at some point karate will have tosuccessfully address contemporary weapons. Ifkarate doesn’t, it will face a limited role in a largerdiversified self-defense curr iculum. Onesuggestion that would appear to be consistentwith the spirit of the Okinawans, would be todevelop a new set of improvised weapons.

This is a common practice, especially in regionswith restrictions on weapon ownership. Forexample many of the techniques developed forthe combination of the sword and either a buckler(a very small round shield and also where weget the phrase swash-buckler) or a cloak werere-applied to the Victorian gentleman’s walkingstick and either a derby hat or overcoat. Anotherpartial example is from French Savate. Peopletoday think of Savate as an unarmed method,primarily for sport. Originally, Savate wassomething of a weapon art. Footwear for the poorwere carved wooden shoes. These were shapedto a decidedly vicious point and combined withprecision kicks to create an improvised weaponof sorts.

A key goal of improvised weapons is to basedon objects common to almost everyone makingthem concealed despite being obviously present,so I guess if we truly kept up with the times inthis manner we’d see cell-phone-ryu and iPod-jutsu. While I don’t know exactly what to expect,I know weapons and counter-weapons have tobe addressed in any modern self-defense

curriculum. I also know the solutions will belocal. For instance where I live, if you pass atest and a background check, you can carrya concealed handgun. In places like GreatBritain with such terribly draconian weaponslaws, people may have to search for cavepaintings revealing the long-lost secrets ofrock kata. While the search for solutionscontinues, every time you look at a weapon Iencourage you to consider the cultural trade-offs that allowed its development and thechanges it then brought to the cultures thatfaced it.

George A. Custer of Little Big Horninfamy: Interestingly he had broughtmost of his immediate male relativeswith him on his campaign. His two

brothers, a nephew, and his brother-in-law all died with him. Perhaps most

interestingly his brother Tom Custer hadwon the US Congressional Medal ofHonor twice during the Civil War.

That’s equivalent to winning the VictoriaCross twice and living to tell about it!


Does a Broken BoardEqual a Broken Nose?

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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.

Jissenmag.com - 33

Bassai Bunkaiby Mark A. Cook(aka “Oldman”)

Jissenmag.com - 35

They Called It “Going Out To Eat”:Tales of a Street Gang

by Keith Le Bihan

They called it ‘going out to eat’ and with aLondon underground tube map marked for

its ‘value’ or ‘resistance’ or ‘too much police’. theyused planning and tactics to commit 150robberies on the London Underground system.By the use of ‘SASS’ Surprise, Aggression,Speed and Surrounding their victims theyorchestrated a reign of terror on the LondonUnderground. Each attack/robbery getting moreviolent than the last. All this Kensal Green (Anarea of North West London) Gang was reallyinterested in was satisfying its addiction tounfettered violence and stealing other people’sproperty. The mob-handed “hoodies”, broughttogether by their fascination for rap’s largely anti-social lyrics, left scores of shattered lives in theirwake. But the very nature of the group’s structuremade the task of catching them all the moredemanding. Theirs was a “loose-knit” association.Sometimes the thugs carried out solo “jobs”,while on other occasions they worked in pairs orsmall groups.

Up to 150 robberies were attributed to the gangduring eight months from June 2005 to February2006. Over the months the gang repeatedlyrampaged through tube trains, stabbing somevictims while pounding others into nearinsensibility with a mob-handed flurry of punchesand kicks. There victims were young, old, femaleor male.

This gang of armed “hoodies” were led byconvicted murderers Donnel Carty and DelanoBrown. The self styled ‘Kensal Green Gang’compiled a sickening hunting guide scrawled ona map of the London underground. The LondonTube map illustrated their sickening planning.Found in the bedroom of one of the robbers, anentry next to Notting Hill read “good eating but abit hot” - a reference to what they saw as therelatively heavy police presence there. Neasdenwas also problematic. It was marked “fight back”,an acknowledgement that victims tended toresist. Colindale, however, appeared to be a clear

favourite. It boasted a glowing “++”. The mostsickening of which ended with City lawyer TomAp Rhys Pryce being stabbed to death by thegang leaders Donnel Carty and Delano Brown.The gang were finally put behind bars thanks toa very methodical and pain staking investigationby the British Transport Police (BTP) calledOperation Hurricane.

The spree begins: The Victim’s story

Weeks before the murder the rules of the gamewere well established and being put into practice.The first victim was in December 2005, whenthe gang spotted him and another passengeralone in a carriage.

The victim watched as the gang first attackedthe other man and emptied his pockets beforeapproaching him as he stood near the doors. Thevictim told the court ‘I had no intention of givingthem anything. I was pushing them away.’ I sawone of them take a knife out and open it. ‘Heplunged the knife into my left thigh. I was veryfrightened because a lot of blood was flowingfrom my leg. So they would let me go I didn’t doanything when they were taking the money frommy hand. I think it was 40 or 50 pounds.’

Two hours later on another tube line the gangspotted another victim deep in concentrationdoing a Sudoku puzzle just after 11pm. The Fiveyouths got on to the carriage and hit him overthe head with a plastic Coca-Cola bottle. Thevictim said ‘I received other blows with peoplehitting me with their hands and feet. I wasdefending myself with my hands. I stood up andI got into a fight with them. I think I hit one withmy pen. They were asking me for a wallet.’ Oneof the men then moved forward and stabbed himin the thigh. ‘I gave them my wallet,’ said thevictim. Victims spoke of their “professionalism”,in that one of the robbers would first enter a tubecarriage by the inter connecting doors on his ownto “case it” and once confirming the “eating” wasgood he would signal the others to join in. Many


victims remarked on the gang’s “efficiency” andthe “calm quiet” way they “cased” each carriageand selected their prey. “They knew what theywere doing and who to pick on,” said one of thewitnesses. Each victim witnessed an “increasinglevel of violence”. Sometimes it started withthreats to stab and progressed through physicalviolence to knives being produced and peopleactually being stabbed. These actions of the gangwere to terrified people by their numbers andforce. Some victims only knew they were beingattacked when a punch smashed into their faceas they dozed at the end of a hard day’s work.One of them recalled his assailant warning: “I’vegot a knife ... I’m going to kill you.” Seconds laterhe was stabbed in the neck. Despite bloodpouring from his wound, he somehow found thestrength and courage to chase the robber fromthe train. He even managed to catch hold of himat one stage but then lost his grip. The court heardpolice found a coat stained with blood matchingthe victim’s at one of the robber’s homes.

Another commuter travelling home late oneevening when up to half a dozen gang membersflooded his carriage. One saw him holding hisphone, told him to hand it over and then punchedhim in the head. Two others pulled out knives.“When I saw them I thought ‘I’m not going tomake it’ and gave my mobile to them,”

One man was pursued through the train untilhe was sent flying with a powerful drop kick andthen robbed. Another was trying to protect hishead as he was punched and kicked relentlesslybefore being stabbed for daring to fight back. Athird who spoke of numerous blows, some fromthose who had to stand on seats to reach himover the others. Those who dared resist weresubjected to particular brutality. Death threatswere frequent. A victim in his 60s who tried toresist was then saved by a female GoodSamaritan who bravely shielded him from furtherviolence and even chased his attackers from thetrain.

In one instance the gang attacked a youngcouple. One of the gang first robbed the boyfriendat gunpoint, before turning the gun on the womanand announcing “I’m going to rape your girl”.Fortunately, he snatched her handbag and ran.

The more terrifying rampages saw all ninerobbers using interconnecting doors to “steam”

from carriage to carriage, swamping eveningcommuters with overwhelming viciousness.CCTV footage played to the Court made it clearthat although some victims tried to fight back,no single individual, no matter how big or strong,could have stood against them. They pocketedproperty worth thousands of pounds. Anythingof value, including iPods, mobile phones,watches and cash were snatched. Of thoserobberies almost half were committed on theLondon Underground during the final four weeksof their savagery either side of Christmas 2005/2006.

Murder

The gang’s violence peaked when the gangleaders Carty and Brown murdered in cold blooda high-flying City lawyer called Tom Ap RhysPryce in January 2006 (a charity trust has beenset up in his name). Although at this stage hismurder had not been linked to the Kensal GreenGang’s robbery spree. They were both jailed forlife at the Old Bailey in 2006 for his murder. Earlierthat night the pair had pulled up their hoods andmugged an Asian male for his phone on theplatform of Kensel Green Tube Station. They ranfrom the station and were clearly unconcernedthat the victim might have called the Policebecause minutes later they followed the lawyerfrom the Tube Station. Having trailed him fromthe station to a side street Carty and Brown firstslashed him across the face and hand and thenstabbed him in the thigh and twice in the chest.He was stabbed repeatedly as they robbed himof his mobile, Oyster travel card and £20 in hiswallet. One wound pierced his heart. He diedwithin seconds.

Carty had introduced Brown to his gang - whohe hailed as the ‘KG tribe’ when rapping atparties. On the CD he bragged: ‘Come roundhere, you will be bored. (Stabbed)’If it don’t workout, draw your sword. We don’t pet (worry) to domurder.’ The murder of Tom ap Rhys Pryce wasjust part of a game for these teenagers who weredestined to kill. Car ty was a rapper andprophesised the lawyer’s death in a chillingcomposition he recorded a year before themurder on a CD made as part of a youthemployment programme. In the rap he braggedin heavy Jamaican patois: ‘We’re not afraid tokill.’ He went on: ‘I due for a shanking (stabbing).Your blokes will get poked.’ The pair had both

Jissenmag.com - 37

been involved in a series of robberies whichclosely followed the rules of their mugging game.Each helpless victim was intimidated with knivesand would be stabbed in the leg or ‘juked’ if hedisrespected them by daring to resist.

The last part of the ritual was to call theirgirlfriends on the mobile phones they had taken.It was all part of the game which by then wasspiralling out of control. Carty could not resistcalling his girlfriend after the robbery of Mr ApRhys Pryce, even though he knew the victim hadbeen stabbed in the chest and was probablyfighting for his life if not already dead.

Investigation

The attacks spawned one of the most demandinginvestigations ever undertaken by BTP. Thegang’s activities on the London Tube werenothing less than a stand-alone crime wave thatwas largely responsible for sending month-on-month statistics soaring by an “extraordinary”400%. In December 2004 there were just 19robberies on that part of the system. The samemonth the following year (December 2005) sawa staggering 76. It was an extremely complexinvestigation into one of the most prolific robberysprees London Underground had seen to date.As the attacks grew in number, police, quicklyrealised they were dealing with a single gangand launched Operation Hurricane. The inquirieswere particularly complex as the gang wereraiding across three tube lines, frequently movingbetween Tube Stations by bus and spreadingtheir activities across nine different Londonboroughs. The gang were “CCTV aware”. Theyknew where the station cameras were and wouldoccasionally clamber over fences to avoid them.Other times they would travel between stations“hooded up”. They also seemed familiar withoperational procedures. However the gang weregradually identified by use of CCTV imagescompared with file photos, identifying distinctclothing worn by the attackers, forensic evidenceand with the recovery of implements used duringthe attacks. BTP’s Operation Hurricane involveda two-pronged attack to tackle the threat fromthe gang. First was high-visibility policingdesigned not only to deter robbers and stopsuspects, but to gather intelligence as well.Portable metal detectors - used in OperationShield’s anti-knife campaign - were alsodeployed. There was also a covert aspect which

saw plain clothes officers travelling the systemand another team poring over CCTV footage andestablishing vital evidential “linkages”. But whilethe images proved invaluable, the sheer amountto be trawled through was daunting, because therobbers were so careful to hide their features,the Officers used frequent “backtracking”exercises - examining film from previous stationsdown the line to find more revealing shots - onlyadded to the workload. It was definitely one ofthe largest CCTV trawls BTP had ever had toconduct. Another problem was the languagebarrier with a fair number of foreign victims.

The gang had ‘street names’ a common trait ofgangs which are used both to confuse LawEnforcement and rival gangs. One was called“Flips” another “Redrat” another “Icer”. The gangleaders Carty was known as ‘G-rock’ or ‘Armani’and Brown as ‘Shy. Following the trial theprosecution detailed the previous convictions –covering offences of robbery, grievous bodilyharm, possession of an offensive weapon,burglary and drugs when committing motoringoffences.

Not one gang member showed the slightestemotion as the jury of five women and six mentook just over nine hours to reject their defencesof either “mistaken identity” or “present but notinvolved”.

After the trial a BTP Detective said “Contraryto people’s perceptions, London Underground isa relatively safe place, a low-crime environment.However, I understand the enclosed nature ofthe Tube can make victims feel more vulnerable,and amplify the intensity of their ordeals. Yet everyday there are 3.5 million people using 375stations. That works out at about 1 billion a year.Despite that there is, on average, less than onerobbery a day on this part of the system. Andthat still means the average commuter wouldhave to travel twice a day, five days a week for4,000 years to become a robbery victim”.

Summary

Although a ‘street gang’ they also operated inpairs and alone. They were armed and wellmotivated with each assault leading to a greaterincrease in violence culminating in murder. As agang they were not deterred by fighting back infact it is clear that some of the gang revelled inthe resistance of the victims. However when one


victim confronted one of the gang on a one toone basis and fought back the gang member ranoff. The gang’s tactics were a whole spectrumfrom using verbal intimidation to just punchingpeople who were sleeping.

Thoughts on Self Protection

I hope the reader has got a feel for the violence,intimidation and terror that took place in suchconfined spaces. The robbers were not immuneto dishing out violence. In fact resistancepositively encouraged the gang to get moreviolent (they seem to thrive when the victimfought back). Like all gangs the strength of thegang comes from the pack mentality. Part of gangmentality is not to ‘show’ weakness by backingdown in front of the others. For example onevictim who was assaulted by the gang saw somegang members standing on seats hitting him overthe other gang members. Most assaults lastedlittle than 5-20 seconds (the time it takes to putyour shoes on quickly), but must have seemedlike a lifetime to the victims.

What type, if any Martial Arts training can helpin these situations? I talk about Awareness,Assessment, Action. Awareness is what to lookout for. A person can think they are aware, butnot pick up the signs, signals or clues from therobber that their vulnerability/probability is beingassessed. For example seeing someone cruisingthrough the tube carriage may not seem much,but what clues are they giving off that they arelooking for victims to rob or looking for a seat?Self defence experts talk about ‘not looking likea victim’. But it’s not that simple, the gang’svictims in my view showed NO COMMONTRAITS as they were a broad spectrum of young,old, male and female. In fact I would argue thatsome victims were chosen because there was aperception by the gang that they would fight back.There is the usual advice like don’t fall asleep onpublic transport or have your mobile on showetc and it is clear that some victims were possiblyselected because they were perceived as having‘valuables’. A man in a suit will have a phone,ipod and maybe a nice watch etc. According to aHome Office study* ‘Problem solving street Crime2004’ by N Tilley, over half of robberies on theLondon Underground and the railways occur onthe train and between stops. How often do youtrain in a confined space? Or whilst sitting down?Can you generate knockdown power in that

confined space with out lining up? What aboutpressure points? If your awareness is spot onthen your assessment will be quick promotingeven quicker action.

Do you make your initial assessment beforeyou get into a train carriage or do you just getinto any one .What is your tactical appreciationof the platform and station you get on and offat? Before you get off do you give a quick peekout to see if a gang are waiting on the platform?Do you watch the station’s platforms as you comeinto the stops in which case should be at thefront of the train and not the rear? I don’t wantpeople to develop paranoia but you might onlychoose to adopt these tactics when travelling inthe early evening or late at night

Maybe moving out of the carriage into anothercarriage and preventing them from climbing thecarriage across but what are you going to dowhen it comes into a station? Do you jump outor stay on. Are you training in an environmentthat enables you to make split second decisions?

Do you know the level of assaults at your station(if any) and when they are likely to occur - it mightnot be when you think. What about theopponent(s) - are they armed? Will they bearmed? Are they threateners or ‘jukers’ (gangtalk for stabbers). Using a knife not necessarilyto kill, but to stab you in the leg or slash youacross the face, neither of which are lifethreathening but will induce pain and fear in you.Thus putting you off balance by beingpsychologically and mentally intimidated andmaybe losing the will to either resist or fight backif that is a tactical option.

Acknowledgements and ReferencesBTP Press Office L area, Broadway London.*Problem-solving street crime: practicallessons from the Street Crime InitiativeAuthor: Nick Tilley, Jonathan Smith, StephenFiner, Rosie Erol, Corrine Charles and JohnDobby (Research Development andStatistics)Date: November 2004.Extracts used withexpressed and kind permission of the HomeOffice

Jissenmag.com - 39

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.


Adaptable Karate:The three stages of kata analysis: Part 2

by Chris Denwood

W hen viewing a magnificent oak tree, don’tsimply flutter your eyes around every

visually pleasing leaf. Instead, gently pull yourgaze back and accept all parts of the treetogether as one entity. You will then come torealise just how it could have grown from a singlesolitary acorn.

In the first part of this article (See Jissen 3 –Ed), I suggested that kata should be an openand continuous process of learning, rather thana progression of movements holdingcomparatively little value. I then began to explainthe classical three-stage method of technicallyanalysing the forms and described the first andsecond phases of omote and henka. In thissecond and final part, I intend to look at thirdstage of ura and discuss how we can proactivelypractice our forms as very potent learning aidsthat have virtually no limits.

The third stage: Ura

The last stage of technical analysis is called ura.It is the opposite of the first stage, omote andmeans, ‘inside’ or ‘back’. Ura represents thatwhich we cannot see unless expressed throughphysical movement. It represents the principlesthat surround the movements of the form and isbased on the notion that I explained right at thebeginning of this piece; that kata is a way of

recording the most effective fighting principlesof a particular style, system, strategy orindividual. Ura is also very dependent on the wayin which you focus on the form i.e. not as acollection of shapes, but more as a series oftransitions or motions. There will never be anypotential in static or discrete postures/techniques. In other words, it’s important to lookat the journey, not the destination.

It is commonly understood that kata wasoriginally practiced intensely for years at a time.For this to be so then the movements depictedin the form must represent something much morethan just a handful of potential applications. Awhole style couldn’t possibly be recorded withinsomething that only takes minutes to performunless there is something else that we shouldbe focusing upon. This, I believe, is one of themain stumbling blocks that karate-ka come upagainst when studying bunkai. They focus far toomuch on the actual techniques of the form(believing these to be the most critical part),rather than the lessons that those techniquesare actually trying to impart.

Techniques are literally ‘principles in action’ andit is these principles that we should always bemore focussed upon. Please consider theapplication shown in pictures 1 to 9. Now you

1 2 3

Jissenmag.com - 41

may initially think that it shows somethingcompletely different from the movements thatwe’ve been previously looking at in part 1, but Ibeg to differ. This is still very much an applicationfrom the start of Pinan Godan kata! If we go backfor a moment to the omote application (whichI’ve shown again in pictures 10 to 16) and extractthe principles, then we can start to ask thequestion, ‘what is this part of the kata teachingus?’ In this particular instance it is my ownpersonal view that even at a fundamental level,the form is trying to explain that when seized;you can escape and shift to the outside of yourattacker (a safer option), use the seizing arm asa temporary barrier whilst countering and thenfinish by attacking the throat.

The form is thus teaching an effective strategybased on movement, timing, and distance, aswell as gaining a fast initial and continuingadvantage. The techniques used to express thiswithin the form can and should then beappreciated as being a ‘typical effective example’rather than ‘the only way of achieving thatparticular objective’. If a movement in a kata isteaching us the principle of attacking the inherentweakness of the elbow joint for example, weshould then be actively asking ourselves, howelse can we exploit the antagonist’s elbow jointin a similar fashion? As long as the principles ofthe form are followed, then the answers you’llfind will in no way differ from what the kata isoriginally trying to portray.

If you consider the principles of movement, wecan see that the application shown in pictures 1

to 9 are not in any way different from what thestart of the kata is trying to teach us through thesuperficial analysis of omote. The exact sameprinciples are being used; they’re just beingphysically expressed in a different way – that isall. Once we appreciate the potential at this stageof ura, we can easily see how a single form couldrepresent a complete system or strategy offighting and why this was originally consideredas so.

Now, some might say that the creators of theform may never have even considered many ofthe applications generated in this adaptable wayand I have to admit that this argument more thanlikely holds elements of truth. But so what? Asinteresting as I may find this historic piece ofinformation, I simply refuse to consider this as abarrier against the main objective for my study.Above all else, I am a martial artist first and ahistorian second. For the kata to mean anythingit has to be both a direct learning tool, as well asbeing a method to promote and increase furtherunderstanding as time and experienceprogresses. I strongly believe that this is whatthe founding fathers of karate would have wantedfor us.

Everyone by now should have aligned to thefact that in karate, many things are not what theyfirst seem to be. I’m sure you’ll have all heardthat ‘a punch is not just a punch’ or ‘a block is notonly a block’ – you may even be actively bepracticing in that way now. In reality, everythingthat we accomplish in the art comes from thesame source – just like the acorn. That source is

4 5 6


nothing ‘alien’ or for that matter, anything to dowith karate. The art simply acts as a vehicle forthe source to be expressed. That source ofcourse, is you! The self-satisfaction youexperience through your practice is proportionalonly to how honestly and thoughtfully youundertake each training session. Kata is exactlythe same as this. If we can learn to view andtrain a form in an open and honest way withoutthe restrictions of preferences, laurels, ideals orpolitics, its true potential will shine through andallow us to take what we need, when we’re readyto understand it.

It is my view (and I hope you agree) that theoriginal masters of karate would be totallydismayed to see their beloved kata being reducedto nothing more than a restricted and ‘choked’pattern of very limited value, just for the sake ofmaintaining what may or may not have been ahistoric truth at the time. To release the truepotential of kata, I believe that all traditionalkarate-ka have both the opportunity and agenuine duty to study in an unrestrictive andadaptable way. This will inevitably help towardsmaintaining the original perceived intent of karateas an effective civilian self-protection system andensuring that the art remains constantly freshand alive.

In a practical sense, learning by equating tothe principles associated with the form is veryfavourable. Instead of collecting a millionunrelated techniques to cater for a wide range

of attack scenarios, ‘principle-based study’ allowsyou to respond in a much more spontaneousway by limiting (to some extent) the mental ‘logjam’ that can occur when your brain is beingforced (by yourself) to think or process preciseinformation in a situation where your evolutionaryinstincts would ask it to switch off. Combat isextremely hard to begin with. Why would youeven consider making it any harder throughcollecting what will inevitably become uselessknowledge when depended upon?! I think thatwe should treat kata how it should be – as avehicle to promote a greater understanding ofthe principles associated with combat and theart in which you diligently study and thoroughlyenjoy.

If I was to give you one final piece of adviceregarding the analysis of karate, it would be tothink of using kata as your sensei. Try toappreciate what the form is trying to teach youand as with any kind of learning, don’t forget toask questions. You should find that as long asyou face those questions honestly, then the katawill answer them for you and more. It will becomepossible then to reach a little closer towardsthose great masters that left us these timelessmasterpieces to benefit from.

Thank you for taking the time to read my words.I sincerely hope that they’ve succeeded to crackopen at least one more door to help your ownpersonal exploration within this lifelong learningprocess of karate.

7 8 9

Jissenmag.com - 43

Chris Denwood is the Chief Instructor of theEikoku Satori Karate-Do Kyokai and a senior

instructor with the British Karate-Do Chojinkai. Formore information about his particular approach tokarate or to enquire about upcoming seminars etc,

please contact the E.S.K.K on 07801 531 914 or visitwww.eskk.co.uk where you can join their mailing list,

read similar articles and download useful media.

The photographs in this article show applications forthe opening sequence of Pinan Godan / Heian Godan

Kata and follow on from the photographs in part 1(see Jissen Issue 3).

10 11 12

13 14 15

16

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 & ymaa.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


The Way of Kata: Part 4by Kris Wilder & Lawrence Kane

This is the forth of several articles exploringthe hidden meaning of karate kata. This

material is an excerpt of various sections fromthe book The Way of Kata: A ComprehensiveGuide to Deciphering Martial Applications byLawrence Kane and Kris Wilder. The purpose ofthese articles is to unveil some of the methodsof analyzing and understanding kata applicationsto make them relevant and meaningful formodern karateka—both in self-defense and intournament conditions.

Principles of deciphering kata

In previous articles we briefly discussed someof the rules of kaisai no genri, the theory ofuncovering hidden techniques in kata, and havenow shifted our focus to some of the principlesthat form the philosophical context within whichvalid kata applications can be identified. Theseprinciples apply to most any martial art form thatuses kata, particularly striking arts such askarate. These principles differ from the rulespreviously discussed in that they apply broadlyto all techniques rather than to deciphering anindividual kata movement.

To put it another way, the aforementioned rulesare tactical in nature, deciphering practicalapplications from the specific movements of anyparticular kata. The principles we’ll delve into now,on the other hand, form a strategic context withinwhich practitioners can identify what types ofapplications work and thus weed out invalidinterpretations of bunkai (fighting applications)from any kata. In order to make full use the rules,one must understand the principles, thefoundation upon which they are built.

This article covers the fourth and fifth ofprinciples we will be examining throughout thisseries.

Principle 4 – Nerve strikes are “extra credit”

“When you attempt to execute a throw, joint lock,or some type of submission hold, size andstrength can play a major role in its effectiveness.If prior to applying the technique you are able tostrike or press a vital point, you can cause youropponent to lose the use of his limbs or become

unconscious. It would seem self-evident howvaluable this would be in self-defense situations.Once you have been able to incorporate vitalpoints into your particular martial art, you will besurprised how effective their addition will be.” –Rick Clark

According to acupuncture theory, there is adefinite flow of energy in the human body. Theenergy starts in the lung meridian and flows tothe large intestine, stomach, spleen, heart, smallintestine, bladder, kidney, pericardium, triplewarmer, and gall bladder, ending with the liver.The process is then started again and continuallymakes this circuit through the body over a twenty-four-hour period. Techniques from various katastrike, rub, or press these points to help disablean opponent.

Traditional Chinese Medicine divides the worldinto five elements that interact with each other:wood (liver and gall bladder), fire (heart and smallintestine), earth (stomach and spleen), metal(lung and large intestine), and water (bladder andkidney). Although acupuncture and acupressurework on the so-called “cycle of creation,” martialar ts are more focused on the “cycle ofdestruction,” hence studying how to causedamage using these same principles. In the cycleof destruction wood destroys earth, earthdestroys water, water destroys fire, fire destroysmetal, and metal destroys wood.

Jissen Magazine - 45


To elaborate further, wood destroys earth as atree’s roots burrow into the ground. Earth controlswater as a clay pot can contain liquids. Waterself-evidently extinguishes fire. Fire destroysmetal as in a forge. Metal destroys wood as asaw cuts through a board.

Although atemi waza (pressure pointtechniques) do not work against everyone,practitioners can usually cause maximumdamage using the least amount of force to anadversary using this method. For example, thelung meridian is considered metal, while the gallbladder meridian is considered wood. Sincemetal destroys wood, you would want to strike ametal point first, then a wood point. GrabbingLung 8 (metal) on an opponent’s wrist followedimmediately by striking Gall bladder 20 (wood)at the side of the neck can result in a knockout.Crossing the sides of the body is especiallypowerful.

Pressure points are rarely manipulated with astraight motion. In most cases practitioners willattack pressure points at a 45-degree angle. Asa general rule, the larger the person or the largerthe bone, the larger the vital point will be. Whendone properly, most people (more than 80percent) will react strongly to pressure pointtechniques. Some, perhaps 15 percent, will reactto some, but not all pressure points. There arealso a small number of individuals who do notrespond to most points at all, so practitionerscannot rely solely on this method to stop anattacker. It is best to think of it as an extra bonus.

In his article Pressure Points, acupuncturist/martial artist Bruce Everett Miller wrote, “Whilethe medical effects of acupuncture are very real,they are not usually of such magnitude that asingle point can stop a person who is attacking.The proof of this is not only in the observedeffects but also by the fact that professionalpractitioners of acupuncture use a combinationof points to create a healing effect. In almost allcases, a series of 3 to 5 points or more are usedand the points have to be stimulated for 3 to 30minutes to obtain the desired effects. So, ifprofessional practitioners of acupuncture needseveral points and sometimes several treatmentsat these points to cause their effects, how doyou expect to stop an attacking person with asingle (or even a couple) of acupuncture pointstrikes?”

For example, there is an excellent nerve bundle(Stomach 11) under the collarbone that causesextreme pain and buckles the knees of mostpeople. To access this point, curl your fingersaround the clavicle so that your fingertips dig inbehind it. For even greater effect, you can digyour thumb into the end of the collarbone whereit meets the suprasternal notch at the base ofyour opponent’s throat. While this point isgenerally not used in combat, it makes anexcellent demonstration example. Whendiscussing nerve techniques in class, we typicallyshow this particular application since it is easyto perform, gets an extreme reaction on almosteveryone, and can easily (and almost alwayssafely) be emulated by our students.

Over the years, this technique has alwaysworked successfully on every student in our kid’sclass without exception. Not so with the adults.We have one student named John for whom

Lung Meridian

Gall Bladder 20

Jissenmag.com - 47

perhaps one in eight nerve techniques are evereffective. Perhaps it is a high threshold of pain orperhaps he was simply born with less sensitivitythan other people, but although a few techniquesreally light him up the vast majority do absolutelynothing. This particular example does not workon him at all. Another student, Jason, seems tohave had his nerves surgically removed. On him,literally nothing works.

As you can see, nerve strikes simply do notwork on everyone. They also become much lesseffective if the recipient has trained to “seal up”certain points, has certain mental disorders, oris in an altered state of consciousness due todrugs and/or alcohol.

This is not just theoretical, however. Here is areal life example: Kane recalls an instance wherean out of control football fan was arrested, brokea pair of handcuffs trying to escape, and wassubsequently re-subdued by no less than tenpolice officers. “It was the only time I’ve seen agroup of officers resort to using their batons atthe stadium. That’s just not something you wantto do where it can be overseen by thousands ofwitnesses and might even be captured by one ofthe many television crews working the game. Forthe most part they applied extra mechanicalleverage rather than striking the guy to bring himback in line but it was no easy task. He simplyfelt no pain no matter what they did—pretty clearevidence that in certain situations you can onlyobtain control through mechanical force.”

In acupuncture you have to find an exact spotto place your needle to properly affect a nerve.

In acupressure, your fingertips have a slightlylarger area to work with. As stated earlier, hit ageneral area hard enough with a karate strikeand you will have a good chance of affecting thesurrounding nerves, assuming that youropponent has some propensity to react topressure point techniques, of course.Regardless, as previously mentioned, you simplycannot count on getting the reaction you desireevery time solely from the pressure point.

Some nerves are manipulated via strikes.Others take a rubbing or grinding movement.Others still, take pressure to stimulate.Regardless, these techniques require a lot ofstudy and research to fully understand. Pressurepoint techniques are an excellent addition to yourmartial repertoire, but you should not rely onthem alone.

Principle 5 – Work with the adrenaline rush,not against it

“As someone who has worked with thousandsof soldiers, I venture to say I am the only man onearth who was given a paratroop brigade to trainsingle-handedly, I have come to the firmconclusion that a rule I live by called the principleof uniformity is valid and critical for survival inconflict. I am convinced it can only help you underthe stress of conflict; it certainly cannot get youkilled. The principle of uniformity is actually onlya practical off-shoot of the time-honored conceptthat, ‘what you train is what you do under stress.’Under stress, we tend to do what we have beentrained to do.” – Eugene Sockut

Once a confrontation escalates into combat,adrenaline rushes through your system. Thisdramatically increases your pain tolerance andhelps you survive in fighting mode. This “fight orflight” reaction instantly supercharges your bodyfor a short period of time, increasing pulse rateand blood pressure, while making you faster,meaner, and more impervious to pain than everbefore. On the upside, embracing your fear in afight can help you survive, channeling youradrenaline rush into productive energy.

On the downside, the adrenaline rush severelylimits your fine motor skills and higher thoughtprocesses. It also supercharges your opponentwho will have an equal adrenaline rush! Thetechniques you employ in real combat, therefore,must be straightforward and simple to execute—

Stomach 11


requir ing neither fine coordination norcomplicated thought. They also must causeincapacitating physiological damage to stop adetermined aggressor who is hyped up on thenatural stimulant of adrenaline.

Proper techniques must take advantage ofnatural physiological reactions such as the flinch.Imagine a time when you were driving down thehighway and a rock hit your windshield, or, if youdo not drive, a time when a hornet buzzed pastyour ear. That natural flinch reaction sends yourhands racing toward the threat while your bodytries to get smaller or get out of the way. As wehave previously noted: hands rise, body drops.

This natural response is triggered in the lowestlevel of the brain. The primitive “lizard brain,” or(to be more scientific-like) the archipallium, is thecenter of self-preservation and aggression. Whena person feels threatened, the archipallium takesover. If it could talk, the lizard brain wouldarticulate its function with this simple statement:“Stay out of the way, I’ll handle this!” At this pointyou become a non-thinking reptile. You no longerthink; you simply act.

While the ancient masters may not haveunderstood brain chemistry as well as scientistsdo today, they were certainly very familiar withthe effects of adrenaline. None of their kata hadapplications that relied on fine motor skills to workproperly. Further, they trained realistically andrepeatedly such that high-level cognition was nolonger necessary. They reacted instinctively,utilizing preprogrammed techniques in a strategicand systematic manner.

For example, as most practitioners know, thereare a lot of grabs and pulls in karate kata. Mostdo not require (nor do they show) wrapping thepractitioner’s thumb around an opponent’s limbas a conventional grip might imply. Not only canit be difficult to get a solid grip in the heat of battlethat way, but your fingers may not find adequatepurchase on a fast moving, sweaty or bloody limb.Latching on high up on the arm (toward theelbow) then sliding your hand forcefully along ittoward the opponent’s wrist while progressivelytightening your hold is a reasonably good way tosecure a grip. Even so, it does not always work.

Rather than grabbing with the fingers, we oftenuse a hooking technique with the whole hand orexecute a similar pressing technique with the

palm. Either way this controls the opponentthrough downward pressure called muchimi or“sticky” hands. By pressing against an attacker’slimb and simultaneously dropping your bodyweight, you can drive an opponent toward theground whether or not you wrap your fingersaround his or her arm. This type of pull isgenerally much more effective than a traditionalgrabbing technique that requires a successfulwrap with your thumb.

Applications like muchimi work with theadrenaline rush, enhancing its benefits andminimizing its detractors. Trying to grab anopponent’s little finger to perform a lock in theheat of battle, on the other hand, would be justplain silly. Simple, straightforward techniques thatcan be executed using gross motor movementswith minimal thought are ideal. A great examplewould be cutting down a punch with muchimi totemporarily post an opponent’s weight whilesimultaneously blowing out his or her knee witha joint kick. Shift/block/strike/incapacitate—itreally is as simple as that.

Lawrence Kane is the author of MartialArts Instruction (2004) and Surviving ArmedAssaults (September, 2006). Kris Wilder is theauthor of Lessons from the Dojo Floor (2003).The two collaborated on The Way of Kata (2005),the book from which this information wassummarized. If you’d like to obtain a copy of TheWay of Kata book the easiest way is to order itfrom Amazon.uk. Lawrence can be contacted viae-mail at [email protected]. Kris can becontacted via e-mail at [email protected].

Kris Wilder Teaching Bunkai in the UK

Jissenmag.com - 49

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Forearmed for Combat:by Robert T. Tuohey

Strengthening and Hardening the Forearms for Martial Arts

The majority of karate and kung fu systemsdepend heavily, offensively and defensively,

upon arm-based techniques. In fact, someOkinawan and southern kung fu styles lean asmuch as 70% in this direction (i.e. punching andstriking, as well as trapping, parrying, andblocking with the arms). Herein, however, animportant point is concealed: these arm-basedtechniques all depend on strong and hardforearms.

For example, if you execute a punch or open-hand strike you must maintain the hand positionwhen contacting the target; if the hand formationcrumbles you only wind up damaging yourself(e.g. sprained or broken wrist, fingers, etc.).Again, trapping techniques, as used in WingChun or 7-Star Mantis, demand forearm power(Bruce Lee didn’t develop those baseball batforearms for the fun of it). To give an obviousexample, the “hard” blocking techniques used inmany Japanese karate systems are all butuseless without the conditioning to back themup.

Thus, training the forearms for martial arts issomewhat specialized. Certainly, such standardexercises as wrist curls with barbells are useful,but more than this is needed. In this article I willoutline a series of ten forearm exercisesespecially designed for martial arts improvement.

Exercises

As with all muscle groups, the forearms requirea variety of exercise types for optimal results.The following program includes isometric,isotonic, and impact (i.e. hardening) exercises.

Part I: Isometrics

Isometric exercises are particularly useful formartial arts forearm training in that not only isstrength developed but short-range snap isenhanced as well.

The general procedure for these isometrics isas follows: breathe deeply into the diaphragm,relaxing; then, breathing out, gradually exert

increasing pressure for 10 seconds, reachingmaximum tension at the last moment. Finally,relax, shaking the hands loosely for two or threeseconds, then repeat the exercise.

Spider-Web: As shown spread the fingers ofboth hands as widely as possible, using buildingdynamic tension for ten seconds.

Goose-Neck: With the elbows parallel to theribcage, bend the wrists down toward the innerside of the forearm, as if trying to touch the foreknuckles to the inner wrist.

Leopard: The Leopard works the forearms inthe opposite direction of the Goose-Neck. Asshown, forms the hands into the leopard’s pawsposition, pulling the hands back toward the outerforearms.

Jissenmag.com - 51

Crush: Utilize a sturdy staff. Grip it palms down,forearms parallel to the waist. With increasingstrength, try to crush the wood in your grip.

Part II: Isotonics

Isotonics are, simply, resistance exercises. Theonly equipment needed for this section will be,again, a good staff, and a red-brick.

Tiger Claw Curl: Seat yourself, placing bothelbows on knees with palms up; grip a commonred-brick with the tips of the fingers, in tiger-clawfashion. The correct grip is very important: donot use the palms or the lower section of thefingers, but only the finger tips. Slowly, from theposition shown in photo A, curl the block up tothe position shown in photo B. Only the wristsmove.

Tiger Claw Complete

Tiger Claw Start

Palm Up Claw Curl: Again using a common redbrick, balance the elbow on the knee with theforearm and hand in palm up position; again, thegrip uses the finger tips only. With wrist actionalone, curl the block as shown.

Palm Up Claw Curl Start

Palm Up Claw Curl Complete

Staff-Walk: Stand, holding the staff at arm’slength from the body; the grip is with the pads ofthe fingers only. Using the thumb and fingers ina spider-like action, crawl the staff up throughyour grasp, until you reach the end. Flip the staffover and repeat.

52 - Jissen Magazine52 - Jissen Magazine

Part III: Impact Training

As remarked, a martial artist’s forearms needtoughness as well as strength. In short, thismeans being able to bear the brunt of repeatedimpacts.

The best known drill for hardening the forearmsis simply performing strong blocking actionsagainst a partner’s attacks. For this, however, notonly is a partner required, but also the attacksdemand a certain amount of speed in order tocarry any force (i.e. if the speed is reduced sotoo is the impact). Thus, very often, what startedas a forearm conditioning drill turns into atechnique drill. With these considerations I mind,I offer the two following exercises which can beperformed alone.

Cross-Hit: The hands are to the front, roughlytwo feet apart, the top hand at 11 o’clock, bottomhand at 4 o’clock. With a sharp, snapping action,hit the edges of the forearms together, Reversethe position of the arms and repeat.

Butterfly: With the arms extended at waist level,the goal of this exercise is simply to open andclose the hands as rapidly as possible for theduration of one minute. The action should be lightand quick: count the reps – you should manageabout three per second, which will give you about180 per minute. It is important that the hands befully opened and fully closed during each rep.

Butterfly Hand Positions

Cross-Hit Start

Cross-Hit FinishForearm Striking: Standing to the side of themakiwara, with an action similar to an inside-outside block, hit the board with the inside-edgeof the forearm. Be sure to use kime (focus). Re-cock to the starting position, then strike the boardwith the outside-edge of the forearm. This is onerep.

Jissenmag.com - 53

Suggested Training Schedule

First, it should be understood, that a high-levelof forearm development will take years of training.The exercises given above, and the schedulesoutlined below, are thus meant as a foundationupon which to build.

According to classical exercise theory, certainkey areas of the body (e.g. heart, abdominals)should be trained five days per week for bestresults. Due to their natural resiliency, theforearms are included in this “daily group”. Thebeginner, however, should not adopt this routineuntil at least six months of three days per week(e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday) has beenaccomplished.

Basic Forearms Training Program

For at least six months, on three alternate daysper week, follow the training schedule below.Forearm exercises are done after your other

Inside-Edge Strike Outside-Edge Strike

strength exercises are finished.

Isometrics: Perform the isometrics in the ordergiven: Spider-web, Leopard’s paws, Goose-neck,and Crush. One Cycle is one set. Perform threesets.

Isotonics: The Tiger Claw and Vertical curlsshould be done for three sets of six, graduallybuilding up to 12. The Staff-Walk should be donefor one set of two reps, building up to five. TheButterfly is done for one set of one minute.

Impact: Cross-Hit Two sets of 50, increasing to1x100. Forearm Strike Two sets of 15, increasingto 4x25

Important: Readers are strongly encouragedto seek out the advice of a physical healthprofessional before engaging in this or any otherexercise program. All activities are undertakenentirely at your own risk.

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!


Creating Kata: Historical Precedentsby Dave Nielsen

Karate as we know it today is not as old as one would think. The meeting of the

Okinawan Karate masters was held in Naha,Okinawa on October 25th, 1936 at the town’smeeting hall. Its purpose was to figure out howto keep the karate tradition from Okinawa pureas some were teaching and learning Karateincorrectly on mainland Japan. Gichen Funakoshiwas in Japan from the early 1920’s trying topromote karate and had already written at leasttwo books on the subject. It was a meeting onhow to best preserve the Okinawan tradition ofToudi Jutsu in pre war Japan.

At this time, modern styles where being namedby some of the Masters who studied under whatyou and I would call “true” masters today. Forexample, Motobu Choki, Miyagi Chojun,Hanashiro Chomo, Kyan Chotoku, ChinbanaChosin, and Kiyoda Juhatsu were all at thismeeting and many of them were taught by thegreat masters. For instance Kiyoda Juhatsu andMiyagi Chojun were both taught by HigashionnaKanryo and founded the styles of Toon Ryu andGoju Ryu respectively. Chibana Chosin wastaught by Itosu Anko and first termed the phraseShorin Ryu. Hanashiro Chomo and KyanChotoku were both disciples of the legendaryBushi Matsumara and were extremely prominentmasters in their own right. Additionally, MotobuChoki, the most controversial and notoriousKarateka of his time learned from whichevermaster would teach him and eventually foundedthe style known today as Motobu Ryu. (1)

Modern styles were just starting to develop inorder to teach a larger number of students atone time. Karate was becoming a group dynamicinstead of just an individual’s fighting system.Students were learning more then one kata (orfighting system) for preservation purposes andthe modern masters who named and developedtheir own styles were creating their own kata forthem.

You read that last statement correctly. It’s worthrepeating again. Students were learning morethen one kata (fighting system) for preservationpurposes and the modern masters who named

and developed their own styles were creatingtheir own kata for them. Miyagi created the kataGeki Sai Dai Ichi and Geki Sai Dai Ni as well asTensho. Nagamini Shoshin (founder ofMatsubayashi Shorin Ryu), developed FukyuKata Ichi. True, the Geki Sai and Fukyu kata weresimpler and for training students to become morefamiliar with the art, but the kata Tensho is amaster breathing kata. Additionally, MabuniKenwa created at least eight to ten kata of hisown for his new style of Shito Ryu. A couple ofthese are named Matsukazi and Shihokosukun.These kata are not for beginners. Other kata fromthe new styles were split in two sections, aneasier and harder version. For instance, two suchkata are Bassai Sho and Bassai Dai.

A quick review shows us that we still have 34years to go before modern karate and namedstyles reaches the ripe old age of 100 or 24 yearsif you take the time Funakoshi went to Japaninto consideration. We can also see that someof our most famous traditional masters duringthis time created some kata. Keeping this in mindwe must realize that people like Miyagi andMabuni must have learned how to createtraditional kata from their teachers. Mabuni is stillsaid to be a kata genius. They either learned theformula or figured it out on their own in order tocreate their kata for each of their styles.

I submit to you, the reader, that it is possible toeffectively put together your own fighting system(kata) in the traditional manner. By studying how

Jissenmag.com - 55

reverse engineering works and what the Rulesof Kasai are, we can create our own kata today.

Now, I’m not talking about fancy forms done tomusic with splits and summersaults that we seein sport karate competitions today. I’m speakingabout the real traditional style of piecing your ownfighting system together to be an effectivetraditional kata to remember your own fightingsystem that you developed. There is a formulato do this, and based on the creation of severalkata for their styles of Shito Ryu and Goju Ryu,Mabuni and Miyagi are just two of the masterswho knew how to do it.

Nowhere in the study of karate has anyresearcher found any written records on just howto form or create a kata. However, as mentionedabove, there are hints to show us that some ofthe modern masters knew how to do this. Whytheir methods were not handed down to us willprobably always remain a mystery, but one couldmake some educated guesses as to why.

First, there are overwhelming amounts of katathat have been handed down to us and areavailable to learn. Each is its own fighting systemand can take many years to learn given that wehave no concrete way of knowing the originalcreator’s uses for the techniques that we takeout of it. Second, we are so busy reverseengineering the known kata to discover thefighting techniques in them that we don’t needto worry about our own. I disagree with both ofthese points although they are both solid andvalid.

Creating kata in a traditional manner can beeffectively done. One must focus on the wordtraditional and realize that somewhere somethinghad to be passed down in order to keep thetradition alive. After all, this was a big part of the“Meeting of the Karate Masters” spoken aboutabove.

In his book “Goju Ryu II, Advanced Techniquesof Shorei Kan Karate”, the late Goju Ryu MasterSeikichi Toguchi revealed that his instructorMiyagi Chojun had passed down the Rules ofKasai to him. He then goes on to explain the firstthree or main rules in the book but silently keepsthe other nine to himself. Toguchi Sensei statesthat these rules are used for pulling out the manyand varied techniques from the kata. This is thefirst time any where in print that we have arevealed source to the mystery of traditional kata.And they come from Miyagi himself. Toguchisensei didn’t live long enough to publish the othernine rules of Kasai but two of his indirect studentsdid. In their book “The Way of Kata” bothLawrence Kane and Kris Wilder published thecomplete twelve Rules of Kasai and explain eachone in great detail. By studying these rules ofreverse engineering to discover techniques withinany traditional kata, one can see a pattern startto develop on how to create your own kata. Thisquite simply was the starting point for myresearch which led me to write the book CreatingKata (published by Lulu media and available atwww.Lulu.com).

I do not count myself as any kind of equal withthe great past masters by creating my own kata.What I do offer though is a well researched


formula for us to create our own today. Creatinga kata does not mean that it is brilliant or that itwill stand the test of time. Only future generationscan decide that. Creating kata does give us aframework or blue print though on how it mostprobably was done.

If one decides to take a look at my researchand tries to create their own fighting system(kata) there can only be benefits to it. Five ofthem are listed here.

1 - Knowledge is power.

2 - Reaching the goal is superior to thegoal itself.

3 - Properly creating your own kata inthe ancient way continues the correcttradition.

4 - It motivates you to learn more kata.

5 - Your overall karate ability will improve.

When looked at more closely the five pointslisted above can be applied to many differentthings. That’s why they are good points to make.These five points are the motivational points. Inorder to effectively create your own kata though,

you must begin as always with your basics andutilizing them to create your own self defensetechniques. After all, kata is the form that bringsyour self-defence techniques together. Thetechniques themselves protect and keep youalive. This is the starting point to effective katacreation.

# 1 - Although this was his original family style that hewas not able to learn because of his second born status,he did pass his karate to his sons and they in turn haveput a video out by Tsunami Videos entitled “Motobu Ryu”,and Choki Motobu himself wrote a book entitled OkinawanKempo published in English in 1995 by MastersPublications which includes his kata Naihanchi and hisself defense techniques.

For more information on how to create atraditional kata, feel free to visit my site at

www.usatka.com. My book “Creating Kata” can bepurchased at any major book seller or direct fromthe publisher at www.lulu.com. I look forward toyour thoughts and ideas as well as commentsthrough my web site or newsletter. A special

thanks as always to Mr. Iain Abernethy for theforeword to my book, and to Lawrence Kane andKris Wilder for their permission to utilize some oftheir material from their book “The Way of Kata”

Jissenmag.com - 57

Wordsby J. W. Titchen

Sticks and stones may break my bones butwords can never hurt me. Whoever came up

with that particular saying would be shocked byhow false it seems in the modern world. I’m surethat every coach/instructor/teacher orbusinessman/woman reading that phrase is onlytoo aware of how damaging words can be. Ofcourse, in theory reputations can be salvagedthrough litigation, but as has also been observed;a word once uttered flies away beyond recall.

My opening phrase is not about litigationthough. It is the adage that verbal abuse cannotharm compared with physical abuse. In this dayand age of psychological study we can see thefiction in this as well as the truth, and those of usthat work in coaching are keenly aware thatverbal bullying can be as great a problem asphysical bullying. What may remain a closed bookto a number of instructors is that suffering verbalabuse can lead to an increased risk of physicalharm.

I’m not talking about psychological trauma andself-harming here, but the damage that verbalabuse can do to our immediate physical state ina self defence situation. Like any instructor thatreads this magazine I train my students to makeappropriate physical responses to attacks, andthis method of training is most likely theexperience of every student who reads thispublication too. I also teach my students pre-emptive striking techniques based upon theirassessment of the probability of violence – inother words if they are unable to make a retreatand sense that their attempts to verbally de-escalate the situation are failing, and it is theirhonest belief that they are about to be hit, I trainthem to hit first. In this approach I may fall into asmaller group of instructors. In addition to this Ihave my students verbally abuse one another inrole play simulations prior to the physical drill –and here I imagine I fall into a tiny minority.

So, why add in a verbal element to physicalpractise? This comes down to your trainingrationale. If you are training in a martial art forthe love of the competitive element involved, thenyou would naturally spend the majority of your

time learning to fight or perform within the ruleset of your chosen competition – drilling andsparring in attacks, defences and tactics usedthere. If however you are training in your chosenart for the purpose of self defence you are likelyto want to spend your time drilling and defendingagainst habitual acts of violence (haov). That isa logical step to take. But the majority of fightsdo not start with a push, a haymaker, a grab or aheadbutt – they start with an argument, amisinterpreted glance or jostle, a demand or acon tactic.

As an example I used to do an Empi baseddrill where a person was pinned against a wallby their throat and threatened by and attacker’sfist. Students quickly became able to break outof this position using a combination of high and


low movements. When the exercise speed wasincreased, and their attacker protected with bodyarmour so as to take full physical contact, theycontinued to be able to do it. Then I had theattacker put their face only a hand’s length awayfrom their ‘victim’ and shout “What the f*** areyou f****** looking at, you f****** piece of s***.I’m going to f****** smash your f****** face in!”Suddenly the drill fell apart, the victim froze andthe technique was executed after a delay andwith less conviction – if at all. The impact of theverbal abuse reduced the ability of the victim toaccess the gross motor skills they had previouslybeen employing and left them vulnerable tophysical attack.

Some people might note the over-use of the Fword in the above phrase and I should stressthat students chose their own language. We havebecome used to this and other words andprobably use them ourselves under our breathor out loud, but rarely up close. We see and hearaggressive language in television drama and itdoesn’t really affect us. Up close it is a differentstory. I suspect that the F word in particular ispowerful up close because of the contortion itgives to the face, exposing the teeth in anunaccustomed way and shortening the nose. Thecombination of the volume of the shout and theprimal (almost gorilla like) visual display gives itpower and its aggressive use can sapconfidence, awareness and conviction.

Gradually my students became accustomed tothe verbal posturing. After they experienced itabout five times on the trot they were back toabout 50% effectiveness, a percentage thatgradually increased with more exposure. Butimagine what might happen to you if you nevertrained this scenario. What if you only did yourtechniques in a sterile environment? How certainare you that you would cope, that you wouldn’t‘shut down’, that you would remain calm? Theimpact of words on our mental state should notbe under-estimated.

What became clear from the performance ofthese drills was that although the majority ofstudents had a low level of adrenaline runningthrough their system during class, and hadexperienced high rushes of adrenaline in otheractivities, they were simply not prepared for theimpact such intense verbal pressure had on theirphysiology. In this and in other drills many were

caught out by the fact that their unconsciousreaction was to step backwards and away fromthe noise, others by the difficulty they had tryingto speak whilst their digestive system hadtemporarily shut down. As with normal physicaldrills, repeated exposure brought acceptance,confidence, and an increased ability to maintaindialogue – a key factor in trying to avoid conflict.

The Kiai used in paired kumite incorporatesan aspect of this verbal assault, but I would stressthat its effect at close range is insignificantcompared to personal insults and threats. Someinstructors might feel that they can’t do suchthings, even if they would like, because of theyouth element of their classes. You will find thatit is possible to work these scenarios withoutusing ‘swear words’ per se; “Get back to whereyou came from!” is an unpleasant thing to saywith the proper inflection, as is the challenge“what are you looking at?” I would actuallyadvocate the use of such drills with classesinvolving children, simply because although wemight try and pretend it doesn’t exist, verbalbullying of this kind does occur and can frightenyoung people. Preparing young people for it canhelp prevent problems and fights (at that age).

Whether you incorporate drills of this kindalongside your physical practise boils down to asimple question – do you want to teachsomething that is useful for self defence? Ourphysical skills are of no use for self defence ifthey cannot be accessed under pressure, andthat pressure can come as much from having toprocess the visual and aural stimuli of asustained verbal assault as any physical assault.

Coach John Titchen teaches DefenceAttack & Resolution Tactics to students,

education professionals and corporate clientsand can be reached via his website

www.d-a-r-t.org.uk, e mail [email protected] is an accredited Coach with the National

Federation for Personal Safety and is availableto teach seminars in self protection, use of

force and the law, restraint and Karate Bunkai.The author’s book, Heian Flow System -

Effective Karate Kata Bunkai, is available onAmazon and from all good bookshops.

Jissenmag.com - 59

As a student the author enjoyed the power and grace of kata but was frustrated by the lack of intelligentexplanation available for the use of the techniques. The bunkai that resembled the kata was awkward andimplausible while the bunkai that seemed effective looked nothing like the actual movements in the kata.Convinced that the movements must have had some form of combat effectiveness originally, he decided tostudy, cross train and look out of the box himself to find an answer, an answer that led to the drills in thisbook.

This book takes the 5 Heian Kata and breaks them down into progressively dynamic training and sparringdrills to teach students how to effectively counter the habitual acts of street violence. The drills all initiatefrom movements that simulate the body’s natural primal and protective flinch responses to attacks, andteach students how to close and create distance while moving freely between ballistic and grapplingtechniques incorporating close range striking, trapping, throwing, unbalancing and locking movements thatmirror the forms. Each drill is clearly illustrated with photos and explanatory text. The drills interlink so thatstudents quickly find themselves able to move freely from one Kata to another mid attack and defence torespond to the scenario created by their partner. The book also contains a detailed analysis of techniqueeffectiveness, an outline of the history of the forms and a discussion of the nature of violent crime and itsimplications for martial arts practice.

This book shows how to change kata from a sterile solo exercise into a dynamic form that belongs at theheart of your training. Whether you are interested in competition fighting or want to learn effective selfdefence, the drills in this book will improve your understanding of kata, timing, distance and repertoire.Heian Flow System will not only change the way you perceive these ‘training’ forms, but also the way you approach all kata.

The author has trained in several martial arts and presently holds instructor grades in four separate systems. In addition to martial arts classes hehas taught in secondary education, university and the military. His research training as a Doctor of History has always focused his approach to Karate;searching for effective answers to the question of bunkai. He is known for his practical approach to Karate training through his regular column inTraditional Karate Magazine and has taught seminars across the UK and in the USA. In addition to his writing and research he works as a senior officerin the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve Training Branch and teaches seminars across the UK between running two dedicated Personal Safety clubsin Buckinghamshire, England

“I recommend the careful study of this work” - Bill Burgar“Dr. Tichen’s current work adds to the body of knowledge of the martial arts and

in particular to those who study the Heian Kata” - Rick Clark“The books that I enjoy are the ones that I feel genuinely add something to the discussion and come at things from

previously unexplored angles. This is one of those books.” - Iain Abernethy

HEIAN FLOW SYSTEM: effective karate kata bunkai

Available from Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk

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


by Matthew Miller

The Bunkai of Basics: Part Two

In the first part of this series (see Jissen 1 –Ed), I tried to provide some justification for

deriving applications for basic techniques, andthen moved on to present a series of possibleapplications for the head block.

In this part, I will present further examples fora basic technique – the down block. Firstly,however, there is another area with basics thatis worthy of examination.

As I stated in the first part of this series, I believethat the kata and hence the basics are used tocommunicate pr inciples rather than justtechniques. This is what allows the relatively shortform of a Kata containing an entire fightingsystem, and naturally leads to the conclusion thateach movement can have a variety of derivedapplications.

This makes sense, but how can this variety ofapplications be unlocked? It can be difficult tolook beyond the surface of the technique, or thedescription often applied to it, but there are anumber of approaches that can help this process,some of which are presented here.

Unlocking the Applications

When approaching a particular technique, if youare struggling to find additional applications,consider the following:-

1 - What is the opponent doing?

This is probably the most common approach tochanging the application of a technique, andoften yields very successful results and can beapplied fairly systematically. Simply consider theuse of the technique against a list of commonoffensive techniques. The basic techniques willvery often have useful applications against manyif not all of these.

2 - Where is the opponent?

Consider the effect of moving the opponent, bothin terms of distancing and orientation. The sametechnique can appear to have very differentapplications if the opponent is moved fromdirectly in front, one metre away to behind andgrabbing you. What appear to be strikingtechniques develop grappling applications if theopponent is moved much closer in.

Figure 1 – The first moves of Pinan Nidan providea good example of both of these two points. A

strike from the front yields one application for thismove – an interception followed by a wrist lock.

The punch that follows in the kata would continuethis to a throw or wrist break.

Move the opponent to the rear, grabbing over theshoulders, and a completely different one is

revealed. The defender raises the arms and lowersthe body to release the grip. The left arm is then

used to control the attacker’s left arm, and the rightelbow strikes the solar plexus

Jissenmag.com - 61

5 - What is the weapon?

Since most karateka train predominantly inballistic techniques using the fist, this tends tobe what they see first in all techniques. Bychanging the weapon being considered, this candramatically alter the application. In many casesthis can be as simple as moving the point ofcontact from the fist to the arm, turning a strikeinto a throw or lock, but also consider whetherthe hand form can be altered – from a fist to apalm, for example. Also consider the other parts

3 - What body movement is associated withthe technique?

It is easy to get fixated on the small movementsof a technique – what the hand form is, wherethe arm is directed, for example. Insight can oftenbe gained by concentrating more on the overallbody movement, since this determines thedirection and nature of the force generated.Consider which direction the body moves in,whether the final and intermediate positions shiftthe body weight forwards or backwards, whetherthere is a turn associated with the movement.These aspects can change a technique with thesame name into one with a totally differentapplication.

4 - What happens before (and after)?

While this article is concerned with applicationsfor single techniques, when examining them inthe context of kata, the previous and subsequentmovements often give an insight into theapplication. This can then be used to inform theapplication for the movement in isolation too.

Figure 2 – Manypunches in thekata are carried

out from the fronthand completewith a full stepthrough. Whilst

this can beinterpreted

straightforwardlyas a punch, thebody movementalso allows the

use of thistechnique as a

very effective armbar takedown.

Figure 3 – The signature sequence of five movesfrom Wanshu illustrates this perfectly, providing twodiffering applications for the downblock that can be

found by considering what happens before andafter. The first downblock is followed by a head

punch. This suggests that the downblock is a groinstrike, opening up the opponent’s head for this

technique. At the end of the sequence, a downblockfollows from an unusual cross-legged punch.

Looked at in this context, the downblock can beinterpreted as a throw following this groin strike.


of the body that can be used in the technique.The front knee in a forward stance provides avery useful striking surface if the head or spineis driven into it by a technique!

Down Block – The basic technique

The basic technique is performed in a frontstance. The front knee is bent and the footstraight forward, whilst the back leg is straightwith the back foot angled out at 45o. The feet areshoulder width apart.

The rear hand is held in a fist, palm upwards,against the hip. The front arm is held straight,with the first rotated palm downwards and slightlyoutside the front thigh. The angle of the front armshould be the same as the front thigh..

When stepping, the back hand is first raiseddirectly to the opposite shoulder, with the palmfacing the cheek. The back foot moves directlyforward whilst the hips and front foot are keptstraight forward. This causes the heel of the frontfoot to progressively rise as it transitions into theback foot.

At the completion of the step, the hips aretwisted and the heel dropped so the foot pointsat 45o. The arm raised to the shoulder is rotateddownwards to the position described above,whilst the extended arm is drawn directlybackwards, rotating so that the hand returns tothe hip with the palm upwards.

Bunkai

As with the head block described in the first partof this series, the first application is both simpleand effective. The downward arm is driven intothe groin of the opponent, accelerated by thestep forward and hip twist. When applied as apre-emptive strike, the large preparatorymovement of the hand to the shoulder can beshortened allowing less telegraphing of thetechnique.

Figure 4 – The outer block seen in kata such asPassai and Kushanku can be re-interpreted by

considering the use of the elbow, rather than theforearm or hand of this technique.

6 - What else am I doing?

Again, in most techniques, the focus tends to beupon one limb, as is usually indicated by thename of the technique – front punch, rear legkick. It is rare, however, that this is the only partof the body moving. Consider what the otherlimbs are doing at the same time, and whetherthis implies a different application. A commonexample of this is the pulling hand, or hikite, usedin most hand strikes. This has enormous utilityas a means of control, clearing obstructions andpositioning the opponent for follow up strikes.

These are by no means all the aspects toconsider, but do provide a start point for derivingapplications – for more detail, Bunkai Jutsu byIain Abernethy provides a much more thoroughanalysis of this approach.

Below, applications derived using this sort ofapproach are presented for the downblock. Thisis a very fundamental movement used frequentlythroughout karate. As with the section above,however, this is only intended as a basicintroduction to the applications for this technique.Rick Clarks excellent “75 down blocks” doesexactly what it says and presents 75 applicationsfor this movement, and so for a more thoroughand detailed analysis of this particular technique,I would highly recommend this book.

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As a pre-emptive strike this has a number ofvirtues. The groin is obviously a very sensitivearea, and an effective strike here may well endthe fight. The movement does not require a highdegree of skill to perform, and so can quickly beassimilated.

An obvious counter to this is the natural instinctthat most people, particularly men, have toprotect the groin. Instinctively, many people willflinch to cover the groin, and possibly attempt tograb the striking limb. However, this predictableresponse can be utilised, as is often seen in katasequences. The flinch reaction generally bringsthe head forwards and lowers the hands,presenting an un-impeded path to striking. Thesequence from Wanshu detailed above is anexample of this, but similar sequences can beseen further into Wanshu (where a down blockis used as a ‘softening’ strike prior to moving infor a throw), and in Pinan Shodan (where a downblock strike to the groin is followed by a headblock strike to the face (neatly tying together thetwo first parts of this article!).

This first application makes use of the bodymovement, as point one above suggests – andlooks at the techniques after as point foursuggests. If we now move the opponent indistance and orientation, we have another seriesof techniques, mainly based around unbalancingand throws.

If the opponent is much closer, then the directstepping downblock can be used to throw. Thefront leg steps behind the opponents legs,blocking a step back, and the arm drives fromthe shoulder across the neck and throat. Thisarches the back and throws the opponent to thefloor – or alternatively onto the front knee, givinga strike to the spine.

Groin StrikeBreak Balance

Spine attack using knee


Moving yet closer in, so that the opponent isalmost directly alongside, the preparatorymovement for the block travels around the backof the opponent’s neck, grasping the chin andthrowing using a neck twisting movement.

These are examples of some of theapplications for this technique, and hopefullyillustrate the use of the points listed above inuncovering alterative approaches to the samebasic movement. As I have said before, however,these are not the correct, the best or thecomplete applications by any means, and a greatdeal can be learnt about the techniques byworking on applications of your own.

I hope you enjoyed this article – I will becontinuing the series, “Bunkai for Basics” soon.

A further variation of this particular techniquemakes use of the turning downlock often seen in

kata – the preparatory movement is made with theback hand, rising to grasp the back of the collar oraround the neck of the opponent. The body is then

rotated and the block completed to throw.

By moving the striking surface of the downblock(point five above), another application of thistechnique is unearthed. When the wrist isgrasped in a cross hand manner (left to right,right to left), angle off to forty five degrees (asoften seen with downblock in kata), and rotatethe grabbed hand to hikite, reversing the graband controlling the opponents arm. The forearmof the downblocking arm then rolls down andaround the opponents elbow joint around thetriceps tendon, driving the opponent downwardallowing either a follow up strike or a throw:-

An alternative approach is to use this sametechnique as a method of stripping the grab, andthen transferring the grasp to the other hand. Inthis case, the hikite is performed moreaggresively to remove the grab, and then thedownblock carries the limb across and controlsit in position. This allows the follow up strike:-

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Taekwon-do’s Black Holeby Stuart Anslow

Applications, above and beyond the standard punch, kick, block variety with regards to

the patterns of Taekwon-do are still in its infancywith regards to learning and teaching them.Though still only taught as standard in a fewschools, this is changing and the movement formore realistic interpretations is growing rapidly.

However, some still choose to stick to thestance that if General Choi didn’t say it was so,then there cannot be more to the patterns thanhas already been taught orwhat is listed in the manuals.This is either their firm beliefor a resistance to it as it wouldmean having to admit there ismore to Taekwon-do patternsthan they know or cancurrently teach!

Either way, this doesn’tchange what I’m about to say,as Taekwon-do is like anonion, the more layers youpeel away, the more in-depthand interesting it becomes.

This ar ticle refers toapplications that can be foundwithin the Taekwon-dopatterns and not Taekwon-doas a whole as there are things that influencedTaekwon-do the art (as a whole) and there arethings that purely influenced the patterns. ForTaekwon-do the art, there are any number ofinfluences, this is clear from my own research ofthe Ch’ang hon system and though Taekwon-dois by and large influenced by Shotokan, it alsohas influence in varying degrees and guises fromJudo, Hapkido, Taek Kwon and other arts.

However, the patterns of Ch’ang Hon are, byand large, influenced by Shotokan (with WTFpatterns being influenced by Ch’ang Hon andthus by design, also Shotokan) and not otherarts. They have the Korean twist on them, butthey are still following the same template ofShotokan and it is this area and this area alonethat we are talking about here.

The black hole referred to in the title is also ablack hole in Karates history, which in turn hashad a major effect on Taekwon-do and this is inregards to Karate Kata, and kata applications. Itisn’t just a belief, but fact backed up by lots ofresearch and evidence, both by myself and wellestablished Karate researchers.

According to author and Shotokan historianBruce Clayton, he offers a theory that pre-Shotokan Karate (Okinawa-te) was the art

practiced only by the palaceguards for defence of the Kingof Okinawa and as such it wastop secret. The king died in1879 and thus the ‘officialsecrecy’ sworn by all whostudied was dissolved.Reading Claytons work seemsto offer that most of thoseworking in the palace hadnormal jobs, but, in times ofdefence of the king, sprunginto action as body guards andprotectors. Matsumura was apalace body guard, his studentItsou worked in the palace also(as a scribe and thus perhapshad a similar role in times oftrouble) and Gichen

Funakoshi (the man responsible for introducingKarate to mainland Japan) was a student of Itsou.The way I read it seemed to imply that Funakoshiwas a body guard in training, but was not a fullbodyguard and as such had not learnt the fullbody guarding system, and when the king died,his training was not completed as it was no longerrequired in its initial role. So its possible thatFunakoshi had learnt Itsou’s kata , but not thefine details, which were only filled in when a bodyguard was to take it up as an official duty/joband then sworn to the same secrecy of theothers. So Funakoshi didn’t learn the finer detailsof the patterns, just the shell of punch, kick andblock!

Another point to consider is that following theKings death, it is known that Master Itsou set

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about redesigning the Karate system for theOkinawan schools, giving it a less lethalapproach by utilizing blocks rather than grab/break techniques. Many karate-ka feel this is themain reason for losing the lethal bunkai, due toits solid historical grounding. Funakoshi then tookKarate to Japan in the same modeas Itsou’s “school system”, thus in-depth/dangerous applications didn’ttravel across from Itsou toFunakoshi, Itsou to the schools orOkinawa to Japan. The buckstopped with Itsou and started againwith Funakoshi in a different guise.

Not all Karate-ka are happy withthis reasoning and offer plausiblealternatives, which do not changethe facts, just the reasons. Some feelthat Funakoshi did indeed learn themore deadly applications butperhaps the oppressed (Okinawans)didn’t want to teach the oppressorstheir system, so again, gave themthe “school system” or that when itcame to Japan, the younger menwanted to test themselves byfighting and Funakoshi deplored thatand thus ensured the most deadliestof applications remained hiddenfrom (in the words of one Karatehistorian) these “hot blooded youngmales” as they wanted to testthemselves via fighting and thus thesport side developed and the moremartial side declined. Funakoshihimself was also promoting the ‘Do’side of martial arts, as a way ofbettering oneself first and foremost;hence other side of the art wasrelegated lower down the league (soto speak).

There is also evidence to supportthat it’s only since 1901 that kata/patterns were used as a masstraining system for large groups. Originally, beforeItsou introduced them to the schools of Okinawa,kata were a more personal thing. One instructorwould teach one or two students his kata, theywould then amend and change the kata to suittheir own fighting style and so on. Uniformedgroup practice is another area that has travelled

across from country to country, when in fact, thiswasn’t the original intention, but again, as mostwere unaware of this it continued in this vein asthe ‘correct way’ when in fact is may not havebeen meant to be this way at all.

Karate (and thus Taekwon-do)borrowed/stole a lot of ideas fromJudo. Judo was already a popularmartial art in Japan and whenKarate came across the instructorsnoticed its popularity and over time,borrowed heavily from it; a uniformfor all students, making them equalwas borrowed, known as the ‘gi’ orin Taekwon-do’s case, the ‘Dobok’,the ranking system was borrowed,making everything more definedand less personable, as a level andcriteria for each grade was nowrequired and this became moreformalised as time passed, longkata were split, time between rankswas lessoned and removed the oldideas of training one kata for manyyears, competition formats wereborrowed from Judo (such as ideaof ippon (full point) and wazari (halfpoint) scoring for kumite). Kata asa competitive field came a little lateras kumite focus became popularand a decline in the practice of katawas noticed, so it too wasintroduced in a competitive formatin order to give an incentive tostudents to keep practicing theirkata alongside the kumite side. Todo so meant a level playing field wasneeded in order to judge them, sofor patterns/kata this was simply theshell of patterns, the aesthetic sideof them, which is how they aremostly performed today. However,the biggest ideal borrowed fromJudo shifted the balance

considerably, from training as a means of defenceto training as a means to character development,the ‘Jutsu’ became the ‘Do’ and that is anotheritem carried forward onto Taekwon-Do, withGeneral Choi emphasizing the ‘Do’ aspect evenfurther still. Jutsu (musul in Korean) meanstechnique method or skill, Do on the other hand

Gichen Funakoshi (above)in the ready posture for

Kasanku (Kanku) kata, withGeneral Choi below in a

similar position for some ofTaekwon-do black belt

patterns, such as Kwang-Gae tul!

refers to the ‘way’ or the journey through the artand how it affects the student (for the better).

Whatever version of events in modern Karate’sformative years you chose to go with, they donot change how it affected Taekwon-do and whythere’s a black hole within it! Karatemay have travelled from Okinawa toJapan and then to Korea and that iswhat Taekwon-do was based uponoriginally, however, the finer detailsof kata, for one reason or another,were not transmitted across as onlythe basic building blocks of katawere. These were remodeled bymany Karate systems and of courseTaekwon-do itself, however, theywere still used/modeled with thesame outlook as Funakoshi had (orgave) and thus the punch/kick/blockvariety of kata/patterns continued invarious forms and guises, all thewhile carry within them the buildingblocks for a deeper understandingof the techniques they contain, withmost not even realising it.

Anyone who was instrumental informing kata from 1901 to 1998(give or take) used the FunakoshiShotokan model (I’m referring toTaekwon-do & Karate here),therefore, they were all based onthe punch/kick/block mentality, butall carried with them the buildingblocks to make them more than thesum of their parts - if they hadveered away from this, it wouldn’thave been possible in the sameway, but they didn’t and so here weare today, but know armed with thetools, knowledge andunderstanding to utilize them asthey were originally designed to be used.

So when I discuss masters not knowing thedeeper applications to patterns, I am not referringto a single master, but to all that fall into the timeperiod above. Like it or not, as patterns werecarried forward, whether consciously or not,certain attributes were carried along with them...and its these attributes that allow people likemyself to either unlock them, or make them morethan they previously were by peeling back the

onion layers. It’s not a slight on the masters thatdidn’t know or realise or their martial knowledge.For example, the Ch’ang Hon system ofTaekwon-do teaches many throwing techniques,there are sections in Gen Choi’s manuals onthem, but on the surface, these are not in the

patterns; not as standardapplications put for th by theinstructors that created them,though when digging a little deeperthey are there, many Jiu-Jitsu guyseasily recognise them! So themartial knowledge was there, justnot with regards to applying it in thepatterns.

It doesn’t mean individuals didn’tutilize them in a more pragmaticmanner prior to now, I’m surecertain karate instructors did, I knowTaekwon-do drill instructors did,George Dillman and others did, butthe issue was that due tocommunication at the time, thesewere relatively small instancescompared to the wave of punch/kick/block kata/patterns going around. It’sonly now, with modern technology,that insights, theories, research,evidence etc. can be shared anddiscussed openly that the relevanceof it all becomes more of a force tobe reckoned with and of course weneed those that are willing toquestion and go against thedoctrines of the last 100 years. Inessence, Karate and Taekwon-dohave come full circle and I (andothers) feel it’s time to embrace thatand throw away the shackles of thepast in order to gain a better futurefor the art we love!

It reminds me of a TV advert I saw recently:Say I was a caveman and aliens felt it would begood for us to have the wheel and they droppedsome stone circles with holes in them and in onethey put an axel, thinking it’s quite simple to makethe leap from stone circle to cart. However,having never seen a wheel, or a cart, plus thewheel was lying flat with a pole sticking out thecentre I associated it with what I know already.Great I thought, it must be a new washing line


Gichen Funakoshi - noticethe reaction hand!

Below - Marek demon-strates a similar application

- taught at the Academybefore I came across the

picture above!

(as that’s what I have seen already) - so Iconnected the pole with vine and hung my loincloths out to dry! The point is, it would take almosta ‘vision’ for someone to realize in the 1950s to1970s, that patterns evolved with more thanpunch/kick/block until modern technology,openness and sharing, walls and barriers camedown and of course history allowed the odd lightbulb moment and insights. All this has allowedinstructors and students to gather evidence tothe contrary of what has been taught so far, tothe point when they finally went “A-ha!... I wonder”

That’s my take on things, why I wrote my bookand why I argue against certain issues. I don’twant anyone to think I am disrespectingTaekwon-do, General Choi or any martial artsfounders, because I hold the pioneers andmasters in great respect, I just see thingsdifferently, as ‘our time’ allows me to do so.

I see this journey as one of furthering Taekwon-do and its development and taking it into thefuture. Even if an instructor or student choosesto categorically ignore the evidence that there ismore to patterns than meets the eye, the simplefact that there are alternative and often betterapplications still make a worthwhile addition tothose that practice Taekwondo patterns simplybecause they add to the art... and anyone whowould dismiss that isn’t doing the art a disservice,but themselves and their students, as martialartists should grow and mature and even GeneralChoi stated that he left the development ofTaekwon-do in the hands of the instructors! Ifwe kept to the doctrines of the past simply onthe premise that they are from a higher authorityand thus know better, we would still believe theearth was flat and that babies should sleep on

their fronts to avoid cot deaths (an old and newexample of why it is good to question!).

Finally, I’d like to leave you with a passage thatmight prove interesting. I noted it particularly asit mentions “rising block”... it’s part of a piecewritten by Iain Abernethy (renowned kata bunkaiexponent) from a piece titled “A Brief History ofKata”

“Itsou’s modifications resulted in huge changesin the way the art was taught. The emphasis wasnow placed firmly upon the development ofphysical fitness through the group practice ofkata. The children would receive no instructionin the combative applications associated with thekatas and deliberately misleading labels wereadopted for the various techniques. Today, it isItsou’s terminology that is most commonly usedthroughout the world and it is vital to understandwhy this terminology developed. When studyingthe combative applications of the katasremember that many of the names given tovarious movements have no link with themovement’s fighting application. Terms such as“Rising-block” or “Outer-block” stem from thewatered down karate taught to Okinawan schoolchildren, and not the highly potent fighting arttaught to the adults. When studying bunkai besure that the label does not mislead you. Itsou’schanges also resulted in the teaching of katawithout its applications. The traditional practicehad been to learn the kata and then theapplications would then be taught. However, itnow became the norm to teach the kata for itsown sake and the applications may never betaught (as is sadly still the case in the majority ofkarate schools today).” Full article: http://www.iainabernethy.com/articles/article_19.asp)

Both ‘Kaunde An Palmok Makgi’, but which is a better combative application of the technique?


The Little Black Book of Violenceby Kris Wilder & Lawrence Kane

An excerpt from the forthcoming book

W hen I felt the knife blade grate across my teeth, Iknew I was in trouble, and then my lower lip fell

open like overcooked chicken dropping from the bone.

At eighteen, I found myself outside an all-agespool hall in Redmond, Washington. If Redmondsounds familiar to you, it should; it is the homeof Microsoft corporate headquarters, the homeof programmers, computer geeks, and ninety-eight pound nerds. I was standing in the heart ofsuburbia bleeding badly from my face. The threemen who jumped me outside the pool hall startedhitting me hard, driving me onto the ground thatwas more dirt than gravel. I tried to fight but theyhad got the first strike in, a slash with a knife thatwas designed to shock, disfigure, and terrify me.It worked.

What brought me some thirty miles from myhome to fight in the parking lot of a pool hall? Mybuddy’s name was on the line. He was losingface so I decided that I needed to defend him. Itwas a matter of friendship, of honor. So, in mysenior year of high school, five close friends andI cut the deal for a fight—five on five at theappointed pool hall—and just to add drama, wewere going to do it at midnight.

I got there early to hang out with my buddiesand amp ourselves up for the confrontation. Itwas maybe a quarter to midnight when I steppedoutside for a smoke. One of the three guyshanging around near the door gave me a hardlook and then spat out, “Wadda you looking at?”“Nothing,” I replied and turned to go back inside.I heard one of them move and looked back tosee what was going on when I was met by aknife slash across my face, striking my teeth andmaking my mouth an “X” instead of the nice,straight line my momma gave me. When I feltthat blade grate across my teeth, I knew I was introuble, and then my lower lip fell open likeovercooked chicken dropping from the bone.

This wasn’t the glorious battle I’d imagined. Itwas pain and blood and terror. What would thevictor get from this fight? Absolutely nothing! Noturf, no money, nothing, save perhaps a little

pride. And the loser? I wound up with eightystitches and a missing tooth. It cost me a day inthe hospital, a big medical bill, and this scar youare looking at right now.

Preface

“Both the victor and the vanquished are but dropsof dew, but bolts of lightning-thus should we viewthe world” – Ouchi Yoshitaka (1507–1551)

This book is about violence. It is about runninginto something that you have probably neverencountered in your life, but that will change yourwhole world if you do. We’re not talking about aschoolyard brawl or a fistfight between buddieshere, but rather the deeper, darker kind ofaltercations, the ones where oftentimessomeone doesn’t walk away and win or lose youmay very well be scarred for life.

Jissenmag.com - 71

If you picked up this bookbecause you are interested in self-defense and want to give yourselfthe best chance of surviving aviolent encounter, you’ve come tothe right place. If, instead, you’vejust had a run-in with the dark side,are trying to make sense of whatoccurred, and are looking forstrategies to ensure that it will nothappen again, well, you’ve cometo the right place for that too.

We will introduce you to a worldof hatred, anger, fear, and lieswhere you will come to understandsociopaths, career criminals,thieves, cheats, bullies,misogynists, and various othertwisted personalities that youmight one day run across in reallife. We hope that you will neverexperience the violence wroughtby such people. Yet, if you do, andmost will at one point or anotherin their lives, we will prepare youto better understand and morelikely survive the experience.

We have taken a no-nonsenseapproach in reflecting the world ofviolence. Consequently, you may well beoffended by some of what you read. You mighteven disagree with certain things we have writtenin this book. If you find the contents provocative,or even shocking, then we have succeeded inmaking you think. That’s what this book is about,opening your mind. And, of course, filling it withpractical, sensible knowledge and tools to protectyourself from violence.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics,men commit about 80 percent of all violent crimesin the United States, serious stuff like homicides,rapes, robberies, and assaults. Men are twiceas likely as women to become victims of thosesame violent cr imes, except for rape.Furthermore, males are more likely to bevictimized by a stranger, whereas females aremore likely to be victimized by a fr iend,acquaintance, or intimate. (Although whenwomen engage in violence, they are more likelyto assault someone physically they know than astranger—which still leaves you in the

crosshairs). Consequently, whilebad things can happen to anyone,males are the ones who reallyneed to understand aggressionand be prepared for suddenencounters with violence. That iswhy this book was writtenespecially for you. Let us make itclear; although we may presentsituations or vignettes from onegender’s perspective, violence isan equal opportunity employer thatknows no gender.

When it comes to violence, all thestatistics confirm that youngerpeople are far more inclined towardaggressive behavior than olderpeople are. For example, manybars and most nightclubs arepopulated by younger people. Takean emotionally chargedatmosphere, stir in a generousdose of alcohol and/or drugs, andyou’ve got a good recipe for conflictand violence.

Young males tend to have a longlist of things to prove, whether theyare conscious of them or not. Oftentheir motives are unconscious

because they are based on biological patternsof the human species. You probably don’t realizehow much of what you think and feel is based inthese patterns—and this especially applies toterritoriality and status.

The goal of this book is to helpyou understand and avoidbehavior that will get youinvolved in violence by givingyou a roadmap to a consciousdecision-making process thattakes the non-thinkingresponse out of your behavior.You need to ask yourself, “Isthis really worth fighting over?”While in some instances, theresponse could legitimately be“Yes,” more often than not, itought to be “No.”


Young men typically do not truly understand orfully appreciate the physical, psychological, andlegal costs of violence. They often feel immortal,never considering the possibility of becomingmaimed, crippled, or even killed in aconfrontation. Consequently, young men will fightfor any number of reasons—affiliations, selfesteem, social status, not to be considered awimp, the clothes they wear, revenge for someperceived slight, to impress a cute girlfriend, orjust to blow off a little steam, to name a few.

So, what do the participants of violence looklike? Well, they look like you, the reader. You mightsimply find yourself in the wrong place at the righttime. Perhaps some seemingly harmlessbehavior on your part will be the spark that setsthings off or you may be minding your ownbusiness and fail to notice impending danger untilyou walk into it unaware. Either way, it’s aprecarious place to be.

The goal of this book is to help you understandand avoid behavior that will get you involved inviolence by giving you a roadmap to a consciousdecision-making process that takes the non-thinking response out of your behavior. We willenable you to reach up into your head and flickthe switch on the violence control panel from“react” to “respond.” You need to ask yourself, “Isthis really worth fighting over?” While in someinstances, the response could legitimately be“Yes,” more often than not, it ought to be “No.”

Simply put, some yahoo spewing insults aboutyour favorite sports team is worlds apart from adrug-crazed lunatic coming at you with a knife ina parking lot. There is a large gray area betweenthose two extremes where hard and fast rulesdon’t always apply. This is where wisdom,oftentimes hard-earned wisdom, is the differencebetween a good decision and a bad one. It’s notalways a life or death decision, yet a bad choicecould have serious consequences, the kind ofstuff that can change a life completely for theworse.

Recognize that every time you engage inviolence, no matter how small and trivial, it hasthe potential of escalating into something thathas life-long consequences. What is really worthfighting for when you might end up spending therest of your life behind bars with a sociopathicroommate, dreading the moment you might

accidentally drop the soap in the shower,confined to a wheelchair peeing through acatheter and sh*tting into a colostomy bag, ordeclaring bankruptcy under the crushing weightof a massive civil lawsuit?

Is it really worth fighting over a comment thathurts your feelings or makes you feel less thana man? Is it really worth fighting with the muggerover your wallet? Is it really worth fighting theother driver who flipped you the bird in traffic? Isit worth fighting over a threat to your child? Is itworth fighting someone who bumped into youat a party and refused to apologize for spillingyour drink? Is it worth fighting someone tryingto break into your car? Is it worth fighting a drunkwho copped a feel on your girlfriend?

What if it’s not just one guy who’s messing withyou but rather a gang of thugs? What aboutfighting to protect a pregnant woman or disabledfriend who cannot get away from a hostileindividual? What if he’s got a knife or a gun?What if it’s your intoxicated brother or yourdrugged-up best friend pointing the weapon at

Jissenmag.com - 73

you with malevolence in his eyes? These are allsituational; they are decisions that withoutforethought could, and most likely will, be poorlymade.

We hope to give you a strategic view of what ishappening, a view that is more practical thanemotional. It is then up to you to establish a goaland to adhere to tactics that serve that goal. Anexample of establishing these goals comes froma police officer friend of ours. Long beforeencountering violence, he had already built aninternal list of things he simply will not allow inhis world. An example is, “I will not allow myselfto be tied up.” He knows from experience andtraining that being tied up is a precursor to beingmoved to a secondary crime scene or killedoutright. For him, physical restraint by a criminalmeans certain death. In his mind, it is far betterto fight now and have some chance of survivalthan to comply and face near certain slaughterlater on.

these questions. The answers that you put willbe whatever is right for you at the time. Oncefilled out, this list will be composed of your limitsand thresholds, the ones you will use as a guide.This exercise will help you understand how youwill operate in the world and especially in theworld of violence.

Once you have read this book you willrecognize behaviors from people around youand, more importantly, you will recognize yourown. If you can recognize such behaviors,especially those within yourself, then you arehalfway toward winning any conflict. As you beginto understand these behaviors and situations, itwill help you make the right choices for successin terms of conflict resolution. Ultimately, whatyou have learned will help you live a longer andmore peaceful life as a result. Be smart, beinformed, and be safe.

How would you respond to that type ofscenario? It is not only useful, but also critical,to determine what you are willing to do, or havedone to you, during a violent encounter, inadvance of such incidents occurring. That way,during the heat of the moment, you can actwithout hesitation.

Here’s your chance to really think about it. Atthe end of the book in Appendix A is a checklisttitled “How Far Am I Willing to Go.” To use thischecklist properly, stop reading this book now,flip to the back, and fill in your answers. Onceyou have finished reading the book, go back anddo it again. There is no answer key. There is noright or wrong when it comes to responding to

“Kane and Wilder’s book will save lives.It will keep others out of prison. As anattorney, a self-defense instructor, andsomeone who has experienced violence, Iwas most impressed with the practical andrealistic information.” — Alain Burrese

“The true flavor of down and dirty fightingis captured and revealed. The aftermath ofthe fight is laid bare as it really exists. Thereader is left to experience the blood,injuries, guilt, regret, and post-traumaticstress that sometimes plague the individualcombatant involved. This book is asrelevant to any police officer, soldier, ormartial artist as it is to any student ofcriminal justice or psychology.” — Jeffrey-Peter A.M. Hauck, J.D

Paperback: 393 pagesPublisher: YMAA Publication Center

Release Date: April 25, 2009Language: English

ISBN-10: 1594391297ISBN-13: 978-1594391293

Preorder this book via Amazon


• Preface by Iain Abernethy• Foreword by Edward Francisco• Introduction: The Changing Face of Karate.• Chapter 1: Karate• Chapter 2: The Rise of Okinawan Civil Fighting Arts• Chapter 3: Tode: Forefather of Modern Karate• Chapter 4: The Empty Hand Art• Chapter 5: One Fighting Art Divided by Personal Tastes• Chapter 6: Lost in Translation: the Post War Styles• Chapter 7: The Soul of Karate: Kata• Chapter 8: Transcendence of Kata• Chapter 9: Okinawan Kobudo: From Swords to Boat Oars• Chapter 10: Karate, Zen, and the Budo Journey• Chapter 11: Karate: Sport or Self-Defense• Epilogue• End Notes• About the Author• Bibliography

This completely free e-book by Michael J.Rosenbaum (104 A4 pages) is available fordownload from www.iainabernethy.com.Please visit iainabernethy.com, click on“articles”, and at the top of the article’s page(3rd link down) you’ll find the link to thedownload page. Alternatively, go direct towww.iainabernethy.com/Comprehensive_Karate_Michael_Rosenbaum.asp

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All we need from you is your web-address, a very brief description of your site and a contact email address. For example: www.iainabernethy.com - Thehome page of applied karate exponent Iain Abernethy. E-mail: [email protected]

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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 is something our readers willbe interested in we’ll ask to see the full article. One of the main aims of this magazine is to give a platform to all martial artists. It does not matter whatgrade you hold, what arts you practise, or how well known you are at the moment. If you’ve got something to share, we’d like to help you. You will alwaysretain the copyright of your work and we do not require any form of exclusivity. Also, as a way of thanking you for sharing your knowledge, all contributorswill qualify for a completely 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.com - Website of Iain Abernethy

rakesh-patel.com - Website of kata bunkai expert Rakesh Patel

raynerslanetkd.com - Web Site of Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy

rivervalleymartialarts.com - Traditional Okinawan karate for children, teens, and adults

imacusa.com - IMAC is a professional martial arts organization and sponsors the US MA Hall of Fame

christianmartialartscouncil.com - CMAC is a professional organization for faith-based schools and instructors

bluerivermartialarts.org - Website of the BRMAC (Okinawan Goju-Ryu)

scottishkaishinwadokai.co.uk - Home of Scottish Wado on the West Coast

dunbarselfdefence.com - Self defence news, reviews, interviews and training North of the border

tipsarchive.info - Tipsarkiv for kampsportinstruktører / Training tips for Martial Art Instructors

rska.co.uk - Teaching traditional shotokan karate in the Royston area for over 20 years

kalkwarf.com - Assorted karate resources

instytutbudokan.pl - Karate and self-defense club, Lublin, Poland

nagashi-shukokai-karate.co.uk - The website of Nagashi Shukokai Karate based in Manchester

redsunkarate.org.uk - Red Sun Karate club teaches traditional Shotokan Karate

practical-martial-arts.co.uk - Matthew Sylvester’s Practical Martial Arts school. Traditional values, modern methods

guinnmartialarts.com - The gateway to details on GMA’s Applied Karate and Aikijutsu classes

donwell-karate.org - Donwell SKC is a Shotokan Karate club in Donwell, Washington, Tyne and Wear

eskk.co.uk - Chris Denwood’s website featuring articles, free newsletter and details of his group

samuraikaratecornwall.co.uk - The homepage of Samurai Karate Cornwall (Shukokai-based Karate)

sanchinryukarate.co.uk - Details of recognised instructors, black belts, history and grading syllabus/criteria.

fightingforms.net - Realistic and practical applications – returning kata to the heart of karate

northwoodtkd.com - More than just your regular Taekwondo club!

sai-long.org - Located in the D.C. suburbs, consist of a few chosen students - private instruction only

shotokan.dk - Vejle Shotokan Karate-Do (Denmark)

karatekit.co.uk - UK retailer of martial arts uniforms, books and training equipment and more

ewrk.co.uk - Traditional Wado Ryu Karate in the Colchester (Essex, UK) area

sandokai.co.uk - Traditional martial arts tuition in Cornwall, UK

taishodo.co.uk - UK Traditional Karate Association - Shotokan, Wado Ryu and Shukokai

teesside-shukokai.co.uk - Traditional Shukokai Karate in Stockton-On-Tees, UK

fulwellkarate.co.uk - Shotokan Karate classes in Sunderland, UK

fudoshinkarate.com - Fudoshin Karate Personal Protection & Development, free tips, articles & podcasts

hemeltkd.co.uk - The home site for Hemel Tae Kwon-Do part of the TAGB network of clubs

jissen - issue 4

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