Let's start with the obvious: a knife attack is a seriously dangerous encounter. So far, I've never had to physically defend myself. I say physically, because I believe self-defense is 90% "not physical." What I mean by that is that most, I would venture over 90%, of fights or encounters don't even have to occur. As we learned in the last blog, "Not Losing: The Art of Humility", fighting comes from pride and a humble spirit will lead to survival in the form of walking away from a taunt. I haven't had to defend myself physically, but I have many times defended mentally. Self-defense starts with awareness.
The first and best option to defend against a knife attack is to not be there. Certain places have a higher probability of violence than others. Clubs, bars, etc. are places that are fine to go to, but we must be more aware and careful in certain locations. If we as karateka surround ourselves with good people and mostly stay in safer locations, we will avoid most problems. I understand that this is not always an option, but our lifestyle choices can lead to better situations. Being aware of your surroundings can help you stop most attacks, knife or other, before they can occur. If a knife is pulled, a great option is simply to run away as fast as your legs will take you, hopefully to a well-lit and crowded area. However, we can't always defend by running. There are times where you may be trapped in an area, or with your small child or loved one who you can’t leave behind. In this case, we must be prepared to survive, and to do this we look to the strategies of our style of Karate (Matsumura Orthodox Kenshin Kan Karate).
Two of the most important strategies of our style of karate are change body and same time attack and defense. Change body simply means to get out of the way. Many styles learn to stand in a fight and take the abuse that their attacker is giving. This takes much conditioning, years of conditioning. We also condition ourselves to be able to take a hit, but we also learn to get out of the way (change body). This is especially important when defending against a knife. I most definitely don’t want to stand there and “take the hit” when it is a knife. No amount of body conditioning will stop a knife from cutting you.
Besides change body, we also learn to interrupt the incoming attack. Starting in green belt ippon kumite (one step sparring), there is a focus of same time attack and defense. The idea behind this strategy is to disrupt an attack with a simultaneous block and counterattack. This is easier said than done, but that is why we train and should practice green belt ippon kumite often. It is quite ridiculous to believe that one could just block over and over, never getting cut, against an experienced knife fighter. In this life or death situation, we need to stop the threat in an extremely efficient and effective manner. All but the most trained fighters are not expecting to get hit when they are attacking, especially if they have a knife. If hit hard enough and / or in vital areas, the attacker will be momentarily shocked. This is the opportunity to finish the confrontation quickly and in devastating fashion.
The plan is always to escape without physical confrontation, but if all else fails we must be prepared. Think upon the overall strategies that are in your kata and how they translate to self-defense. If you are not sure what they are, see what is repeated over and over in the kata and training drills. One of our directors has stated that if you see something multiple times, it's probably important. In fact, it was so important that the creator(s) of your martial art didn't want it to be forgotten, so it was embedded and repeated in the kata. Train hard, train smart, and stay safe my friends.
Hank Kiser, Dragonfly Karate & Kobudo
The first and best option to defend against a knife attack is to not be there. Certain places have a higher probability of violence than others. Clubs, bars, etc. are places that are fine to go to, but we must be more aware and careful in certain locations. If we as karateka surround ourselves with good people and mostly stay in safer locations, we will avoid most problems. I understand that this is not always an option, but our lifestyle choices can lead to better situations. Being aware of your surroundings can help you stop most attacks, knife or other, before they can occur. If a knife is pulled, a great option is simply to run away as fast as your legs will take you, hopefully to a well-lit and crowded area. However, we can't always defend by running. There are times where you may be trapped in an area, or with your small child or loved one who you can’t leave behind. In this case, we must be prepared to survive, and to do this we look to the strategies of our style of Karate (Matsumura Orthodox Kenshin Kan Karate).
Two of the most important strategies of our style of karate are change body and same time attack and defense. Change body simply means to get out of the way. Many styles learn to stand in a fight and take the abuse that their attacker is giving. This takes much conditioning, years of conditioning. We also condition ourselves to be able to take a hit, but we also learn to get out of the way (change body). This is especially important when defending against a knife. I most definitely don’t want to stand there and “take the hit” when it is a knife. No amount of body conditioning will stop a knife from cutting you.
Besides change body, we also learn to interrupt the incoming attack. Starting in green belt ippon kumite (one step sparring), there is a focus of same time attack and defense. The idea behind this strategy is to disrupt an attack with a simultaneous block and counterattack. This is easier said than done, but that is why we train and should practice green belt ippon kumite often. It is quite ridiculous to believe that one could just block over and over, never getting cut, against an experienced knife fighter. In this life or death situation, we need to stop the threat in an extremely efficient and effective manner. All but the most trained fighters are not expecting to get hit when they are attacking, especially if they have a knife. If hit hard enough and / or in vital areas, the attacker will be momentarily shocked. This is the opportunity to finish the confrontation quickly and in devastating fashion.
The plan is always to escape without physical confrontation, but if all else fails we must be prepared. Think upon the overall strategies that are in your kata and how they translate to self-defense. If you are not sure what they are, see what is repeated over and over in the kata and training drills. One of our directors has stated that if you see something multiple times, it's probably important. In fact, it was so important that the creator(s) of your martial art didn't want it to be forgotten, so it was embedded and repeated in the kata. Train hard, train smart, and stay safe my friends.
Hank Kiser, Dragonfly Karate & Kobudo
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