Quarterstaff Flourishes

            As promised, a quarterstaff derived technique which can be adapted to various other weapons, including those that are shorter.

            Suppose you are in one of the ready positions detailed in my book and you see a chance to strike the aggressor on the clavicle. Attacking the clavicle is a nice non-lethal attack that is likely to put him out of action. Raising the tip of your weapon prior to bringing it down on his collarbone is slow and rather telegraphic, so what can you do?

            The answer is to drop the point and use it to describe a circle in the air in front of you, intersecting your intended target. Not only is this more efficient than an up and down motion, it can be used to move around an enemy’s guard.

            Such a technique is well suited to unedged weapons such as a quarterstaff or nightstick since it doesn’t matter which side of the weapon makes contact, but it can be adapted to edged weapons too if you have sufficient awareness of blade orientation.

            Try practicing this technique by using your weapon to draw a four-leaf clover shape in the air, similar to that shown below. The illustration below shows defensive actions and this should suggest that parries and circular counter-attacks can be combined. This technique can also be used for empty hand techniques.

 

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Friday's Funny

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Jet Li Bagua -how to beat yourself up.

            For various reasons yesterday was a bit of a cruddy day, so when I got home I downloaded the Jet Li movie “The One” as some much needed diversion.

            The plot involves Li fighting a bad version of himself from an alternate dimension. What was interesting was that the good Li used Ba gua (Pa-kua) as a fighting style, while the bad version uses a more linear punching style that I think is Hsing-I, but might be something like leopard style, so apologies if I get that wrong. There is a rather nice moment in the final showdown where good Li has been trading punches with bad Li and decides to switch to Ba gua. Here is a clip of the sequence.

            Of particular interest is the move around 2:11. This “under the arm” move utilizes the motion I describe for the turn from the closed step as detailed in my book, a move similar in principle to the Kuk Sool Won technique against wrist grabs (also in the book)

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Knuckle Duster variations

            Since I am close to my scanner today I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the more unusual knuckle duster type weapons. The first three are all from Serge Mol’s excellent book “Classical Weaponry of Japan” and are (not surprisingly) Japanese.

            First is a weapon called a Tesshō. The spikes can be used to strike or to improve the grip while grappling. What is interesting here is that the design would make conventional punching techniques difficult. This weapon would mainly be used for hammer-fist and back-fist strikes.

            Second weapon is known as a Mussahi Kaiken or Nago Ryŭ Kaiken. The more common use of the world Kaiken is a type of dagger without a handguard, commonly associated as a weapon for Japanese women.

            Story is that when the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi retired he stopped wearing his swords and carried a walking stick instead. Many of Musashi’s victories had been won with wooden weapons so he was hardly harmless. Even old and retired there were still young bloods who wanted to make a name beating Musashi so he also carried a variety of concealed weapons. One was this weapon resembling an axe blade with a hand grip. This was carried wrapped in paper and tucked just inside the fold of his jacket.

            The third Japanese weapon is the Nago Ryŭ Tekkan or Bankokuchōki. This is a heavier and more substantial weapon than most Tekken (“Iron Fists”) and is claimed to be designed to be effective against enemies wearing armour. In that light it is perhaps surprising that there are no apparent features to concentrate force.

            Indian knuckle weapon called a “hora”. Made from horn.

            Some interesting variations in construction. The wood version looks particularly useful.

            Some Okinawain Tekko were made from horseshoes. These are obviously not designed with concealment as a priority. The horn-like projections could doubtless be used for defence against longer weapons.

            A horseshoe inspired keychain. Very practical.

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