Category: Phillosoph

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Walking Canes.

Among my various files is a copy of HG Lang’s 1923 book on stick fighting. Not expecting anything particularly original from this I have only recently got around to looking at it, and it was to prove far more interesting than expected. According to the introduction Lang had got at least one Indian police force to adopt the walking cane as a weapon. He claims the cane has more reach and provides a better defence than a truncheon but is handier and faster than a lathi.
Lang does not give us any dimensions for the cane he uses, other than to tell us it is:
"An ordinary Malacca Can(e) or Ash Root Walking stick …The weight of the stick should be such as can be manipulated comfortably by the individual’s wrist. Sacrifice weight to speed always, for remember, that man is an easily vulnerable animal and has many soft spots"
The main method suggested for using the item is to grip it about six inches above the butt and strike with the head. To achieve this hold requires as change of grip from how a walking cane is usually held but this can easily be achieved. If the head is held in the left hand open the right hand and swing the butt up to meet the right palm. The stick is now held in both hands and can be used to parry, or either end used to thrust and strike. If the left hand is released the head can be used to strike as Lang instructs. If the right hand is released the butt end can be used to strike.

While on the topic of canes I will mention AC Cunningham’s 1913 book. What is interesting is Cunningham’s use of a low guard. In Medieval times the low guard was sometimes called the “Iron Gate” since it protected the lower body so well. It was also called the “Fool’s Guard” since it was deceptive. While the upper body appears vulnerable the weapon is in a good position for many defensive and counter offensive moves. This is a particularly good guard for a walking stick. Firstly, it is easily adopted from how a walking stick will normally be held. Secondly the low position makes it harder for an attacker to grab at the stick.

One of the advantages of the walking cane is that it is readily to hand. If you are attacked there is a good chance that you will not have time to draw a weapon before you have to defend against the first assault. You will only have your natural weapons and whatever is already in your hands to defend yourself. This is why the techniques in my book are important to know even if you wear a handgun all the time.
The Indian police who adopted Lang’s techniques doubtless found that having a stick always in hand ready for instant action was very useful. If older movies are to be believed police would often walk the beat nightstick in hand. The lead character in Joseph Wambaugh’s novel and movie the Blue Knight gets his nickname of “bumper” from a routine he does with his nightstick to amuse children. The FBI Baton manual I posted a link to recently recommends the short grip as suited to discretely keeping the weapon ready when interviewing a member of the public. The original Yawara Manual advises that the yawara stick can be kept in hand for the same reason. Modern cops seem to keep their batons on their belts, however, which must put them at a disadvantage in the first second or so of an unexpected assault.
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Horseman's Hammers

The primary weapon of the Medieval knight was the lance. Swords were worn by most knights, and like the lance had symbolic significance. On a more practical level, a sword could be worn on the belt or mounted on the saddle and rapidly drawn, making them useful back-up weapons. For many knights the sword was not their first choice of melee weapon, however. Widespread use of armour often required something harder hitting. One such weapon was the war-hammer. Long handled hammers were used for foot combat both on the battlefield and in the tournament. The hammer was also well suited to mounted warfare, with the “horseman’s hammer” constituting a whole sub-class of weapon. Since it concentrates its force a hammer hits harder than a sword but can use a lighter head than an axe or mace. This allows the use of a longer haft, giving the horseman more reach. Many hammers were equipped with a backspike, beak or pick, increasing versatility. A blow with the point could penetrate armour, but did have the risk of the pick becoming stuck. A blow with the hammer poll had less risk of sticking but might still buckle the armour and damage the body beneath, or just knock the enemy from his saddle. Doubtless the pick/ backspike could be used to hook and pull an enemy on occasion.
According to arms historian Cameron Stone the war-hammer has been used by all nations that used armour, with the exception of the Japanese. He also observes it was a more popular weapon in the Western World, where armour tended to be heavier, than in the East. The American Indians also found the hammer to be a useful cavalry weapon. Since they rarely encountered plate armour their version mounted a rugby ball shaped stone at the top of a wooden shaft. While short-handled versions of this weapon exist handles of up to 30" long seem to indicate this was the equivalent of a horseman’s hammer
The Victorian cavalryman suffered a long succession of poor quality swords and I was interested to read one after-skirmish report where the observer commented that the troopers would have done more damage if they had been armed with stout sticks. Perhaps if someone had taken this to its logical conclusion the horseman’s hammer would have seen a renaissance!
Interestingly, while searching for images for this blog I came across this picture of a Hungarian Hussar that seems to indicate hammers were used much later than I suspected. Since most armies copied the Hungarian Hussars it is surprising the hammer did not see wider use in later centuries.

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Pummel

Looking through my video files I found a brief clip that included a few seconds of a Krav Maga instructor. He was showing a dummy knife to some students and commented:
“The knife can be used three ways. You can use this…” (he taps the tip)
“…or you can use this” (he runs the edge of the plastic blade across the sides of the neck of a nearby student).
“…or use this.” He taps the pommel of the dummy knife on the student’s temple. He seems to think for a moment and then adds:
“The last is probably the most deadly!”
As I have pointed out in my book, there may be times when hitting the enemy with the pommel of a weapon may be better than using the blade. The head, for example, is a hard target and may cause the blade to jam or break. A blunt strike to certain parts of the head may have a more immediate effect than a cut. Our verb "to pummel" is believed to originate from striking with a sword pommel.
One of the most important weapons I cover in the book is the kongo, which I suppose can be thought of as a knife handle without any blade. Do I expect you to carry a kongo or kubotan on your person? No, I don’t, but familiarity and practice with a kongo will develop your appreciation of many other common objects that can be used in the same way. If you park your car in a dark garage it is not unreasonable to have a small torch in hand to illuminate the dark areas. If you jog, then you may hold a water-bottle (see last blog). The other night in the pub my girlfriend produced a tube of mascara. I just closed my hand around it so the ends projected. She knew exactly what I was telling her (and she then went back to painting purple splotches on my arm…) Could she find that tube in her bag if attacked? Probably not, but she is wise enough to know to use something to hand if available and not regard its absence as a disadvantage.
This item, btw, is a foot massager sold by at least one well-known high street chain. They actually work very well on tired feet and are a reasonable thing to carry in a handbag if you are in heels for hours at a time. I brought one for my girlfriend soon after we met.
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Phillosoph

Have You Got the Bottle for a Fight?

This is an interesting device. One part of me wants to point out that for emergency self defence use a standard bottle cap will be more than adequate. The “sip-nipple” type caps will concentrate the force on a smaller area.

On the other hand, this product does raise the user’s awareness that a bottle in hand can be used for defensive purposes against an aggressor. There is also a nagging part of my mind that insists this thing might be adaptable to applications other than just on bottles.
I see quite a few joggers carrying bottles such as these.

The hand grip and the fact that they tend to be carried in hand rather than worn on a belt gives them good defensive potential and I wonder how many joggers are aware of this fact.
Even without a fancy cap and design, a bottle of water can be a good weapon. Water is incompressible and has weight. A filled half litre bottle will add an extra pound to your strike, which can be concentrated into the small hard area of the cap using the kongo techniques in my book. The surface of the bottle can fend off a knife edge. It may damage the bottle but may buy you enough time to escape. A bottle can also be used as a missile to distract a foe long enough to counter attack or escape.
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Phillosoph

Kama Twirling

Distant decades ago, eager for knowledge of martial arts, I brought a set of four books in a deal by a mail order company. Three of them, on Chin-na and shuriken I still have on my shelf. The forth was called “Kusarigama” and was not as expected.

Rather than being about the weight and chain weapon familiar to me it was about twirling kama by means of a butt-loop, rebounding it from the shoulders, ribs and thighs. I couldn't see how you ensured the blades arrived point first, but did think it might have been an interesting thing to try with a nightstick. The book now goes for a hefty amount of money, and if I recall it was one of those publications rich on photos but thin on information.
Here is a video I found of some of these techniques:
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Phillosoph

Fight Against Junk!

Changing my homepage from what I wanted it to be is not going to make me try your product. Quite the opposite.
Trying to installing Google Chrome and Toolbar when I update something else will not encourage me to use it.
I never buy anything from an unsolicited email. I do not buy anything from cold callers on principle. I encourage everyone reading to do the same and perhaps this whole obnoxious industry will wither and die.
Sending me junk mail will not achieve anything positive. You are just wasting trees. Sending me a pension plan for the over-50s when I was only 43 ensures that I will never, ever deal with that company (Sun Life), ever!
Junk mail with prepaid envelopes does offer some amusement. If you send them back the company has to pay, I believe. Stuff your prepaid envelope with any other junk mail you got. I am sure the man trying to sell you overpriced aluminium windows needs a pension plan.
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Phillosoph

Get in the Car

I’m trying to keep up the tradition of posting something a little more light-hearted and irrelevant on a Friday.

“Get in the Car!”
“I won’t fit in the car…”
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Verbal Judo

“I’m a very forthright person. If I think something I say it”
Several times I have heard that, usually being said by a young woman, who seems to regard it as a virtue. If there is one thing that I have learnt over my many years it is the virtue of knowing when to hold my tongue. If I spoke my mind every time a thought popped into my head I would doubtless have been in more fights, been fired several times and most certainly still very single!
Recently I wrote some observations about placatory behaviour. This doesn’t mean you go through life as a doormat, just that you expand your range of options. Quite frankly, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. There are times to tell someone that they are an unreasonable jerk, and there are times to bite back that comment, force yourself to smile and assure the jerk that you appreciate how busy they are and how they are going out of their way to do their job…
If you wish, think of it as verbal or social Judo. You end up getting what you wanted, but no one gets hurt or upset. They may even think it was their idea. This is the true art of fighting without fighting.
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Phillosoph

Hazing, part 2

Somewhere in my place there is a magazine with an article on becoming a professional bodyguard. The one thing I can remember from this article is the advice to wear sunglasses. Sunglasses make it harder to see what the bodyguard is actually paying attention to. It is also mentioned that they protect the eyes from anything that might be thrown at them.
A few days ago I wrote about the tactic of hazing and some of the threats that may be directed against the eyes. Eye protection is mandatory on most shooting ranges and for many sports. US soldiers also now use shooting goggles in combat. Given this trend it is perhaps surprising that protective eyewear still hasn’t become standard for police and prison officers. It is hard to think of a group of people more likely to be subjected to various assaults to their eyes.

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Devil in the Details.

I was watching a video of a well-known knife-fighting instructor and one of the sequences he showed reminded me of Long Har Ch'uan. That really wasn’t that surprising since LHC drills are designed to teach the essence of efficient defence. What really caught my interest was that I was struck by a sudden nagging impression that something was wrong.
The sequence was as follows, and is illustrated assuming the attack is coming from the foe’s right hand. You “give a little wave” –make an outward parry with your left hand. Take over the defence against the right with an inward parry with your right hand. You then perform a “dip and slip action” on his right hand that takes you to his outside gate on his right side.
If this had been a Long Har Ch’uan drill it might have been as follows. Parry the right with an inward parry with your right. Take over the parry with an outward parry with your left. Use your right to make an outward parry on his right arm and take you to the outside gate.
The two sequences seem similar but “the devil is in the details!” On the second parry the knife-fighter is turning his right flank towards his opponent while his right hand is occupied with the right. He is on the inside gate so there is nothing to stop the enemy using his left hand against any available target. In the LHC sequence we started off with an inward parry while on the inside gate but immediately switched to an outward parry with the left, freeing the right hand for further action. The right hand was used to move to the outside gate but it could have been used to defend against any attacks by the left hand if necessary.
If you parry an enemy’s attack he may not leave his arm there for you to manipulate. A fairly common reaction will be to withdraw the parried limb and make an attack with the other hand. Thus in LHC we are taught to have the other hand ready for other actions when making an outward parry and to convert inward parries into outward parries to free up the other hand. An even simpler LHC sequence in the above example would have been: “give a little wave” –make an outward parry with your left hand and simultaneously smash your right palm heel into his face.
For more on the principles the training drill of Long Har Ch’uan can teach please read the section in my book or consult the older compilation of Erle Montaigue’s works edited by myself.