Busy day today, had to be up early and did not sleep well. I have several topics to investigate but neither the time nor energy to do them justice today. So I will post a photo and link on these interesting ring and hand weapons that were allegedly used by the French street thugs known as “Apaches” (pronounced “ah – PAHASH”)
The item on the right resembles the more modern Comtech Stinger.
The Apache were known for a variety of nasty tricks and were a considerable hazard to public safety until the majority of them lost their lives during the First World War.
There is a wise maxim about not taking refuge in absolutes, and one of the reasons to follow this occurred to me today.
I seem to see a lot of people getting very worked up about things they regard as sin. Gay marriage seems to be the current fashion but there is no shortage of other issues it seems.
Next time someone appears on your TV telling you something they don’t approve of is sinful, stop and have a good look at that person. Two of the “Seven Deadly Sins” are Sloth and Gluttony. These are things that knowingly hurt other people either by action or omission, so qualify as genuine sins by most reasonable definitions. Does this moral crusader look like they eat way more than they actually need? Do they look like they could change this behaviour, but can’t be bothered? There is probably a big chunk of self-pride thrown in there too, which is another sin we are told. If they are so passionate against sin, why are they so tolerant of their own?
Why are you listening to protestations about another’s alleged sinning from someone who makes no efforts to deal with their own actual sinful behaviour? It is something to think about when you have a spare minute.
Just before I started this blog I spent a couple of weeks reading through around 340 books on martial arts and self-defence. While that number sounds improbable you have to understand that many of these books are very similar. I have become rather good at picking out the duplicated information and concentrating on the more unique.
One technique that stays in mind was a sequence on “How to defend against the Hook punch”. According to this book you use your hand to block the puncher’s upper arm. The main problem with this is that the photos were clearly not showing a hook punch. As I detail in my book, a hook punch has elements of a wheel. The upper arm is the spoke and the forearm and fist lie along the imaginary rim. It also tends to be used at very close range because of this. You would need very long and probably very thin arms to reach past that fist and push on the biceps to stop that punch.
The punch that was actually being thrown was a swing, and a pretty wide one. The swing is one of those techniques real boxers are told never to use since it leaves you wide open. I caught a few seconds of the Women’s Boxing in the Olympics and there were a couple of swings being traded. That is not a criticism of women Boxing by the way, just a criticism of how far some combat sports have strayed from viable techniques.
Yesterday I came across this technique, which I am sure will give anyone remotely familiar with Boxing a good chuckle. This guy is supposed to be attacking with an uppercut. A good uppercut tends to come straight upwards vertically and only travel about six inches of distance. The attacker will be virtually touching you before he sends an uppercut up like a rocket. Even if this attack is a shovel hook the interval between fighters would be much smaller and probably need alternate defensive strategies.
The other day I found in my files a Japanese cartoon I had started downloading ages ago. Yesterday I finally got around to starting to watch it. I was enjoying the first episode when an idea struck me. Feeling a bit achy. I could run a bath and watch the second episode while having a soak. I place the computer on the opposite side of the bathroom where I have a good view. Episode One finished just as the bath was ready, so I clicked on Episode Two and got in the bath. The program freezes up during the first minute of credits. I get out of the bath, restart the program, get back in the water. I then notice the theme song is in Japanese, whereas the first episode had been in English, including the theme. Get out the bath and try to pull up the language track settings to ensure the dialogue will be in English. The screen dies and everything goes blank. The computer has a battery that is way past its best, so I look out in the hall to where I had plugged the power supply in. Yep, I had forgot to switch on the wall socket, problem solved, back into the bathroom and fire up the computer again. Mains power light is on. Hit the start button, the other light comes on, stay on for a second and then goes out. This happens every time I try it, and all the other lights that represent the harddrive etc stay dark. My laptop is dead.
Earlier that day I had spent about an hour writing several new sections for the next book. I had not yet transferred a duplicate to my flash drive, intending to do it later on that night. Loads of other useful stuff I don’t think I have backed up to my external hard drive recently. What’s more, money is tight at the moment, so computer repairs or even a replacement machine are an expense I can do without. It is possible that despite my care, some water has gotten into the machine. Several times during that evening I try the machine again. Light goes on, light goes out.
This morning I pack my machine into a rucksac and bring it into work. I’ll ask the computer tech here for advice on anything I can do with it or where to take it for repairs. I finish my morning coffee and decide to give it one last check. It works! Apparently it needed the night to dry out, needed shaking up in the rucksac, wanted some fresh air or just fancied a ride on the tube train. I don’t know.
Why am I telling you this story? Well, I like to pass on information and lessons that might be useful, not just in the field of self-defence. Half a lifetime ago I had the task of trying to teach medical students about science. They had to design experiments, research an idea and then present their results. Every year I would hear the same thing: “I left my results on the bus!”; “Hassan has the results and he is not in, he was supposed to be!”; “My disc has a virus!” etc, etc.
I always used to say “Where were your backups? Why didn’t you make duplicates?” and since I believe in learning from the mistakes of others, have a number of backup systems for data I consider important. However, this experience has reminded me I should be backing up more frequently, so today’s lesson is:
In my book I recommended two other books as “Required Reading”:
A Bouncer’s Guide to Barroom Brawling by Peyton Quinn (Paladin Press (1990) ISBN 0-87364-586-3) and Street E&E by Marc MacYoung (Paladin Press. ISBN 087364-743-2).
I have just finished another of Marc’s booksCheap Shots, Ambushes and Other Lessons. Paladin Press. ISBN 087364-496-4) and cannot recommend this highly enough. Some great stuff about awareness, avoidance, psychology and world views, all written in Marc’s usual entertaining and informative style. If you need to learn about self-defence, buy my book. If you want to learn more about why fights occur, also buy Cheap Shots.
The topic of the vajra arose the other day. For a long time I had considered this to be a ritual/ symbolic object that just happened to have the characteristics of being an emergency kongo type weapon. The wiki article on the vajra seems to consider that the item was intended as a weapon. It quotes several myths were gods are supposed to have fought with varja. One of the translations of vajra is “thunderbolt” and gods fighting with thunderbolts is a common theme in many cultures. It is possible these myths refer to the more elemental form of thunderbolt rather than an object like the vajra. Thunderbolt itself is open to alternate interpretations. Today we assume it to be a lightning bolt but in older times the term often meant a meteorite.
Further evidence that the vajra might have been intended as a weapon lies in one of its alternate names: kongou or kongo. If the martial aspect of the vajra is well known, certain pieces of Buddhist and Asian art that feature it begin to take on a different light. Is there an implied threat and strength in a piece, rather like the king holding a sceptre or a pharaoh his whip?
I decided to have a quick look at how practical the vajra is as a weapon. As it happens, I happen to have one sitting on top of my computer router. I was walking through town one day and passed a music shop. They had a vajra in their window. It had come in a shipment of Tibetan instruments and they were using it for window dressing, with no idea what it was. I brought it for half of what I was willing to pay, so everyone was happy.
The central shaft of the varja is quite narrow and it can be used for certain kubotan-type locks and Eda koppo techniques. The hourglass like shape of the central portion means that for some techniques such as thumb locks there is less likelihood of the attacked part slipping free.
The vajra/ kongo is primarily a striking weapon, however. The dumbbell-like shape provides a very secure grip. The mouldings and shapes on the narrow central shaft also improve grip. Each end of the vajra ends in a narrow, blunt square-section point. This is a far smaller striking area than I put on my homemade kongos or can be found on many commercial kubotans. An alternate translation for vajra is “diamond crusher” and it is obvious this item could put a lot of force into a very small area. I have no doubt that many attacks with a vajra could disable, injure or kill.
Next time you seen an image of a seemingly tranquil Buddhist priest with a vajra, be aware he is in fact ready with a weapon far more effective than a knuckle duster!
Platinum Grit is a webcomic drawn by a talented Australian Illustrator called Trudy Cooper. I would post a direct link but the site seems to be down today. Trudy also writes and draws the NSFW but very funny Oglaf (also down today!).
The following panel is just pure comedy gold. Kate notices the door of the house is open, so arms herself with the steering lock and…
Some people are truly inspiring! They are not people who get paid millions to play a game they loved anyway. They are not people who won a gold medal pursing their hobby at the taxpayer’s expense.
There is a lady here who works as a cleaner. I don’t know the story of how she came all the way from Colombia to clean toilets every day in London. I just marvel at the fact that she always appears cheerful and has a warm smile and friendly word for anyone she knows at any time.
Today is an exercise day. This means that when I managed to drag myself out of bed I waved the Indian clubs around for thirty reps. I then performed thirty wall push-ups in a row. Then it was thirty dumbbell flies while lying on the floor, thirty dumbbell presses and then thirty curls. Depending on how the day goes, I may perform this routine again when I get home this evening.
It occurred to me that there was an interesting analogy here. I don’t work out because I enjoy it. I don’t work out because I want to get particularly good at curling weights. There will be no convention where an adoring crowd surrounds me and cries “Wow, look at him curl!”
I exercise because I want to be stronger. Better muscle tone seems to eliminate some of the random aches and pains I used to get. I look better if I work out, I walk straighter with better muscle tone and project more confidence. Working out helps bring down the beer gut. I am still carrying a little layer of subcutaneous adipose –I will never had a six pack!- but beneath that thin layer of fat is now a very firm wall of abdominal muscle. My stunningly beautiful girlfriend loves the leaner meaner look and she is not the only member of the opposite sex to approve.
Thinking about this reminded me of one of my favourite quotes from Bruce Lee: “A boat is just to take you across a river. Once you are across you leave the boat and proceed on your journey. You do not stay and worship the boat.”
What Lee meant was that martial art styles as you first encounter them are just a means to an end. They are paths to a destination. These paths all go to the same destination if you follow them to the end. To claim that one path is “right” and all others are “wrong” is foolish and immature. Katas, Forms, Stances, Postures and other exercises are just that, exercises to teach you skills or ideas you will need at that time or will need to move on and advance.
I use the weights because they will produce a certain result. Whether you like working out or not is not the issue, it is whether you want the reward. Martial arts are not self-defence, they are one of the tools you can use to get to a state where you can more effectively protect yourself.
Watching this video of medieval fighting techniques and something interesting struck me.
In the polearm combats, notice how often the butt end of the weapon is advanced towards the enemy. Recently I was rereading one of the Black Medicine books and in that text the author recommends if defending yourself with an object such as a broom or long handled shovel to keep the head to the rear. I looked at some contemporary illustrations of combats with pole arms and there were numerous incidences of fighters having the butt towards the enemy. Many of these seemed to occur during what might be interpreted as defensive actions. If you consider a rifle when it is used for close combat, with or without the bayonet the butt is to the rear. However, the rifle butt is the primary striking element of the weapon so functionally the rifle butt serves the same role as a poleaxe head.
If we think about this, defending with the butt end of a pole arm makes quite a bit of sense. The butt end is lighter and therefore more mobile, quicker and more responsive. The heads of polearms sometimes bind together (as can be seen in the video clip), which may not be desirable. Deflecting the head with the butt reduces this. For example one could parry with the butt, riposte with a strike from the butt end and then follow-up with a strike from the head of your weapon.
Following this line of thought, I recalled something I had briefly scanned through recently. In a print out of a Di Grassi manual that used to be on line was the following passage:
“But because these weapons for the most part are exercised and used to enter through diverse Pikes and other weapons, and to break and disorder the battle array, to which end, and purpose, if it be used, then that manner of managing and handling is very convenient which is much practiced now a days, and thus it is. The Partisan, Halberd, and Bill (but not the Javelin, being in this case nothing effectual because it has small force in the edge) must be born in the middle of the staff, with the heel thereof before, and very low, and the point near a man’s head. And with the said heel, or half staff underneath, from the hand downwards, he must ward and beat off the points and thrusts of the Pikes and other weapons, and having made way, must enter with the increase of a pace of the hindfoot, and in the same instant, let fall his weapon as forcibly as he may, and strike with the edge athwart the Pikes. This kind of blow is so strong (being delivered as it ought, considering it comes from above downwards, and the weapon of itself is very heavy) that it will cut asunder not only Pikes, but also any other forcible impediment.”
In other words, hold your polearm near the middle, with the head back and defend with the lower part of the shaft until it is time to use the head. This position combines elements of both the high guard and the hanging guard. The rifle position with the butt back and the muzzle raised combines the middle guard and the tail guard. Middle guard and hanging guard are good defensive guards, while high and tail guard cock the weapon ready for a wide range of counterstrikes.
This blog post confirms the practice and suggests that on the shorter models of pole arm the fighter gripped closer to the head to preserve enough shaft to defend with.
This explains why many pole arms have always appeared too long or too heavy to me. In the movies halberds etc are always shown advancing point first, like overweight bayonets. Their heads looked too heavy to provide a quick defence and they had little room to generate power for chopping. In fact they were supposed to the held in the middle, head back.
