Black Medicine Anthology

by N. Mashiro

  And it looks so innocent.

  Blocking and Attacking with the Pen

  The yawara stick (or pen) requires no great sophistication to use. When the attacker reaches out to grasp you or tries to punch or kick you, just hit whatever you can reach. Hammer down on his forearm, hand, shoulder, ribs, thigh, shin, or foot. Drive the blunt "point" of the stick deep into thick muscle or in between ribs, or use it to dent hard bone. Any of these actions will cause serious pain to the attacker.

  Suppose the attacker reaches out and grabs your left arm, then starts dragging you toward a waiting car. A martial artist would make short work of an assailant who did this, but we assume that you have not had the training. Instead, use your free hand to grab a pen from your shirt pocket, grasping it in the approved yawara style. Raise up the pen like a dagger and drive it down very hard into the top of the assailant's forearm. Aim at the muscular mound just in front of the elbow joint. There is a nerve plexus in this region. If you hit it, you will paralyze the arm for several minutes. If you don't quite hit the nerve plexus, the stick will still crush enough tissue to weaken his grip and let you break away.

  Suppose he punches at you instead. Just block the attack by hammering on the inside of his wrist or forearm with the protruding end of the stick. I guarantee if you connect solidly just once, he will not throw another punch at you. That little stick penetrates deeply, and it really hurts.

  Attacks to the Body

  How many times have we seen a girl in the movies trying to beat off an attacker by pounding ineffectively on his chest with her little clenched fists? He just flexes his pecs and laughs. (That is when we all know he is going to die horribly in the final reel.)

  If you take a pen, hold it like a yawara stick, and hammer it into somebody's chest, he will not laugh. At the very least, the blow will crush muscle tissue and temporarily paralyze the muscle. Depending on circumstances, a yawara blow to the chest can easily crack a rib since the force is all delivered against one rib alone. Every breath becomes agony. Even worse, to my way of thinking, is the possibility that the stick will penetrate half an inch or so between two ribs, crushing an intercostal nerve and tearing a hole though the muscles that bind the ribs together.

  It won't kill him, but he isn't going to laugh. Not without pain.

  Attacks to the Face and Head

  In the martial arts, the normal progression is to break an opponent down by neutralizing his long-range weapons (hands) and his short-range weapons (elbows) before driving in the ultimate attacks on brain, breath, and blood. Blocking a punch may leave you momentarily inside the opponent's guard, literally between his arms and only inches from his face. Now it is time to do something serious with that little stick.

  By now you understand that you can hammer down with the yawara stick (pen) and do substantial damage. You can also punch at the opponent's face and let the protruding end of the stick rake across his mouth, nose, and eye. This is not a killing blow, but you can imagine the pain and disorientation it causes. Once you have raked up, you can quickly rake back down again. Or you may "brush his teeth" with it, raking the end of the stick quickly back and forth across his mouth, ripping his lips against his teeth, maybe even breaking some teeth. Got the picture? Try to see it in your mind. It will help you remember the technique in a crisis.

  The killing blow with the pen is the hammer blow to the side or top of the cranial vault. By "killing blow" I don't mean that the opponent is actually likely to die from the injury, but a good solid concussion or skull fracture will put him right out of the fight, and in martial arts terms this is a "kill." The implication is that you could have gone ahead and killed him if you had wanted to.

  To set up the blow to the side of the skull, rake his face as described above. If you do a good job he will cry out and grab his face with his hands. That's your cue to kick him in the groin while he is distracted by the loose teeth in his mouth. The groin kick will bend him over and pull his hands down low. That is the instant when the stick can be hammered against the cranium with one swift blow. Put your whole body behind it.

  Next Steps

  Unless you can get in the skull attack, your opponent will not be incapacitated by the pen attacks. He may be neutralized in that the deep bruises or cracked bones may make it impossible for him to fight, but he might still have a surprise or two left. You have to watch him as you disengage, trading up to a more effective weapon if you can, and trying to attract help or reach it on your own.

  Leave your pepper gas at home? How about using that fire extinguisher in your car instead?

  What is a "spray" weapon? If you take your cue from television, a spray weapon would be some kind of fully automatic firearm fired by an ignoramus from the "spray and pray" school of marksmanship. I had the opportunity to try out a fully automatic shotgun once. That one "sprayed" with a vengeance. It took about one second to turn a 2 x 3 foot target into a huge doily.

  People who learn about violence from television know nothing.

  A spray weapon is simply some kind of pressurized container that shoots out a stream of liquid or powder that you can aim at the attacker's face. Did you immediately think of the little tear gas or pepper gas canisters that people carry in their pocket or purse? That is correct, but the little tear gas bottles are just the beginning, and they are not especially effective. Their major claim to fame is not the incapacitation they cause, but the fact that they cause no actual eye damage. There are plenty of things you can spray in a man's face to disorient and blind him. Unfortunately, quite a few of them cause permanent eye injury. If you are fighting off a rapist in your own bedroom, of course, you may not care how permanent the injury is.

  Have you ever accidentally gotten a face full of hair spray or spray deodorant? The effects are similar to tear gas, and the container is good for a couple of minutes of spraying, not just the 10 seconds available in a typical purse tear gas canister. Better yet, have you ever discharged a dry-chemical fire extinguisher? I assume that there is one in your kitchen. It ejects a flowing, billowing cloud of sticky yellow powder. Imagine discharging it in the face of an intruder. Do you think it would blind and disorient him, at least temporarily? You can bet your life it will. I don't say that lightly.

  How to Use a Spray Weapon

  A certain school of knife fighting insists on extending the open left hand out in front of the body to ward off the opponent while the knife is held in the right hand near the right hip. The idea is to block, punch, grab, and otherwise fence with the opponent with the left hand, then lunge forward with the knife when an opening appears.

  The whole idea is to keep the knife out of reach of the opponent so that he cannot grab it and disarm you. The same principle applies to tear-gas pens and other small spray weapons.

  Don't hold the canister out in front of you like a fencing foil. If you were to hold it out toward me, I would take it away from you faster than you would believe. Instead, I'd suggest holding it above and behind you. Tear-gas devices usually project a stream (like a child's squirt gun) instead of a spray, and you can easily direct it into the assailant's face without actually looking at the canister. Fend him off with your left hand, or better yet hold him so he can't break away, and paint his face with the tear-gas liquid. It will run into his eyes, never fear.

  If your weapon is a can of hair spray, you need to be a little more careful about how you spray it. A spray can projects a billowing cloud of droplets and propellant instead of a stream, and this gives it shorter range as well as an alarm ing tendency to blow back in your face if the wind is in the wrong quarter.

  I'd suggest holding the can above and behind you, as before, to prevent having it taken away. When the opening appears, bring the can forward suddenly, spraying the opponent's face from about 24 inches away. If you connect with the spray he will close his eyes, gasp for air, and turn away. If he blocks the spray instead, his attention will be 100 percent on that can, which is your signal to knee him in the groin while he is looking up.
In essence I am suggesting that you use the spray to distract him so you can deliver a low kick.

  A fire extinguisher has more robust possibilities. As a rule, the little ones you can hold in one hand only shoot for 4 or 5 seconds before they are exhausted. Two-handed extinguishers will fire for 15 seconds or so and can literally fill a room with an opaque yellow cloud. Both kinds project a thick stream of powder 8 or 10 feet. This gives you some range to play with. Just bear in mind that you need a way out of the room or the billowing cloud will engulf you too.

  One interesting possibility offered by a large fire extinguisher is the ability to lay down a smoke screen behind you as you retreat. For instance, if someone breaks into your kitchen and attacks you, it might be possible to grab a small extinguisher and flee down the hallway toward the bedrooms. Discharging the extinguisher in the confined hallway will simply plug it with a yellow cloud. The intruder may bull his way through, but he won't be quite the same man coming out as he was going in. For one thing, he will be completely painted yellow, and the powder does not brush off easily. If he gets a breath of it he will be coughing. If he wears glasses they will be coated yellow and he will have to take them off. Altogether, the experience will slow him down, giving you a few extra seconds to trade up to a better weapon or to bolt out the back door.

  Next Steps

  The purpose of all spray weapons is to blind and disorient the attacker. Usually your next move should be to disengage, flee to a safer location, and call for help.

  There are circumstances, however, where fleeing is out of the question. There might be other people in the house (a sleeping baby, for instance), or there might be more than one attacker. This puts a premium on taking the man completely out of the fight, rendering him unconscious if possible. How would you do that?

  If you are using a tear-gas pen, use the pen like a yawara stick and hammer his skull with it. If it is a hair spray canister, you can hit him with it, but it might be better to take a second and trade up to a cast-iron frying pan. Use the edge of the pan, not the flat bottom, to dent his skull. If you are using a fire extinguisher, simply hit him over the head with the canister itself. They are hard and heavy, and results are guaranteed.

  The key is to be ready to step in and deliver the blow during the first couple of seconds after the spray hits his eyes. The window of opportunity is brief, and it does not stay open forever.

  So far, no one has invented a working "light saber" that will sizzle an intruder into smoking pieces at one blow. In the meantime, we have to be satisfied with the so-called "stun guns." These are hand-held devices that take the electric current from a 9-volt battery and transform it up to 100,000 volts. Pressed against an attacker's body (even through thick clothing), the electricity is very painful and disorienting, but the current is so low that it is not actually dangerous. Many women carry these devices in their purses.

  There is a problem with stun guns that you should be aware of. They have been designed to arc brightly, making a miniature lightning storm between the electrodes when the salesman presses the button. "All that power in the palm of your hand," he says. "A mugger takes one look at that and runs for his life!" This line of patter sells a lot of stun guns. All you have to do is scare the guy off, you see. You don't actually have to fight him.

  This leads to a very poor mind-set in a crisis. Confronted by the mugger, the victim pulls out the stun gun, holds it out like the salesman did, and pushes the button. The little sparks zap across the electrodes. The mugger smiles, slaps the unit out of the victim's hand, and proceeds with the mugging.

  How to Use a Stun Weapon

  Never hold your weapon out for the enemy to admire. He may decide he likes it.

  My advice is to fend off the attacker with your left hand while keeping the stun gun hidden behind your right hip. Don't let him see it. Don't let him hear it. Just keep it a secret until the moment when you grab his jacket with your left hand, step in nose-to-nose with him, and ram the stun gun into his groin. Grind the electrodes into his genitals and hold the button down. Don't let him get away. Ride him down to the ground. Don't just zap once and stop.

  If he throws his hips back to avoid the groin attack, just swing the stun gun up and ram it into his throat. Again, hold the button down and ride him until he falls.

  Next Steps

  If you get in a good, solid shock, there should be no need for a "next step." One-hundred thousand volts is fairly convincing. Just walk away.

  If you carry a stun gun, you should be prepared for the possibility that the battery will be dead the night you need it. If you push the button and nothing happens, what do you do?

  A stun gun is a lot like a yawara stick. You can hammer with it against face, arms, shins, and so forth. Pound him with it. Sometimes trading up to a different weapon simply means using the weapon in your hand a different way.

  Cellular telephones.

  There you are, walking down the sidewalk late at night on your way home from a hard day at the office. You notice a couple of hoods following you and getting closer. What do you do?

  At the next street light or lighted doorway, you stop and pull out your cellular phone. Dial 911. Put the phone to your ear and look right at the thugs. Start to talk. "Yes, officer. There are two of them ..."

  Watch the goblins run for cover.

  If you can call the police for help, do it.

  To use the five-cell flashlight as a club, first shine it in his eyes and then smash a collarbone with it.

  What exactly do I mean by a "club"? A club is an object that is about the same length, thickness, and weight as a police nightstick. A 5-cell flashlight qualifies, and so does a rolling pin. You might also think of a fireplace poker or a large crescent wrench. A club is any object that will produce a satisfying impact against an attacker's body when swung with one hand.

  A baseball bat, alas, does not qualify. Neither does a golf club. Neither lends itself to a heavy one-handed impact. A hammer or hatchet comes close, but we really need something that will strike and slide off rather than dig in.

  How to Hold the Club

  This is going to surprise you. The "club" I favor for casual nighttime strolls in the "hood" is a 5-cell aluminum flashlight. You can get them in any hardware store these days. Sometimes they come with a little sticker on the side that says, "NOT to be used as a nightstick." It violates the warranty, I suppose!

  Hold the flashlight (club) in your strong hand. The lens of the light protrudes from the little-finger side of the hand, and the length of the barrel sticks up out of the thumb side of the hand. Turn the flashlight so that you can work the switch with one of your fingers. On my flashlight the switch is a rubber push-button I can work with my middle finger. Now casually swing the flashlight up so the barrel rests on your shoulder, lens pointed forward. Click the light on.

  These lights are bright, and when you point it in an intruder's face you will destroy his night vision immediately. One good flash in the face, followed by darkness, and he will have a very hard time seeing your attacks in time to parry them.

  Attacks Against Hands and Arms

  Again we presume a basically defensive situation. You heard a noise at night and went to investigate. You have your 5-cell flashlight in hand. Suddenly you are confronted by an intruder who attacks you. What do you do with the flashlight to fend off the attack?

  When the assailant reaches for you or throws a punch, try to crack the flashlight against his hand or wrist. Aim for bony structures rather than meaty ones. It is not that difficult to fracture his wrist with a sharp, solid blow. Rapping the flashlight hard against his hand can easily break or dislocate fingers.

  Try to hurt him. If you can stop the attack by doing no more damage than breaking a finger, you have won with moral bonus points. A half-hearted effort, however, will not win, and there are no moral bonus points for losing.

  Attacks Against Legs and Feet

  Most people have a very limited idea of how to use a club. When they see yo
u holding a club they assume that you will swing at the head. Don't do it. You can take advantage of their expectations, however, by raising the club for an attack and then swinging it down into the side of the thigh or the knee. In a fighting stance the attacker usually has one leg or the other forward, within easy range of your club. A solid blow will bruise and cramp his thigh muscles, giving you a chance to disengage and escape.

  If the attacker kicks at you (in imitation of popular karate movies), you can give him a very nasty surprise. Strike his foot, shin, or calf with the club-hard. The club can break toes easily, and a fractured ankle or shin is possible. Either will make it easy for you to run away.

  Suppose the incoming kick is more like a football kick than a karate kick. Smacking the club downward against the front of the attacker's shinbone bruises the nerves that control the position and motion of the foot. The foot just goes limp. There is a great deal of pain, too. Trust me, I've been there. It was 10 minutes before I could walk again, and then only painfully.