Black Medicine Anthology

by N. Mashiro

  How to Hold the Light Knife

  Take the knife in your strong hand. Hold it with the blade pointing down, like an ice pick. Turn the knife so that the sharp edge of the blade faces forward, away from you.

  Any trained fighter who sees you hold the knife this way will immediately tell you that you are doing it wrong. Ignore him. The world is full of people who know half the story.

  A person who holds a knife point-down is almost certainly an ignoramus who intends to stab downward into the opponent's chest. This move is not particularly sound since it is easy to block the descending hand, and the point of the knife has trouble penetrating the ribs from this upward angle. And the attack is slow, very slow.

  But we know that the light knife is not really useful for stabbing anyway, so we must have something else in mind. Here it comes.

  Drop your knife hand to your side in a relaxed manner. Twist your wrist slightly to place the blade up against the back of your forearm. Cover the pommel with your thumb and fingers. This makes the knife almost invisible from the front, and it isn't any too easy to see from any other angle, either. If the situation is dark or lit by strong lights that cast deep shadows, you can rest assured that the knife will simply disappear from the attacker's point of view.

  That's how you set up the magical knife trick. You keep the knife hidden until the opponent is within reach.

  Then what do you do?

  Attacking the Forearms

  The opponent may reach out to grab you or to punch at your face. Block the move with your forearm. This is pretty simple if he is trying to grab you, or you might get hit a couple of times before you manage to block a punch. It all depends on how much karate background you have (and maybe on how drunk the attacker is).

  The trick, of course, is to block with your knife hand. You can throw up your arm in a natural defensive gesture to ward off the attack, and this motion puts the knife blade solidly between your forearm and the attacker's forearm. If you have been following directions, the edge of the blade will be facing out and will slice through the skin, muscles, and tendons of the inside of his wrist.

  The muscles of the forearm operate the fingers the way a puppeteer operates a marionette. Muscles in the forearm contract, and the fingers dance due to tendons that run down the forearm, through the palm of the hand, and out into the fingers. Just hold out your right hand and press the fingers of your left hand against the inside of your right wrist. Now wiggle your right fingers. You will feel the tendons wiggling around under the skin.

  This attack severs these tendons and renders the hand useless. It also causes a lot of pain and a spray of blood, and it comes as a total surprise. Best of all, the attacker will probably use his uninjured hand to put pressure on the injury, effectively putting both hands out of action.

  But it has to be a surprise! Keep the knife out of sight until the last possible second. Then slash hard, and make it count. Make the edge scrape against the bone. After all, you didn't start this.

  Attacking the Face and Neck

  There are two other obvious applications for this hidden knife. Assuming that you have the knife in your right hand, you might block his punch as described above and then immediately counterattack by punching him in the face with your right fist.

  If you deliberately miss his head so that your fist sails forcefully past his right ear, you will note that the blade of the knife slashes the side of the neck or the face (lips, nose, or eyes). The slice to the neck can be fatal if you cut the carotid artery just under the angle of the jaw. The face attack is very painful, carries with it the fear of scarring, and causes vision problems if you cut an eyebrow or eyelid (blood gets in the eye).

  Freeing the Knife Hand

  Suppose the attacker grabs your knife hand (your right wrist) before you can get the knife into play. What do you do then?

  Experiment with a friend using a rubber knife, ruler, or some other harmless object instead of a real knife. You will find that it is fairly easy to bring the edge of the knife into play against the attacker's forearm. Just twist your right fist up and to the side (either side) of the attacker's arm and grind the knife edge into his skin. He'll let go.

  If he uses both hands to immobilize your knife hand, you can easily escape no matter what the difference in size and strength. Most karate students would just kick the guy in a tender spot, since he has obliged by pinning down both of his own hands to hold one of yours. Or you could just take your free hand and stick a finger in his eye. This works well. Best of all, though, is to reach over with your free hand and take the knife out of your trapped hand. Then slash his face with it. It amazes me how many people simply do not think of this obvious move.

  Next Steps

  These slashes are not killing moves. It is true that the attacker might bleed to death from the neck cut or from a slashed wrist, but it won't happen very fast. You should be prepared to seize your initial advantage and follow up decisively either to defeat him or to run away.

  For instance, if you slash his forearm, the attacker will experience two or three horrified seconds as his mind adjusts to the knowledge that you have a knife and that he is badly cut. In this "shock window," you have ample time to turn and run. If this is not possible, it is a great moment for a kick to the groin or a stomping attack to the side of his knee.

  If he attacks you again, remember to let him feel the edge of the knife every time he sticks out a hand or foot. He will soon stop hitting and start shouting. At that point you know you have won.

  A "heavy" knife can sever a frozen chicken in one clean blow. If you use it for self-defense, aim at fingers.

  Heavy knifes are a special class of weapons that don't come to hand that often. The original, full-size Bowie knife is a "heavy" knife. A kitchen cleaver comes close. A machete is a little long for our purposes, but it has the same sense of chopping power. During World War II the British issued a short machete they called a "smatchet" that is exactly what I have in mind. A large, heavy chef's knife will do in a pinch.

  Suppose we offer this criterion for a heavy knife: if the knife can chop a chicken in half with one blow, it's a heavy knife. (For the anal-retentive, I mean a 2-pound supermarket fryer, unwrapped and thawed, on a wooden chopping block, cut crosswise through the back between the wings and the legs.)

  How to Use a Heavy Knife

  A heavy knife is a club with a sharp edge. You chop with it. The feeling is like chopping at a piece of firewood with a hatchet. The heavy knife can cut or break bone where the light knife can only slice soft tissue.

  Defending Against Punches and Kicks

  If the attacker tries to kick you, step back away from the kick and chop down hard at his shin bone. Be prepared to yank the knife back out of the wound. It may sink into the bone and get stuck.

  Punches are deflected by chopping at the wrists and forearms. Don't expect to cut off a hand like they do in the movies. According to legend, Jim Bowie could literally "disarm" a man with his knife, but most people should not expect the same results.

  Attacks to the Hands, Shoulders, Neck, and Head

  You probably can't cut off an arm with this knife, but fingers are another matter. If the opponent sticks out a hand toward you (holding a weapon, for instance), you can chop at it with a good chance of cutting, breaking, or even severing one or more fingers. This tends to be very distracting to the severee.

  The chop to the hand (or forearm) usually opens up an opportunity to attack the shoulders, neck, or head. The heavy knife is capable of severing the collarbone, and this is my preferred target. A broken collarbone ends the fight, and for self-defense purposes that is enough.

  For more serious situations, the heavy knife can be used against the neck or skull. A solid blow against the side of the neck just below the angle of the jaw can cut deep and sever the carotid artery. (Remember, this is a knife that can divide a chicken with one stroke.) Make no mistake, this is a lethal wound. A man with an open carotid artery drops to the ground within se
conds and unless someone gives him immediate first aid, he passes the point of no return (exsanguination) in about a minute.

  The heavy knife is a club with an edge. A traditional Bowie is heavy enough that either the blade or the pommel can crack a skull. I would aim at the center of the forehead and try to split the frontal bone. Even if the blade just bounces off, the opponent will be stunned by the blow. Again, this is a technique reserved for times when it is justified to kill.

  Next Steps

  Wipe off the blood. It rusts the blade.

  I put in a chapter about throwing knifes because people are dreadfully misinformed about them. Bear in mind that my remarks are addressed to beginner self-defense students who need practical advice about expedient weapons. For this audience, the undisputed policy is never, never, never throw away your knife.

  There are people who can take a very heavy knife, throw it powerfully, and stick the point deeply into a wooden target at 16 or 20 feet. It is impressive to watch. I have done it myself from time to time. Maybe you have, too. If you happened to have your knife at hand in a crisis, and if there happened to be an attacker at just the right distance, and if the attacker didn't flinch or dodge the knife, and if the point of the knife was not deflected by heavy clothing or an inconvenient bone, then the knife might drive home between two ribs and create one of those chest-sucking wounds so popular with the ancient Romans. Before keeling over, however, the wounded enemy would be very likely to pull it out and make you eat it.

  Of course if the knife does not wound him but only bangs him in the mouth and knocks out one of his teeth, your situation is even worse. You've thrown away your weapon, made the opponent angry, and armed him all at the same time. Try to think of something that is more self-evidently stupid.

  This situation does not have the makings of a good selfdefense technique. Knife throwing is fun (if you take precautions against the knives that bounce back in your face), but it is unwise to try it in a fight.

  She isn't Errol Flynn, but she knows how to handle her weapon. Stab, don't swing.

  Let's clarify a point. If you are afraid that someone will attack you with a sword and you want to know how to fight back, the answer is simple. Use a shotgun.

  In recent years, most of the swordplay we have seen in the movies has been utterly incompetent. I concede that it was dramatic, but it was not effective. As an example, consider the "light saber" fight in the Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back. There was some excuse for the callow Luke Skywalker to swing his saber wildly from side to side like that, but the more seasoned Darth Vader should have been able to drive the point of his weapon through Luke's throat about two seconds into the fight. Unfortunately, George Lucas intended to make a third Star Wars movie, so the fight could not end like that.

  The point beats the edge. Never forget it. Stabbing into your enemy's face, throat, chest, abdomen, or thighs is much faster and far more damaging than slicing at him with the edge of the sword. This is a classic principle of personal combat with edged weapons. Using the point of the weapon is faster than using the edge.

  This principle was drilled into Roman soldiers more than 2,000 years ago. They carried the gladius, one of the most ruthlessly efficient man-killing devices ever invented. The gladius was a short sword hardly more than 2 feet in length. The blade was as much as 2 inches wide, and the edges of the blade were straight. The last 5 inches of the blade tapered into a wicked triangular spike. It had all the grace and beauty of a tent peg or a hoe. It was just a stout, sharp, deadly tool for killing soldiers.

  Roman recruits were trained never to swing the sword. The gladius was for stabbing only. Soldiers were taught that a single jab into the chest, penetrating no more than 2 inches, would kill an enemy. Just jab the point in lightly anywhere in the chest. Then deflect the enemy's attacks for half a minute while his lungs fill with blood. Wait for him to collapse. Finish him off with a thrust to the throat, then step over him and jab at the next guy. The Romans were very cold-blooded about combat. They were also very good at it.

  For our purposes, though, there is a problem with this philosophy. It takes too long. For personal defense we need techniques that work immediately, that put the opponent out of the fight suddenly and definitely. We can't afford to wait for him to drown in his own blood.

  For our purposes, a "sword" is any object that is roughly 2 feet long and sharp on the end. "Sharp" may be a relative term. The basic idea is that this object is more effective as a thrusting, stabbing weapon than as a swinging, clubbing, or cutting weapon. For instance, a stout umbrella with a steel ferrule is much more effective used as a stabbing tool than used as a club. The same might be said of a large screwdriver, a skewer, or a long kitchen knife such as a boning knife. An arrow qualifies, of course. Or you might have real swords hanging on your walls as decorations. I have two hanging over my desk. (One is a gladius!)

  Once you have armed yourself with a sword for selfdefense, what do you do next?

  Attacking the Face and Throat

  With the sword, you have a weapon that gives you longer reach than you normally have and which must be stabbed solidly into a vital spot in order to incapacitate this felon who is trying to rape or murder you. To obtain immediate results, there are really only two useful targets: the eyes and the throat.

  Here you are facing an "urban gorilla" (sic) on a dark sidewalk. He may be alone or he may have a couple of buddies who are circling around trying to get behind you. It rained earlier and you have your umbrella with you. He's closing in.

  You swing the umbrella overhead as if to club at his head, yelling defiantly to get his attention. His hands will go up to ward off the ineffective blow. Instead of clubbing him, however, you kick him in the crotch, knee, or thigh. Now his hands snap down to protect his privates and to try to catch your foot. That's okay. Let him catch your foot. That will keep his hands firmly down out of the way as you ram the steel spike on the end of the umbrella deep into his left eye socket. Try to sink all 4 inches of the ferrule into his eye. This is no time to be squeamish.

  Will he let go of your foot? You can count on it. Will he fall to the ground unconscious? Very likely. Will he continue the fight? Hardly a person on Earth could continue to fight after receiving this blow, but if he does you can always take aim at the other eye. Will he die? Yes, he just might. This is not a technique you use on friends who are just fooling around.

  The alternate target is the throat. You want to hit the Adam's apple or the soft area just below it. If you can ram the umbrella into this area, or better yet impale this area with something sharp, you will give the attacker far more immediate things to think about than the momentary pleasure of plundering your wallet. If you crush the larynx or windpipe with the ferrule, his pain will be intense and he will begin to gag and choke. If you impale him here (as with the point of a big screwdriver), he will be choking on blood. Either way, his hands will go to his throat and his mind will focus on his own survival. Throat injuries are life-threatening.

  Attacking the Thighs

  The idea is to use the sword for personal defense. One strategy for self-defense is to injure the attacker's leg(s) and then run. It is a good strategy, being both tactically and morally sound. It is usually fairly easy to accomplish, too.

  I would not go after an opponent's thighs with a blunt spike like an umbrella ferrule, but a sharp screwdriver, wood chisel, icepick, or long knife might work pretty well. A wound in the belly of a muscle tends to paralyze (weaken) it, and it seems to paralyze the same muscle on the opposite leg for good measure. You can thrust the point of the weapon pretty much anywhere in the top of the attacker's thigh, but the really sensitive spot is on the inside of the thigh up near the genitals. There are important muscles, large nerves and blood vessels there. Cut or bruise that nerve bundle and you can just walk away without a further concern. Your enemy may not walk normally again ... ever. If you cut the femoral artery, he may die right there on the sidewalk in a matter of minutes. These are not games
for kids.

  Blocking Attacks with the Sword

  The point beats the edge. It is a subtle distinction, but most untrained punches are "edge" attacks. They wind up, swing out in an arc, and strike at the face with a distinctly sideways, slashing motion. Think of any movie fight you ever saw John Wayne in. Those swinging punches are pow erful, but they take almost a full second to deliver. What should you be doing during that endless second?

  Stab at something. Anything. Dig that umbrella ferrule into his chest muscles. It will hurt him. Jab at his face or throat. Jab the point into his groin or belly. Just poke him good and hard every time he cocks his elbow back and starts to punch. He will quickly decide that he doesn't want to do that anymore. He will try to grab the umbrella (or whatever you are using). That's okay. If he grabs the umbrella, just hold on to it tightly with both hands and kick him in the groin. He'll let go and grab his crotch. That's when you get your shot at his face or throat.

  Next Steps

  I assume that you have scored a telling blow with your sword or with a kick to the groin. If the bad guy has fallen to the pavement, you should just run away (or turn to fight the next guy).

  If he is still on his feet, however, you may need to cripple him so you can run away. You have to make a judgment call. There he is, preoccupied for the moment with his new adventure in pain, but you may have only seconds before he lunges at you again. What should you do?

  Step quickly to his side and stomp as hard as you can on the side of his knee. Try to break the knee by making it bend sideways. Even a poorly executed kick will cause enough pain to put him on the ground. That's when you take off running. Your job is to protect yourself, not to "finish him off" with your sword. You can't mount his head on the den wall anyway. Just clear out.