Against an Armed Attack

by Sang H. Kim

The following article is based on the principles and techniques taught in the Armed and Dangerous Knife Defense video series. It is intended to give a brief overview of the central tenet of knife combat for the experienced martial artist.

Much has been written aout the effectiveness of one system or another in a realistic or "street" situation. Many styles claim to be scientifically designed or to have secret techniques to defeat even the toughest of opponents, including armed assailants. Yet when it comes to an assailant armed with a knife, you don't need to learn a lot of fancy, secret techniques, you only need to remember four simple options. In an armed confrontation, basic is best and the most direct techniques are the ones that will give you the opportunity to walk away when it's over.

Four Choices, One Result

When faced with a weapon, you have four choices: retreat, lateral inside close, lateral outside close or pass by. Each of these initial movements allows you to shorten the distance between you and your opponent. Once you get close, you can apply the defense of your choice. If you prefer kicking, you can use a kick. If you prefer locking, you can apply a lock. If you prefer grappling, you can take your opponent to the ground. But to use any of these skills, you first have to get close to your attacker.


Retreat: Cowardice or Foresight

To retreat is generally seen by the opponent as a sign of cowardice. You are too afraid to fight or you are unable to match your opponent's strength, so you step back to avoid being drawn into a confrontation. However, the retreat can be a smart intial move since it gives you a chance to meaure your attacker's seriousness and prepare a strategy. And there is always the chance that when you signal a retreat, your attacker will back off enough to let you escape. This is, of course, the safest and most intelligent way to defeat an armed attacker. It is also the least likely outcome.

The other option is to retreat a step or two to give yourself time to collect your thoughts and ensure you are in the safest possible position to defend yourself. You can use a retreat to gain better footing, adjust your stance or height to your opponent or manuever for the best position in a confined space. You also can use a retreat to take control of the timing and distance of the confrontation. When you begin to retreat, your attacker is forced to react to you. Now you are in control, at least for the moment, of how fast the situation is moving. You can find the distance most comfortable for you and prepare to retaliate when you are ready.While retreating, you should be observing your opponent's position. Is he holding the weapon in his right or left hand? Is he bigger or smaller than you? Does he appear to have any obvious weaknesses? Is he quick or slow? Is there anything behind him or out of his line of view that you can use to your advantage? Does he see your retreat as a sign of weakness or does it make him nervous? There are many signals, both overt and subconscious, that your attacker will give off. By being observant, you can prepare your next move.


Disadvantages of the Retreat

While a retreat is the most sensible option available, it has disadvantages that make it a poor choice in some situations. Obviously, it is not an option in a confined space. And while you gain a physical advantage by retreating, you lose a major psychological advantage. The minute you step back, the psychological upper hand goes to your opponent. He will see you as weak, uncertain, inexperienced and perhaps unskilled. Although you may have a plan of attack all thought out, he sees only your retreat and gains courage from it. If you do have a plan, you can regain the advantage by using it when he thinks you are about to give in. If you do not have a plan, your fear will only be magnified by retreating.


Lateral Closes

The lateral close is the most commonly taught method of defending against a thrusting, lunging or cutting attack. There are two methods of using the lateral close. The first is to side step your opponent's forward movement. When the opponent attacks, you step either to the right or left of the attack while maintaining your ground. The result is that you end up very close to your opponent on the right or left side of his body.

The second method for lateral closing is to move diagonally toward your opponent. Before your opponent moves forward to attack you, you make a preemptory strike by stepping out to the side and toward him. The result is that you move into your attacker's space and end up very close to the left or right side of his body. Both methods allow you to effectively close the distance while avoiding the attacker's weapon.

And the key to defending against any weapon is to effectively and quickly get close to the assailant. The weapon weilding attacker's biggest asset is space. By holding a weapon, he extends his range of attack by several feet and thereby shortens your range. Once you pass by the outer reaches of his range, the place where he is holding the weapon, you blunt his options for attack and take away his advantage. When you get very close, you force him to resort to grabbing you or blocking your attack, distracting his attention from his weapon and lessening his advantage still further.


The Deadly Pass

The final technqiue for closing the distance against a weapon is one that you won't see taught often. It is the most dangerous, both to the attacker and the defender, and it is recommended only for experienced practitioners. The pass is dangerous even in practice and should only be practiced by martial artists who are skilled in falling and do not have any preexisting back or neck injuires. Always practice on a soft surface and never at full speed.

With these cautions in mind, have your partner face you as before and move forward with a right handed attack. Step out to the left, as if performing an outside close, but take two steps by your partner so that you are behind him. You have now "passed" your partner and have several options. You may grab his hair, head or shoulders and pull him backwards. You may apply a choke or lock from behind. You may kick his spine, tailbone, or knee to knock him forward. Or you may strike the back of his head. To be effective, the pass and follow-up technique should be performed as a single move. In an instant, you have to move by your attacker and apply a single deadly attack before he realizes where you are.

The result of a correctly performed pass is that your attacker never sees it coming and is literally blindsided by your attack. If you choose to pull the attacker backward, he will certainly hit his head to the ground, knocking him unconcsious if the ground is hard. If you push him forward, he will likely hit his face on the ground, causing the same result. If you choose to strike him from behind, he will suffer a full force blow with no warning or defense, a potentially lethal strike for even the biggest opponent.

The pass is not recommended for beginners. You run the risk of becoming disoriented or losing your footing when you move so quickly and with such force. You also risk being tripped by yourself or your assailant as you pass by. And finally, you run the risk of not being fast enough to complete the pass and not getting a grip on your opponent to control his weapon either. For these reasons, the pass is taught only at the highest levels of weapons defense and should be applied with great care.

Choosing your Method

Which method you choose to close the distance depends on your skill level and experience. For beginners, practicing the outside close is safest. When you are comfortable with your speed and timing and can finish your partner easily from the outside close, practice the inside close. If you are very experienced and have an experienced partner, you can also experiment with the pass.

Whichever method you choose, there are a few common principles:

1. Stay as close to your opponent as possible after you close.
2. Focus on taking control of the knife first.
3. Grabbing the knife wielding hand is always preferable to parrying/blocking.
4. Cut off your attacker's view of the knife.
5. Close the distance quickly and smoothly.
6. Never take unnecessary chances or use complicated techniques.
7. Detach yourself from the fear you feel when faced with a weapon.
8. Stay alert but unemotional.
9. Keep a natural demeanor and deceive your opponent.
10. Move suddenly and without warning.

Finishing Techniques

In the above examples, we briefly touched on technqiues used for finshing after you close the distance. Although the methods for closing the distance are only three, the potential number of finishing technqiues are as vast as the arts we practice. Once you get close to your opponent, you can use your strongest skills, whether they are striking, kicking, throwing, locking or grappling. There are no secret weapons or scientific pricniples. There is only the simple truth that once you take away your opponent's advantage, you are free to use whatever you are best at.

The Art of Harmony Part 5

by Sang H. Kim

Eye of the Hurricane

In perfect stillness is perfect action;
In absolute action is hidden stillness.

Action is a visible labor; stillness invisible.
Action is effect; stillness cause.
Action travels; stillness stays in time.
Action is a deed; stillness a reference point.
Action creates meaning; stillness reason.
Action discovers; stillness reveals.
Action justifies; stillness unravels.
Action uncovers weakness; stillness virtue.
Action is journey; stillness origin.

Stillness is the sand; action the footprints.
Stillness is eternal; action finite.
Stillness frees; action limits.
Stillness bears time; action devours.
Stillness keeps us wondering; action keeps us busy.

Action stirs; stillness does the work.

The Art of Harmony Part 4

by Sang H. Kim

Meet the Enemy

An enemy is one who is committed to destroying you,
Who looks for any potential opening to get in,
Who hits you first from behind then from the front.

The best way to know the opponent:
Meet him head on,
Confirm his strength,
Exploit his weakness,
Topple him in surprise.

The worst enemy is the most intimate: the one who steals your inner thoughts, betrays you, doubts you, saps your strength and focus. As long as you can defeat him firmly, you can destroy all other enemies.

He is you.

The Art of Harmony Part 3

by Sang H. Kim

Time

Time does not fly.
It drops into the abyss.

Time is timeless. There was not a time when there was not a time.

Time may belong to eternity, but it is a sub-concept to eternity. Eternity is the measurement of permanence whereas time is the measurement of movement. Thus we separate time into three tenses: past, present and future. It is not, however, totally logical to regard time as a thing that can be split into three segments because the division immediately destroys the understanding of time and can generate false images of time in us.

Time is like a circle that begins at one point and ends at the same point; the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. It is constantly bearing forth a new beginning. When “now” ends here right now, a new “now” starts immediately. A beginning, in that sense, is an ending itself which is the beginning of a new beginning. If this is the case, time does not move. It is always right here.

The past and the future are only present at present. You are the maker of time and the slayer of time.

The Art of Harmony Part 2

by Sang H. Kim

The Answer

Who are you?
What are you here for?
Who is your teacher?
What do you want?

What makes you who you are?
How can you be sure who you are?
Are you really the way you are?
Are you real?
What are you?
What do you have to do to be yourself?
What do you believe?
What is your hope?
What do you fear?
Whom do you know?
Are they strangers?
If not, who are they?
Who are you when you are with them?
Who are you now?
Are you insider or outsider?
Where are you from?
Are you happy?
Who taught you that?


Who you are is how you are is what you are is where you are from.

The Art of Harmony Part 1

by Sang H. Kim

The Answer Who are you? What are you here for? Who is your teacher? What do you want?

What makes you who you are? How can you be sure who you are? Are you really the way you are? Are you real? What are you? What do you have to do to be yourself? What do you believe? What is your hope? What do you fear? Whom do you know? Are they strangers? If not, who are they? Who are you when you are with them? Who are you now? Are you insider or outsider? Where are you from? Are you happy? Who taught you that? Who you are is how you are is what you are is where you are from.

The Art of Harmony

by Sang H. Kim

The Brush

Mountains and valleys,

Rocks and streams,
Birch and pine,
Birds and sky,
Short and long twigs,
Strong and soft winds,
Straight and twisted rivers,
Are perfect neighbors.
They are the strokes of life.
Without them, we are a stranger
On a lone desert
Painting an empty canvas.
No stroke, no sky.

When I was a teenager, my father used to pile up junk in the backyard. They were tons of copper wires, giant wooden wheels, a house- sized pile of electric poles, and strange looking giant plastic dishes. I asked him what they were for and he replied that they were left over from his work. I wanted a place to play, so I asked him to clean them up, but he told me to wait. So I waited more than ten years.

In the 1960s, there was serious economic and political turmoil in Korea. We didn’t have fuel in the winter to heat our house. When his five boys were sleepless in the cold, my father went out with an ax in the middle of the night and chopped the electric poles to make a fire.

Then, one day my father got in a serious motorcycle accident. My mother didn’t have money, so she sold some of the copper wire. There was a great boom in heavy industry in the country so we got more than enough money to pay my father’s hospital bills. Later on, the strange looking plastic dishes were exchanged for college tuition for my brothers and I. The five of us are pretty well educated thanks to the dishes.

Now, my father has passed away, leaving the junk in the deepest corner of my memories. I dearly cherish that junk along with memories of my disciplinarian father who created treasure out of junk for his sons. Until they were gone, I never realized their value.