Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 33

Self Defense
· kusari-gama (sickle attached to a
rope, cord or wire)
· kyoketsu-shoge (hook-knife
attached to a rope, cord or wire)
· kusari (weight attached to a rope,
cord or wire)
· Karabit

Knives for fun
Knife fighting is so much more
than just self-defense. It is
especially fun to do. It gives your
reflexes that you do not get with a
re g u l a r w o r k o u t w i t h o u t k n i v e s .
Hand eye coordination is developed
s t ro n g l y, i t i s a l s o i m p o r t a n t t o
increase coordination, speed and
timing. Another very important point
i s t h a t y o u g re a t l y i m p ro v e i n

unarmed combat. Knife fighting
makes
your
re f l e x e s
and
coordination better. In addition, the
knife fight is very competitive and
fun
to
master
and
build
selfconfidence not over confidence.
You learn how to disarm and how to
do a beautiful drill. Just think of all
the possibilities, unarmed knife,
knife against knife, grappling, etc.
a n d d o n o t f o rg e t a l l t h e o t h e r
weapons so as karabit, machete
and tomahawk, it is so much fun.

Sudden death
Sparring is also a fun part of the
training. You protect yourself with a
screen helmet and a safe training
knife and obviously good rules are

important to keep! Everything must be
done within safe limits. So I recently
introduced a new sparring form. It is a
one minute fight and the rules are
simple: (1) you can not Punch or kick,
(2) we focus mainly on the knife fight.
How do you wield your knife, both
technically and tactically, and the
most important rule (3) when a
disarmament is performed or you
loose the knife you have lost the fight
and are eliminated. Students really
like the variant, they think it is very
nice and fun, everything is brought
back to one minute. It brings both joy
and disappointment. I have tested this
variant in Holland, Belgium and
Germany, and the form is very popular
and very suitable for close combat
competion.