Theory of relative action
On the subject of martial arts there is an expectation that a practitioner is of able body and stable mind; however that is far from the truth as there are all walks of life. There is an upside to reality however in that because of the mixture of individuals; there is greater chance for each and everyone to have a feel for different aggressors of defenders, which increases their chance for survival.
Training diligently will teach fundamentals of consistency in the mind and body, teaching the practitioner how to direct instead of reacting to a situation that they may encounter in everyday life or in a life or death situation. All things related to combat must be remembered by the practitioner to be a matter of life and death (Go Rin No Sho). Not for the overkill effect but for the purpose of reminding them that in practising or using martial arts to defend ones self, they do not have control of how far their assailant wants to continue the struggle. They do however have control of themselves.
There is hesitation in writing this, as I am afraid that what I might write down has already been repeated from various books that I have read. This would in turn subject me to forget to acknowledge where my thoughts come from, so I must apologise to the masters of the past. I feel that although I have no solid subject I have an obligation to explain my thoughts and philosophy as a martial artist. All topics that I touch on are just a speck of sand in a sea of thought, which is as turbulent as the world that I live in.
Quiet the soul.
Relaxing both mind and body.
Feel the technique.
Deliberately one moves,
Mirroring and matching all possibilities
Prevailing with ease.
Deliberate and Smooth
Without hesitation strike your target
Focussing on impact.
Holding back
When you are doing an exercise and at times find yourself unable to complete the technique smoothly or even fail to complete it. Do you find yourself wondering if the person you are trying to affect is being too defensive or countering your moves because they know what you are doing? You blame them for your mistake or yourself for not being good enough.
First and foremost delete those thoughts from your mind, and think of the technique itself. This time instead of affecting the person that you are doing it to, you will secure the points of contact securely around you and begin to do the technique while feeling resistance. Think of it as a bubble that is being stretched out to its limit. At this point if you think of compensating you will actually start the process of doubting your movement and this makes you indecisive.
This indecision will give respite to the attacker and help them regain balance, allowing them to regain their composure. If you however continue with your original plan and not hold back. The initial resistance may seem to increase but if you pick the right technique/action towards an attack it will suddenly disappear or in other words the bubble will burst.
It is important for those that follow this state of mind or conviction to continually practise a particular situation with progressive variations a number of times so you will get the feel for the defence/action to do.
Do not close your eyes to all that stands before you
Do not act without conviction for any action that you decide
Do not look back to see where you’ve come from for this will not tell you where you are going
Instead do which is necessary to achieve what was learnt.
Hesitate once and your conviction will start to crumble
Multi-man Work
In the outset of a certainty that you will be involved in an altercation with more than one person, it is imperative that you as the defender are decisive in being pre-emptive in your defence. There are instances where you will find your mind will be racing in trying to establish what action to take or to not take any action at all, however as per all altercations unless you as the defender take it upon yourself to actually act there is the danger that you will let openings pass you by. There is a saying that states “Let not fear stop you, instead let it drive you”
With this in mind let us now put ourselves in training with multi-man work, and the mental attitude when working through the opponents in the exercises that will enforce what actions one makes
The main threat towards the defender is panicking and staying in one spot, frozen, this is dangerous as they will be overpowered on the spot and also get hit when the attacker’s initial attack arrives! When the defender moves from where they initially stood or originated, he must bear in mind that going towards the middle of the attackers will get themselves trapped on both flanks.
Moving with conviction and deliberate action with effect on all opponents from manipulating their position to limiting your vulnerabilities by being aware of your body position and distance. Providing them with a selected opening thereby baiting them towards it you will be able to control or predict an opponent’s action in a limited way. Committing action such as this one must be diligent in cultivating the right attitude and also the learning to feel the soft and hard rules of fighting wether you are in physical contact with them or not.
Most important when in a situation where you are outnumbered the initiative must be taken by you and if caught off guard one must take necessary steps to redirecting attacks and using body positioning to take advantage of what is given by attackers. Using them as either a shield or restricting opening from other attackers by moving in a deliberate direction off centre to where they are attacking you.
If caught by a grabbing attacker that is pulling you towards them, use this as an opportunity to drive a weapon in their weak points (pressure points or manipulating their balance) so that you can dispense of them in one quick motion. This needs greater practice in class as there will be a tendency to over exert your strength to counter the pull that the attacker is providing you (the practice of Pac Qua can greatly help in feeling their strength). Trying to overpower them can have two things happen, one is you break free and continue on your way without breaking you stride which is advantageous or it can hinder your perception of the grabbing attackers strength making an attempt to use their strength against them harder as your timing will be out of sync to the opening they are presenting you.
A thing to remember when moving yourself away from a dangerous position is that you must already be using this movement to gain advantage towards your next movement. To do this you must make sure that while you’re moving you are actively looking and identifying weaknesses to your attackers’ movement, balance and position.
Only those who dare to fall greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Robert Kennedy
The feel of the Bokken
Upon first handling a bokken, you initially have this feeling that the object you are holding is nothing more than a piece of wood that is shaped like a Katana/Japanese sword. To the uninitiated the feel of the bokken is nothing spectacular and will even find that they are twirling it like a baton or worse yet handle it like a Chinese sword. When I say Chinese sword, I mean that the bokken is slashed about and when on an exercise they strike at their opponents without any deliberate outcome, thereby having no actual benefit to them.
When one holds a bokken they must have the mental note to themselves that they are on the edge of life and death as they practice its use, with the realisation that a bokken is a symbolisation of a real sword that can either take life or preserve life. Only then can one truly benefit from its practice and learn that they will gradually be more deliberate in whatever they set out to do. From a simple piece of wood shaped like a sword, one may attain the basic understanding of life in a broader sense.
Neither feeling power nor strength the wielder finds the beginning of emptiness and fullness all in one moment, the calm taking over, one feels the weight of the bokken. As one lifts it up before striking, they feel heaven above give it the weight of a thousand thunderclaps as it sails downs towards the target, destroying anything in its way with deliberate intent, and thus preserving life.
It is not what is thought of
But what is acted upon
That defines the person.
As it hits the target, there is the initial resonance of something preventing its way, this is short lived however when the wielder has the weight of the bokken distributed evenly between the leading hand and the power hand, the right and left hands respectively. On a controlled impact all resistance will fail even if it is attempted to be deflected away from the intended target, the wielder will still be able to hit another target of opportunity opened up from the change of position of the bokken. A kamae that is gained from these situations are very advantageous as the opponent will not expect a deflected blow to end up at a good position to strike back.
However on the outset that a controlled strike is deflected and the wielder is put in a disadvantageous position, due to unforseen reasons, as it is still a controlled strike there is a higher chance that the wielder can move away from any oncoming blow from the opponent and gain the upper hand.
A controlled strike can be achieved by having the sensibility in ones self on how they hold the bokken, the wielder is subject to sense the balance, weight and length of the bokken. These three factors play an important part in an even of a duel between another person or against themselves.
The pursuit of perfection,
There is no greater purpose than this,
All waking hours of ones life,
Devoted to the perfection of what one pursues,
Be it fishing, writing and just being.
Pressure
The importance of affecting once assailant through pressure in behaviour or through direct manipulation of body parts and mental state cannot be neglected even if you are far superior in skill to your opponent. In the outset of anything one should already be in the state of mind that the opponent be disadvantage either through terrain (Classic Art of War strategy) or their state of mind achieved by either appearing weak or overly strong so that they have the false sense of what you are capable of thereby already affecting them in an advantageous way.
Using direct manipulation of ones assailant by affecting their balance with force in certain part is at most covered within ones chosen martial doctrine, from affecting their pressure points or the direct manipulation of what my master describes as “Anatomical weaknesses”.
The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.
Confucius.
Thoughts.
It is very hard to train while a practitioner is harbouring an injury, especially a recurring ailment, the best that a practitioner can do is to know their limits so that they do not aggravate it further. However they should not set in their minds that once a limit is put they cannot perform past it.
In today’s society there are a lot of able bodies that could rise to greatness that would equal to the olden times of history, however due to the bombardment of information presented to these people they are quickly distracted from ever attaining what they could have grasped in their heads.
I believe that it is not that they are lazy or looking for the easy was but it is because of the information they get will confuse them or rather give them something else to do thereby forgetting what they had intended to do originally.
Preventing this from happening is something that needs to be instructed into young minds the notion of self belief, much like the way fanatical institutions taught their children, in that they are only given limited amounts to study and re-enforced into their head, however there is a danger that the student will not be able to think outside the box and fail to be open minded.
“In all that is said and is written, there is nothing new that can be found, except in the interpretation of the message”
The flow of the hand manifests to the assailant a sense of calmness, keep in mind that you are calm even when the world around you is at a blur. Don’t rush it. Keep it as definite an action and wild as the assailants’ actions. Use your eyes to track your enemy at a constant target so that you can see your peripheral vision.
With practice you will find that your body will move without conscious thought to control your action, this is known as muscle memory. “Don’t tense up” a saying made famous by Bruce Lee, is as true today as it was when he said it. Your tracking of the opponent will also enable you to know a best guess of what they are going to do from the body balance and the flow of their action. It is important that if you are caught flat footed to go with your opponents attack, so that they are further committed to their attack towards you, drawing them to a point where you can basically use it to your advantage by seizing an opening that they offer to you. When you find yourself losing go with their force of attack and counter with such force at a particular point of weakness, affecting their advantage thereby blunting its full force on you.
To do this you would attack their organs, floating ribs, neck and other soft body targets and with such a force and deafening roar that it will disrupt the train of thought. Allowing you to give them pause in what they are doing. With so much to take in they will momentarily be stunned, when I say momentarily it is a split second and this should be enough for you to turn them in their mindset if you capitalise by following it up quickly with forceful attacks. With deadly intent giving your mental state of mind a destructive path.
This may seem like and overkill, but if you find yourself on the receiving end you are very close to wanting to be mentally prepared to take the fight to a whole new level. This is meant to show you that though you mean to win, deep down you are conflicted of hurting someone and this mindset is dangerous as it will make your actions lax and without deliberate force.
If you hone the feeling that you need to do something, don’t hesitate or you may miss your chance. Don’t have regrets – as Musashi once said.
"What is important is to try to develop insights and wisdom rather than mere knowledge, respect someone’s character rather than his learning, and nurture men of character rather than mere talents.”
“If there is anything to do, there is certainly a best way to do it, and the best way is both the most economical and the most graceful.”
Inazo Nitobe
Defence against Long Weapons
From my training there is one thing that has struck me in how an assailant with a long weapon should be approached, whether they are using a bat or even a sword. It is to make sure that one must always have the calmness to be able to dupe the assailant in attacking you whole heartedly when they strike so that when you enter into their space (space being beyond/behind their weapon) they will not have the chance to stop their attack on you.
When the assailant starts towards you it is important to walk towards them in a deliberate but not rushed motion, let them feed off your calmness, this will serve two things for you. One is the assailant will be less inclined hesitate in their attack thereby allowing you to control the attack in a subtle way and two is that this will help you gauge where the “Edge of the battle” is.
In a fight against an assailant wielding a long weapon you will have three possible defences to remember, one is the disarming of the weapon, two is to engage the assailant and the third is to disengage.
To disarm the weapon it is a matter of entering into the opponents’ space beyond the weapon and exploits the bodies’ anatomical weakness, using a levering concept, whereby you use your body as a fulcrum to affect greater force on the assailants’ point of control with the weapon.
To engage you as the defender enters the assailants space and this time ignores the weapon to some degree and concentrate in destroying you opponent head on, at the same time though the weapon is being ignored you must remember to try to have a degree of awareness to what will happen to the weapon when you throw or strike at the attacker. One must remember also that when you are engaging you must try to keep it to the point, in that don’t bother with trying to do too much, because that could heighten the assailants senses and would give them time to react to what you are doing to them and instead of making it easy on yourself, you will have a harder time to subdue the attacker.
I submit, defeat.
A wise man knows when to quit.
Stalking Knife Attack
In fighting an assailant that is stalking you for an opening but at the same time they are constantly trying to slash at you, it is imperative that you do no fixate on the knife. You have to ignore the superfluous movements of the knife and react to the actual threat. Wait for an opening, relax your breathing and be calm. You must be calm so that the attacker will get the sense of lull in your action dropping their guard and easing their edge.
If you have to back away do so with the intention of drawing the attacker to a step/position to force them to make an opening that you can take advantage of. Pay close attention to where the attacker is fixating their attacks to gauge the danger that they pose if you are caught flat footed.
The principle of the contest is to control others and not be controlled by others
Izawa Nagahide
Be deliberate in the action that you take when the opening presents itself. If you miss it, let it go and move on. Avoid getting caught up in the missed chance, strive to calm your mind to capitalise on the future. Being deliberate will mean that when you chose to fight the attacker don’t let up. There is greater danger in withdrawing from your attacker, finish what you started and adapt if necessary. As my master says, “Expect to get cut”.
The mindset “Expect to get cut” is not something that one takes into battle with the feeling that they will get cut but more importantly the belief that a cut will only be life threatening if one is already at deaths door. There is only one action, do not go alone. This is really about knowing within ones self that to come on top of a situation one must use all avenues and expects all possibilities of life and death within that moment one acts.
Being deliberate with your chosen action will provide a greater chance that victory is at hand. Know yourself and what you are capable, there is always a way to win. Even when the odds are stacked too high a simple kick can destroy a structure.
Knowing when to match an opponent’s speed and timing when to move are critical. It allows a defender the opportunity to move and act calmly without having to rush their actions. The opposite is fatal only if the defender does not realise that they are too late for their chosen action and not adapt a new course of action. Chose your target well, if locking then lock, if hitting then hit with full effect. There are no in between. And above all else breathe.
Sweeping the mats.
This to me is an integral part of ones development; I don’t see it as a chore but take this opportunity to clear my mind of all the baggage that I carry through the door of the dojo and onto the mats. I picture in my head the same setting that I have before me of the mats having dust and junk cluttered on it. As I systematically sweep them away I think of all the superfluous junk in my mind as being swept away. Each stroke I attempt to breathe in and out by the number of counts of my sweeping.
Moving my feet purposefully backwards I envision what I will achieve as I see a clean mat in front of me I think of the saying empty your cup so that it can be filled with new knowledge. Breathing slowly and deeply I empty all the things that plague me in my work and try not tot think of anything except a void waiting to be filled.
There are also times where instead of emptying my mind of useless garbage I take it as an opportunity to stop myself from looking too far ahead of me and reinforce my focus on the task if taking one step at a time.
Defence against two assailants both with pistols
Am interesting dream I had, situation is two men are sitting on a square table. Defender has one directly in front of them and the other is sitting to their left. One starts telling you of their intent in extorting money off you by threatening kidnapping or ransoming you back to your loved ones.
It was a rude awakening for me that day. This is an exercise of what you think you should do; ask yourself what you need to do, not what you want to do and image it play out in your mind.
Martial Thoughts
My journey has been a long one, culminating in 11 years of constant training. Mentally I have developed slowly but I am confident my mature attitude is slowly rising to tackle what I deem necessary to transcend my status as a senior student into a mentor for other students to aspire to.
I have not followed my path up the mountain in a fast line but have smelt the flowers along the way and wandered the forest floors so that I can bask on the light set forth by my master. I don’t see the rush to the top as a goal worth taking; I see the path winding slowly up as my chosen goal. Today I know that this holds true when living in a world full of hectic people I would rather walk rather than run.
There is an ever increasing sense within me to improve further my techniques rather than just to do, however as of today I find this is making my work sometimes sluggish as I have to assess what I do rather than move. However in saying that I do find that since I am forced to assess what needs to be done my temperament has benefited greatly. It’s a long journey but at least I am closer to where the path leads.
