The Knife Warrior
Bashpo Tushka System
American Indian Knife Fighting
In January of 2000, after reading countless articles by knife fighting experts, I began offering Bas-po Tushka (Choctaw for “knife warrior”) knife defense training based on fighting concepts of my native people. I felt compelled to move forward with what has been a long-time plan because of the misinformation that exists with regard to knife fighting.
I cringe when I read articles with techniques that advocate kicking a knife out of an attacker’s hand or attempt to block with one arm and then strike with the other. In stylized photos those techniques may look effective – but they don’t work.
Other articles discuss fighting knife to knife; but how many law-abiding people carry an easily accessible fighting knife at all times? If you have to carrying a knife at all times perhaps you are hanging out in the wrong part of town! People who must, for whatever reason, carry a deadly weapon will probably prefer a gun.
For many reasons it just more practical to learn to disarm an opponent who has a knife. Any confrontation with a knife attacker carries grave danger but there are concepts, principles and techniques that will help you increase your odds for survival.
Let me give some background on knife fighting and its importance to my people. Then I’ll discuss some general principles and some solid knife-defense techniques.
American Indians and the Knife
I have explored and documented the different types of weapons used by the American Indian Tribes of the 1800’s. Unfortunately, The American Indian Tribes of North America were not given credit for their contribution to the martial arts world for their fighting skills. All martial arts studied in the United States today are imported. American Indian Weapons is the only martial arts fighting system that can be traced to North America. In its attempt to destroy the Indian tribes and their culture the United States was largely successful. The warfare strategies and weapons of the American Indians are often forgotten and the techniques of warfare and self-defense were carried down in oral tradition from father to son.
For American Indians the most common weapons were the bow and arrow, knife, spear, war club and tomahawk. My people, the Choctaws in southeastern United States, used the blowgun to hunt for small game. What we call Lacrosse today was largely derived from wrestling techniques used by Indians. Intertribal wars were often conducted in night raids requiring close hand-to-hand combat. Today, I teach those seven weapons in my Dallas studio. My initial emphasis in American Indian Fighting systems has been focused on the knife. The knife was a working tool that hung from every warrior belt and was even used by the women to prepare clothing and meals.
In addition, it is the weapon that is most commonly encountered in our lives today. If you are attacked there is about a 70% chance that your assailant will have a knife. And most people fear a knife even more than a gun and are easily frightened into immobility.
Healthy fear is certainly justified but it need not immobilize you: there is always an option for defense if you remember five basic principles and learn some sound techniques. In this self-defense skill as any other, your success is enhanced if you increase your speed, agility and coordination. When in the hands of a worthy adversary, the knife can take your life in a heartbeat. Eventually, it will take great discipline to ignore the weapon and it destructive force, and focus on who and what controls the weapon. Above all, be true to yourself to know your limitation. You must have the ability to evaluate your opponent's skills so that you won't be overly matched. The techniques I cover here are good for exercise purposes to improve those basic health factors as well as for actual use.
FIVE BASIC PRINCIPLES:
The five principles are: establishing the base, intercepting; controlling; disarming; and, neutralizing, in that order. The primary principle is control. With control, the threat of a second or third attempt to cut you is taken away. Let’s examine the first principal, which is establishing the base.
Establishing the base:
The most significant difference between my approach and other experts begins from the ground up. A strong base is usually neglected by other knife experts – it’s not fancy and it’s time consuming. On the other hand, complex filleting movements are graceful and look impressive especially when done knife on knife.
More important than stylized filleting action is the all-important base. A strong base and knowing where to maneuver is foremost. I like to tell my students that I will give them a roadmap and teach them what to do when they get there. To be effective against a knife (or any other weapon!) you feet must move first or at least simultaneous with your other weapons (e.g., first). It is the solid base that lays the foundation for the sophisticate hands movements.
As I have mentioned before I have concerns about knife on knife defense. Carrying a large knife could have legal issues. In addition, having a large knife that is easily accessible is just not a reality for most of us. I’ll show you ways to take your attacker’s knife; that not only accomplishes self-defense it carries a strong message!
You must gain control of the knife, or your opponent will just keep slashing and stabbing at you. How many times can you sidestep him before he gets lucky? I have seen and read many photo articles in martial arts magazine advocating blocks and attempted strikes. That is a recipe for failure and it can be fatal. The knife or gun can take your life in a heartbeat: control of the weapon is foremost. And control demands a strong base. Here’s an example of how control and base work together. Suppose you have grasped your attackers knife hand but his strength is greater than yours. If your feet are planted correctly and your arm is anchored against your body you can continue to control even against that greater strength.
Intercepting: In the techniques I discuss in this article and the many others I have videotaped and teach in my studio we always start with interception.
You will want to run away from a knife, instinctively. But, if running away were an option you wouldn’t be facing the assailant. Instead you are hemmed in by tight space; lack of light in a poorly lit parking lot, friends of the attacker or myriad other obstacles. And since you cannot run away, you must do something that seems counter-intuitive: you must move toward the weapon.
I use parries rather than blocks. We have all learned to block punches but when locking a knife, a slip of a fraction of an inch may get your arm slashed open.
Why not kick the knife out of the attacker’s hand? Try it with an adversarial rather than a cooperative opponent! I think you will find it almost impossible to do. Even if you gain some distance for a few kicks you will eventually find yourself with a cut leg; and all martial artists know a cut to the large veins and arteries of the leg can be fatal.You have to control the weapon and that means establishing a sound base as you intercept the hand that controls the weapon.
Controlling: Most assailants attacking with a knife will concentrate on harming you by slashing and stabbing, but still keeping control of the knife. Therefore your concentration must be on the hand that controls the knife. Once you have controlled the knife even if it is still in the attacker’s hand! You have accomplished your key objective and set yourself up for the next two elements of defense. Until you can learn to control the rest of the technique will be largely ineffective.
Disarming: Your control may be for a fraction of a second, especially against a stronger opponent, so your control must flow quickly into a disarm or a distracting move prior to the disarm.
Neutralizing: Maybe your assailant has another knife or even a gun. Don’t assume the fight is over because you have disarmed and now hold the knife. You are fighting for your life and that warrants taking some extreme measures to make sure the fight is over regardless of what other weapons the assailant has. Now that your have the knife, be prepared to finish the encounter and bring it to an absolute closure.
TWO TECHNIQUES:
I use the clock principle of Kenpo to explain location with you standing on an imaginary clock facing 12:00. In many cases you can think even more simply of two zones running past the assailants shoulders on your left and your right, zones where you can move out of the line of attack. Be sure to attend to your stance*(strong base): stance is as critical as the upper body movements.
The nice thing about the two techniques is a fundamental fact of knife fighting: there are only a few ways to deliver a knife in a threatening manner. There are basically four absolute delivery, all others are just variations off the four. You may know a hundred kick/strike combinations but with a knife you can thrust, slash or stab. These two techniques will give you a foundation for countering the common thrust attack. Many fear and think this attack is the most difficult to defend, in actuality, it’s the easiest.
DANCE OF WAR
You are facing 12:00, your opponent facing you and thrusting at your midsection with the knife in his right hand.
Ilhkoli 01 Chepulli Tanap-Dance of War (right knife thrust to midsection)
1. Step forward to the left into side horse facing 3 o’clock (zone left); as your left hand intercepts his right wrist, and twist it counter clockwise. This motion will momentarily twist his body counter clockwise, thus momentarily taking his left had out of play.
2. Step forward to 2 o’clock with left foot as right hand strips knife. This motion will twist his body counter clockwise further and again naturalizing his left hand. Turn counter clockwise underneath opponent’s arm, with knife in right hand (Option: slashes opponent’s midsection) while right foot plants back to 3 o’clock. NOTE: As my students and I have learned in our realistic simulations, even a razor sharp knife may not cut through heavy cloth so do not assume the technique is over because you have made a slash even if it seems deep to you.
3. Drop to you’re left knee and with your left hand forming a wristlock, take your opponent to the ground.
4. Switch from a left knee stance to a right knee stance and thrust knife into opponent for kill shot.
This technique, like all my knife techniques, is designed with a natural and logical flow in mind. Master the crucial first two steps where you intercept and control; the next steps will feel awkward at first but with scores of repetitions will flow smoothly for you – and muscle wrenching for your opponent!
DARK WIND
Again you are facing 12:00 with your opponent facing you but in this case he is thrusting with the knife in his left hand. A skilled knife fighter could use your right-hand expectation against you so you must prepare yourself to learn all knife defenses, right and left side. You could reverse Dance of War but let’s look at another technique.
Ilhkoli 08 Mali Lusa-Dark Wind (left punch or left knife to midsection)
1. Standing, naturally, step forward with your right foot toward 1:00 o’clock and execute a right inward parry against to outside of opponent’s left wrist
2. As you untwist to a RNB, your left hooking outward parry grabs opponent’s wrist as you right parry circle inward, downward, and diagonally and strike opponent’s floating ribs with a hand sword.
3. Right foot steps to the inside of opponent and apply an armbar. Then execute a left knee to opponent to stun him.
4. Applying the armbar and strike to face should cause your opponent to drop his knife.
5. Cup your opponent’s jaw with your right hand while simultaneously executing a right knee to opponent’s midsection and a left torturing downward heel palm to opponent’s left shoulder (this will snap his neck).
6. With right knee in the air, turn clockwise and manipulate your opponent backward and on to his back finishing in a right wide kneel. NOTE: Keep balance by pivoting on imaginary rod through vertical axis of body.
The technique just described is a bit more complex and requires even more practice, with the simultaneous moves in #6 challenging. With practice, however, you will find it flows smoothly.
Attention to details is crucial during your training because so much is at risk. There’s no pressure on you in practice, but in a live situation you may not get a second chance. Remember preparation is the key. Drill “what if” situations to familiarize yourself with probable scenarios and all available options to counter. Even basic techniques should be drilled over and over so that they become instinctive and reactionary.
Flamboyant movements are beautiful to watch, but I have found that simple basic techniques that have sound principle are the ones that you can put your trust in. You must have the wisdom and savvy to know where the fantasy ends and the real world begin. "Bashpo Tushka, the knife warrior Hashtali Chief Roman"
FOOTNOTES
If you need to review some stance terminology, a side horse is a stance with feet slightly wider than shoulder width (approximately 36 inches), on a line. A neutral bow is a stance of the same width with toe heel alignment so that the toe of the front foot is on the left side of the line, with the heel of the back foot on the right side of the same line. A forward bow is a neutral bow after you have pivoted on the toe of the back foot to face forward. A reverse bow is a neutral bow after you have pivoted on the ball of the front foot to face backwards. In all cases the knees are slightly bent and the weight is on the toes and outside of the foot.
Study With Hashtali "Chief' Adrian Roman
His programs are available to those who live and work in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area and want to train with Chief Roman personally. His training is suited for the discriminating adult professional who's time is important. You can choose a private or small group classes to complete your journey into the martial arts and proven self-defense that will protect your personal body and family members. A certificate of achievement or Black Belt certification is available when you train with the Chief.
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