“I’m better off
fighting empty hand”
For me there are probably no sadder words for a black belt
to utter, however I believe for the vast majority of martial artists this is
true. Often times this comes during a
discussion where the scenario is posed that the person is faced with an
attacker, the threat is real and dangerous and they have a weapon available such
as an edged or impact weapon, excluding a gun of course. I have talked with and seen instructors who
will demonstrate dropping the weapon and assuming a sparring type stance when
given this scenario. Now this isn’t
about a higher moral code that they must do karate and karate is an empty hand
system; rather it is because they feel most confident in their empty hand
skills and they feel unconfident with a weapon.
However if they were allowed a gun, even if they weren’t
familiar with a gun they would take the gun because of its vast superiority of
empty hand defense. This is so backwards
thinking. In a stressful situation they
believe they would be able to draw their gun, get the safety off, chamber a
round, point and shoot with no or minimal training. Consider that it has been proven that an
assailant can generally get to a person (even trained to use a gun) in 20 feet
or less before they can deploy their gun for their defense.
I believe this stems from an over trained mindset that gives
martial artists the idea that everything happens as it does in the dojo. When it comes to using a stick or a knife in a
defensive situation generally martial artists think of in terms of a stick or
knife fight a duel so to speak. Generally
speaking when we (martial artists) practice one steps (application drills) in
our (as in most public ) dojo, it is with our partner getting into a stance and
then attacking as we defend against one or two strikes as if it were a duel. This
is for safety sake so the person doesn’t attack when their partner isn’t ready
and an accident happens. But attacks on
the streets don’t follow those rules like in a dojo, we aren’t allowed to
stretch, to warm up, to square off with the attacker and give him the
permission to attack when we are good and ready etc. etc. Like wise because the gun is a projectile
weapon that is generally not taught in martial art dojos; we don’t think of having
to deploy the gun as in terms of a gun battle; with shots possibly going on
around us, or a person with a knife charging at us etc. etc.
The simple fact is when faced with an attack we’re not
dueling, we are fighting to protect our lives. The impact weapon or the edged weapon used in
a self defense situation is generally a tool; a common item from the picked up
from the surrounding environment, not a fighting weapon carried on the person. We (martial artists) should train to use
weapons that are on us, or in our surrounding areas. For instance the weapons of the pioneers, or
mountain men of old were single shot firearms and what tools they had on them
at the time. For instance some pioneers carried
hatchets and knives on them that helped them cut wood, skin and eat their meat,
and basically help them to survive in a harsh world. If faced with an adversary who is charging towards
them, they wouldn’t, if they missed with the single shot bullet, throw down
their knives and hatchets to try and face them with nothing because they were considered
just tools. Instead if they missed with
the first shot they might use the gun to try and club them, or perhaps toss the
gun to the ground to draw the knife and the hatchet to fight them off. They knew that to survive when their life
depended upon it they used whatever was available to help them win. They knew this, they accepted this, their
lives depended upon this mindset, it was plain common sense.
From 1988-90 there was a show on TV that stared Samo Hung
where he played a LEO from China called Martial Law. One of the great things about this show was
the fight scenes, Samo Hung would use any and everything to fight the villain
with. If they were in the kitchen he
used pots, pans, kitchen utensils you name it he used it, if in a room they
used lamps, chairs etc. etc. This is the
mentality we as martial artists should have.
Use what is available and what gets the job done, again this is common
sense.
Today though with all of our training in the martial arts, sometimes
we don’t have the settler’s mindset, sometimes we don’t have even common
sense. Rather we have a false sense of
security in our training in the dojo that we can defeat anyone or stand a
better chance at survival if I disregard any items that might help me survive
and face down a potential threat empty handed because I take karate or Tae Kwon
Do or Kung Fu.
Instructors need to consider this as well; think about what
example you are setting for your students.
You are in effect saying that your empty hand skills are superior (and
in a sense telling them by proxy that their empty hand skills will be too) so
you don’t need to rely on anything but your empty hands. When in fact what you should be teaching them
is; to use whatever is available, to use whatever stacks the deck in their
favor so they can come home to their families and their loved ones.
This type of thinking, this type of mind set, forces us out
of our comfort zone. In the dojo you are
in control of the perfect world. You
know exactly the right steps to take to off balance the attacker, you are
stepping on the comfortable mat that provides you the sure footing, you have
the attacker that is only going to attack you with a prearranged attack when
you say so and so on. In the dojo life
is good, we always win and the opponent never fights back, basically it is a fantasy. If as an instructor you feel more confident facing
down an armed adversary with knife, empty handed, instead of say; grabbing a
back pack, using a trash can lid, grabbing a tire iron, a mop or a broom, a pan
of hot water off of the stove etc. etc. I believe that you need some more self
defense scenario based training.