The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight Unfairly

Stick to Sword to Knife, Part 2

By Phil Elmore

WARNING! Sticks, swords, and knives are inherently dangerous. Do not carry illegal weapons and do not attempt to use a weapon for self-defense if you are not trained in its use. The Martialist cannot be construed as legal advice. The staff of this magazine cannot be held responsible for any misuse of or errors made with weaponry.

Those basic stickfighting angles translate directly (with a few minor tweaks) to the use of the sword. I'm not talking about Japanese Kendo or Iaido, nor am I referring to Highlander pseudo-katana fencing. For best results, you want a cut-and-thrust-capable sword. You don't want one that's too long, either. A Japanese wakizashi would do, I suppose, as will a machete (though its utility for thrusting is limited at best). For these pictures I've used the CAS Iberia Banshee sword, which is a cutting sword based on the Burmese "Da." (If at all possible, you want a one-handed sword. Two-handed techniques follow the same basic pattern of angles, with the modifications necessary for occupying the formerly free hand, but the live hand obviously cannot be used to check.)

As you can see from these pictures, the basic angles are exactly the same. There is, perhaps, a little more "English" on the strikes to take advantage of the cutting power of the blade as it slices its way through the angles, but that comes naturally in slashing at your target.

TRANSLATING BASIC ANGLES TO THE SWORD

ANGLE 01: DIAGONAL RIGHT The basic angle one strike is a diagonal cut across the opponent's body, starting at the neck/shoulder area and traveling across the torso from your right to your left. It doesn't get much more instinctive than this. This strike includes all logical variations on this diagonal, upper-to-lower motion.
ANGLE 02: DIAGONAL LEFT Angle two is the backhand return of angle one, traveling diagonally from your left to your right from the opposite side of the opponent's body. Again you start from the shoulder/neck area and travel down with your cut. This strike includes all logical variations on this diagonal, upper-to-lower motion.
ANGLE 03: HORIZONTAL RIGHT Regardless of the level at which this strike travels from your right to your left, it is essentially horizontal. (If it becomes too vertical it becomes an angle one variation.) The target is the some portion of the opponent's side, rather than across his or her torso.
ANGLE 04: HORIZONTAL LEFT Regardless of the level at which this strike travels from your left to your right, it is essentially horizontal. (If it becomes too vertical it becomes an angle one variation.) The target is the some portion of the opponent's side, rather than across his or her torso.
ANGLE 05: STRAIGHT THRUST Regardless of the angle at which the tip of the sword hits the opponent's body, any thrust into the opponent is an angle five strike. Follow-up angle fives are withdrawn before each subsequent thrust. With the blade, the need for this is evident, as it must be withdrawn from the opponent's body. Thrusts can be performed at any angle and as backhands.

READY POSITIONS WITH THE SWORD

LOADED (LIVE HAND GUARD)

Any cocked-and-ready position of this type is a "loaded" position. We're assuming that you're not dueling someone else armed with a blade, for if that is the case the utility of poking your hand out in front of your body while keeping your blade behind is questionable at best.

The two-finger position (forgive my birth-defect, which prompts my fingers to fold in strange ways at times) is the "finger sword" of Chinese swordsmanship. I often use it for my free hand when wielding a long blade.

FORWARD GUARD

This sensible guard places the weapon between you and the opponent. You can, if you wish to try, consciously angle the tip towards the opponent's eyes on the theory that this will make your weapon a little harder to track. Parries and blocks are easy to perform from this position, as are thrusts. Parries and blocks are performed with the flat of the blade, not the edge.

LOW (ACROSS LOWER BODY)

Those who favor backhand strikes may employ this low guard, in which the blade (so low it is almost out of the shot here) is held across the body to be brought up in an angle two or angle four attack.

BASIC BLOCK OR PARRY WITH THE SWORD

HIGH GUARD

The high guard (sometimes called the "high wing") is a deflection. The supporting hand is used to check. The attack is generally to the head or neck. With the sword, the flat of the blade is used to take the power from the strike. (I've used a picture of Sifu Anthony Iglesias here because he looks great doing this.)

ANGLE 01 BLOCK & CHECK

Any angle one or angle three can be met with an angle one block and check. The body drops for lower strikes. The utility of cutting the opponent's weapon-bearing limb is obvious.

ANGLE 02 BLOCK & CHECK

Any angle two or angle four can be met with an angle two block and check. The body drops for lower strikes. The utility of cutting the opponent's weapon-bearing limb is obvious.

Parries to deflect thrusts are performed with the sword in the same way as for the stick, though the witik motion is slower for the much heavier blade than it is for the stick. In training I've found I tend to scoop when parrying with the blade (always using the flat, not the edge) because the weight of the blade gives it momentum that imparts an arc to the motion.

At close quarters, underhand techniques with the cutting sword become an option. I don't focus on these much except for sneaky underhanded slashes across the opponent's body.

The sword, held underhand and behind the body, can be whipped forward
and out in a slashing motion across the opponent's body.

THE KNIFE

Now that we've spent all that time inundating you with pictures of me killing the photographer over and over again, let's be honest. You're not likely to be carrying a rattan stick around with you (though you might find an expedient weapon in your environment that can be used like one). You're also extremely unlikely to be toting a sword unless you've watched Highlander a few too many times. You can, however, carry a tactical folding knife very easily. The knife shown in these photos is a Cold Steel "Night Force."

I can't carry a sword easily, but I have a knife.

Obviously, with something as small as a knife compared to sticks or swords, the angles and the arcs they travel become much, much smaller and tighter. Thrusts are not pronounced; they are short, vicious pumping movements. While angled cuts to the attacker's limbs can be used to meet attacks, they do little in the way of blocking or shielding. Instead, they are "defang the snake" cuts -- slices to the weapon-bearing limb intended to damage it.

Forward and backhand slashes are angle ones and angle twos.

Horizontal cuts are angle threes and angle fours.

All motions are tight. Thrusts
are vicious and repetitive.

Reverse-grip knife fighting bears some resemblance to the underhand sword techniques to which I referred earlier, but the shorter weapon opens up many more options. The reverse-grip stab downward becomes a very viable option in close quarters, for example. There are hooking and trapping techniques that can be used with the reverse grip, too.

Reverse-grip knife fighting is a topic unto itself.

As far as "ready positions" with the knife go, that's up to you. In general it's better if your opponent doesn't know you have a knife until it's too late for him to do anything about it. There are exceptions, though, including drawing your knife while warding off an approaching individual in the hope of deterring that person. (You can never count on brandishing a knife to be a deterrent.) Your "knife stance" will be a function of your training. (Don't let me catch you holding a knife over your head like some kind of fool.)

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

I don't doubt that there are countless devotees of various intricate systems out there thinking about the ways they approach these weapons differently. I imagine they are enumerating various exceptions to the general principles I've stated here, or writhing at the thought of using a knife like a stick or a sword. The point, however, is that all three of these weapons can be employed according to the general principles they share.

There is no need to complicate the issue further when the basics of one are the basics of another.

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