Embracing The Blade Dr Gregory T. Lawton

Introduction

Training in the use of bladed weapons and their use in combat and self-protection has been a central component of the fighting arts of indigenous peoples since the beginning of recorded history. It is only within the last 100 years, due to the invention of modern firearms and the evolution of competitive fighting sports, that some contemporary martial artists have forgotten the important role that bladed weapons hold in the combat fighting arts.

This article is intended to introduce the serious student of the martial arts to the combat use of bladed weapons. Combat training in bladed weapons involves practical contemporary training and application of short, medium, and long bladed weapons. In this article I describe and advocate for anatomy focused martial training using a variety of bladed weapons. The use of a bladed weapon, or any potentially lethal weapon, is only be used for the preservation and protection of human life. Lethal force is only to be used when you fear for your life or the life of a loved one.

The many advantages of carrying a legal knife are addressed in this article. The knife might be considered to be an “equalizer” that erases the physical advantages of a bigger, stronger, faster opponent. Even a child can injure an adult with a razor or sharp knife. Knives are especially beneficial for women, older adults, and adults of smaller stature. The knife is a self-protection tool that can provide valuable psychological benefits to those that embrace the blade. While a bladed weapon will provide psychological benefits to those that carry a knife and know how to use one, the converse is true of violent predators and assailants. Most people have a natural fear of sharp blades and being cut and will retreat from a defender with a knife.

Hopefully, the reader of this article, Embracing the Blade, will have read my previous Lift Hands magazine articles on legal self-protection and understands the basic ground rules including situational awareness, the avoidance of violence, the psychological de-escalation of conflict, and the legal consequences of inflicting injury on another human being. I have written extensively about these concepts and practices in my other articles and books.

Hopefully this article will be of benefit to you and at the very least set you on the path to effective and practical training in bladed weapons. Any value that this article has is a gift passed to me from my teachers, and their teachers before them.

“No sword cuts as keenly, no spear pierces so deeply, as a spirit centered and surrendered to God.”

Embracing the Blade, The beginning

My first teacher of the Asian martial arts was a remarkable man. He was not only an Army Ranger, but he was also an Army Ranger instructor at the Ranger school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He had also trained in Japan at the famous Kodokan Institute in Tokyo, Japan where he had witnessed demonstrations of Aikido by the founder of Aikido Ueshiba Morihei.

My training in the Asian martial arts, following training and competition in boxing and wrestling, occurred during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and my instructor’s combination of traditional martial arts and military combat training was to influence and characterize my martial arts training for the next 60 years.

During the 1950s and 1960s there were very few organized martial arts schools in the United States and most martial arts training was informal and often taught by military veterans who received their training in Japan, Okinawa, or Korea. Some veterans bought into the esoteric mystique of the traditional martial arts and others, perhaps more combat experienced, did not. My teacher did not. My teacher believed that a punch was a punch, and a kick was a kick and that the most effective fighting techniques maimed or killed an attacker by whatever means necessary, with an empty hand, a stick, or with a bladed weapon.

In the town that I lived in, the only formal Asian martial arts classes involved training in Judo and were taught at the local YMCA. My training in Kosho Ryu Kenpo Jujitsu and Karate was either on the beach, in the woods, or at the Merit Shoe Store in downtown Benton Harbor, Michigan. I worked at the shoe store as a salesclerk while I attended classes at Saint Joseph High School.

My Kenpo Karate lessons occurred at the shoe store because the store manager was also my martial arts instructor. The pace of selling shoes was often slow and that led to many hours of martial art storytelling and training. My instructor was known for his bad temper and had a reputation for injuring his students. It was my observation in the 1960s that many of the former military martial arts instructors were often violent men, perhaps suffering from PTSD from military service. Regardless of the cause, serious injuries, including broken bones, were common.

Many systems of martial arts withhold training in bladed weapons until the upper levels of belt rank in a martial art system are achieved, or in systems without belt rank, a certain level of martial arts competency is realized. This was not true in the first system of Kenpo that I studied, weapon proficiency was one of the very first aspects of Kenpo that I was taught and especially bladed weapons of various types and lengths. Bladed weapon training incorporated folding knives, fixed blade hunting or military knives, and longer bladed weapons like a machete. Bladed weapons were a “tool” that extended the attacking range of the fighter and their lethality. When I entered the U.S. military in 1965 my hand-to-hand combat and bladed weapon ability was far superior to my Army basic training peers at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

My Kenpo and military training in the combat use of the knife were very similar and since my knife instructor had also been a U.S. Army Ranger instructor, perhaps his military knife applications had been influenced by Kenpo knife techniques which themselves had been derived from Arnis, Kali, and Escrima.

My first lessons in combat knife techniques were largely based upon the study of human anatomy and physiology. The focus was on where to stab or slash with the knife, the underlying anatomy of the target area, and what kind of physiological damage would result from a stab or slash. These anatomical areas involved the softer areas of the body, those not protected by large amounts of overlying bone, such as the inner arm, the armpit, the neck/ throat, the eye, the abdominal area, the groin, the kidney’s, the inner thigh, the posterior thigh, and the posterior leg, including the hamstring tendons to the Achilles tendon.

I was taught that there was no such thing as a knife “fight” and that real combat knife techniques were a form of assassination.

There are four central elements to the use of the combat knife, and these are:

1. Attack the most lethal areas of the body 2. Keep the knife concealed until engaged 3. Apply rapid instantaneous attacks 4. Attack continuously and repeatedly

Let’s examine each of these four central elements.

Lethal areas of attack

I have already mentioned the main body regions and targets of combat knife application and they include:

The inner arm The armpit The neck/throat The eye The abdominal area The groin The kidneys The inner thigh The posterior thigh The posterior leg The hamstring tendons The Achilles tendon

In general key knife targets are located by major tendons, nerves, blood vessels, and vital organs.

The second central concept in combat knife training and application is concealment. The knife should be held in such a way that it is not seen by the attacker until after the first stab or slash is made. There is no broadcasting, display, or brandishing of the knife. This is an essential aspect of using a knife as a weapon, keep the knife concealed. This concept, however, leads to a discussion regarding varying laws regarding carrying a knife.

For example, where I live you can carry a folding knife in your pocket or on your person that is 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) or less in blade length. If you carried a larger bladed folding knife, it would be considered illegal and carrying a concealed weapon. Also, where I reside you can wear any size fixed blade hunting or utility knife on your belt if it is not concealed. Where I live you may not own or carry a double-edged knife, only single edged blades are allowed. Wherever you live you should know the laws and comply with them.

My go to everyday carry knife is an Emerson Raven with a tanto styled blade. Emerson Knives was founded by Ernest Emerson who got his start by making custom knives in his garage. Note the black textured handle with an elegant and subtle guard design. The Raven has been out of production for many years, but a 25-year anniversary Raven will soon be available.

Instantaneous attack

Another important concept in the use of the knife is that of the instantaneous attack. Many movies show two men pulling knives and beginning to circle each other in preparation for a knife fight. If you have time to pull your knife and begin posturing for a knife fight you probably also have time and space to run away. Do that! Using a knife to protect or defend yourself should only be the result of the realization that your life is being threatened and you are at serious risk of being maimed or killed. Once you have come to the realization that your life is in danger draw and use your knife from concealment and attack instantaneously with intention and focus.

In addition, many martial artists either do not understand the fight, flight, or freeze reaction or their training has not conditioned them to not momentarily hesitate or freeze before engaging an attacker. Martial artists who engage in sports fighting have all received training and conditioning through sanctioned competition rules of engagement to hesitate or to wait for a signal, perhaps from a referee, to start fighting. Obviously, in real life there is no signal as to when to engage an attacker. It is also common in sports fighting competitions to “feel” out your opponent for several seconds before launching an attack. Effective blade, stick, or empty hand attacks are not a competition or a dual and you should train to launch instantaneous attacks without mental or physical hesitation.

The Gerber Ghoststrike fixed blade knife with a blade length of 7.62 centimeters (3 inches) is an ideal knife for rapid deployment. The Ghoststrike is an example of how knives do not have to be expensive to be effective. This knife is well designed to be deployed from the provided belt sheath and worn as “belly” knife. Practice fast drawing of this knife and slashing or stabbing against a solid wooden target.

One of my everyday carry (EDC) knives is a SOG fixed blade Instinct Boot Knife. This knife has a 6.35-centimeter blade and an overall length of 15 centimeters or 5.9 inches. I have rigged this knife with paracord so that I can draw the knife with one hand, quickly, smoothly, and efficiently. Check your local laws regarding legal carry.

In this photograph you can see the SOG Instinct lying flat against the stomach and tucked in behind the jeans and belt. When the knife is deployed with a quick sudden jerk on the handle the knife leaves the protective sheath, and the sheath falls down the leg where it remains attached by the paracord to the belt (See the next photograph). The paracord rig can be easily attached to any kind of belt and is also attached to a belt loop behind the back. In this photograph take note of the handle of the Emerson Raven poking out of the side pocket of the jeans.

This photograph shows the SOG Instinct deployed and the protective sheath hanging from the leather belt. This paracord rig allows for a fast and smooth draw of the knife.

One of the central principles of Kosho Ryu Kenpo is the concept of the “continuously returning fist” or the idea of multiple attacks or strikes delivered in a rapid series. A similar concept is embodied by several other martial art systems including Kali, Arnis, and Escrima stick and blade attacks. The same concept is utilized in combat knife applications. Some combat knife systems have adopted “patterns” or “angles”. Angles of attack usually are designed around a pattern such as a clock or vertical, horizontal, and oblique lines of attack. I recommend the practice and application of attacks involving stabbing or slashing based upon anatomical targeting of the most vulnerable targets on the human body. Refer above to the section on lethal areas of attack. The four central concepts cited above apply to the use of all types of bladed weapons regardless of their length, whether short, medium, or long.

There is a commonly repeated adage that says, “Never bring a knife to a gun fight” but that is not always true. There are many reasons to train with and to routinely carry a bladed weapon for self-protection and defense purposes. In close quarter combat a knife can be more effective than a handgun. In firearms training there is a “rule” called the “21-foot rule”. Basically, the 21-foot rule, which is not rule at all but is more of a consideration, defines the distance or outer boundary within which an individual armed with a gun is vulnerable to physical attack, especially from an attacker with a knife. Any distance from an attacker to a defender 21 feet or less is the danger zone.

I have performed demonstrations against highly trained firearm instructors where at a distance of 30 feet the firearm instructor was unable to deploy their gun before I was on them, blocked the draw of their firearm and had shown my ability to inflict a maiming or lethal technique. Frankly, at 21 feet I would rather face a firearm than a knife.

Twenty benefits of training with bladed weapons

1. Bladed weapons are easy to acquire. 2. Bladed weapons can be inexpensive. 3. Appropriately sized bladed weapons can be carried in most environments. 4. Bladed weapons can be easily concealed. 5. Bladed weapons do not require a registration, a permit, or license. 6. More than one bladed weapon can be carried on a person at once. 7. We are familiar with bladed weapons and use them for many purposes. 8. Many common tools, like a screwdriver, can be used like a bladed weapon. 9. Improvised tools or similar objects, including sticks, can be used like a bladed weapon. 10. A bladed weapon can also be a work or utility tool. 11. Bladed weapon use involves gross motor skills and does not require the fine motor control of a firearm. 12. A bladed weapon can be carried covertly and more easily than a firearm. 13. Bladed weapons involve close quarter combat and do not have the risk of injuring bystanders. 14. A bladed weapon can be quicker and easier to access than a firearm. 15. Bladed weapons are easy to integrate with other self-protection skill sets. 16. Bladed weapon techniques can be simple and easy to execute. 17. Bladed weapons are a perfect weapon for women because bladed skills are not dependent upon strength or size. 18. A bladed weapon can be just as effective, or more effective, than a gun at close range and for close quarter combat. 19. Many people, opposed to firearms, unfamiliar with firearms, or unable to obtain a firearm can easily obtain a bladed weapon. 20. In even the worst of circumstances common tools, objects, or items from the natural environment can be shaped or adapted into a bladed weapon.

General training in bladed weapons

There are certain general concepts in bladed weapon training and application that are shared by most close quarter combat instructors and these general concepts include the following list.

First and foremost be safe and do no harm. Beginners should use training knives rather than train with sharp knives, there are many styles available, or follow my advice and craft your own training weapons from wood. Focus your training drills on knife attacks to the most anatomically vulnerable areas of the human body. Use practice drills against the most anatomically vulnerable areas of the human body that are simple and direct. Practice bladed weapon drills against hard targets, or target that provide resistance to penetration and that mimic the structure and density of the human body. Train for accuracy. Train for penetration. Train for speed. When practicing drills use a target or a partner that is moving. Train with the knife or knives that you carry every day. Carry two knives and practice deploying each of them as smoothly, efficiently, and quickly as you can. When practicing or applying bladed weapon techniques intersperse blade techniques with empty hand techniques including head butts, elbows, knees, and kicks. Learn to modify your blade attacks according to the circumstances of the situation and environment between lethal attacks and maiming but non-lethal attacks.

Two of my favorite knives are made by SOG Specialty Knives. The original SOG knife was designed by Benjamin Baker and used in Vietnam, where members of a highly classified US special ops unit known as MACV-SOG carried a unique combat knife into the jungle on covert missions. In 1986 Spencer Frazer founded SOG Specialty Knives and he went on to reproduce the original SOG Bowie knife. Note the non-reflective blade coating, the grippy textured handle, and the curved shape of the guard and brace.

Training with a medium length bladed weapon

There is no exact definition of what constitutes a weapon of medium length. I everyday carry a tactical folding knife with a blade length of 3 inches or 7.62 centimeters, but I also have tactical knives with blade lengths from 5 inches or 12.7 centimeters up to 19 inches or 48.26 centimeters in my vehicle and on my backpack. I generally, consider any blade length over 12 inches or 30.48 centimeters as a medium length blade but this designation by me is arbitrary. I regularly train with 2 military machetes with a blade length of 19 inches.

As was previously cited in this article there are many legal considerations when carrying or transporting bladed weapons. Not previously mentioned is that in some parts of the world, including U.S. states, you cannot have a bladed weapon other than a folding knife of a legal length within reach in a car or other vehicle. For example, a bladed weapon other than a legal folding knife would have to be in the back of a vehicle, packed away, or in the trunk of a car.

This means that transporting a medium bladed weapon would require that it is not immediately accessible to you in a vehicle.

I recommend regular training with bladed weapons of various lengths from short folders to medium length weapons such as a machete and longer bladed weapons such as a sword or spear. If you have read any of my previous articles in Lift Hands magazine you probably understand that I am of a practical mindset when it comes to martial arts training, if a technique will not work in the street or is too complicated to be practical, I do not have any use for it. The same is true with knives which I simply view as a tool. I am not a knife collector and I do not care about the appearance of a knife or sword; I am only interested in the quality of the steel and other factors such as length, balance, blade strength, and sharpness.

In our martial art classes I primarily teach beginners knife techniques as part of our Kosho Ryu Kenpo Jujitsu and Karate classes. We have a specialized Kenpo knife kata that teaches the primary vulnerable targets on the human body and angles of attack as were previously cited and listed in this article. However, we also teach the use of bladed weapons with our Tai Chi Chuan and Pakua Chang forms. Rather than learn different forms for each weapon, we teach our students how to incorporate bladed weapons, short, medium, and long lengths, into the forms that they either already know or are learning.

Training with a long length bladed weapon

I previously mentioned that my first knife lessons began around 1962 in a shoe store. My first sword lesson was taught during that same time period in a semi wooded area punctuated by sand dunes and close to the Lake Michigan shoreline. Obviously, before you can train with a sword you must first possess a sword and in the early 1960’s in Michigan a sword was not easy to come by. The object of my first sword lesson was to go into the woods and find a tree suitable for the construction of a wooden training sword.

I remember trailing behind my teacher as his eyes appraised the thin oak trees around us. I had no idea at the time what qualities he was looking for in a suitable tree, but over the years I have come to recognize and appreciate his knowledge. He selected a young tree about 4 to 5 inches in diameter and he hacked away at its base until he had cut it down. Then we sat together while he stripped away its branches and its bark. As he worked on my “sword” he talked about the history of the sword in Japan and told me amazing stories about Ueshiba Morihei and a famous Japanese swordsman and cultural hero by the name of Miyamoto Musashi. I would later come to study the lives and writings of both men. In the late 1500’s a teenage Miyamoto Musashi killed his first man, with a broomstick. I was about the same age when I began my sword training. Our similarities stop there!

The thin oak tree my instructor selected was cut down to about 5 feet in length. A handle or tsuka that was about 9 or 10 inches in length was carved into the base end. The tsuka was measured by the width of my two hands as they comfortably encircled the handle. The bark was stripped from the “blade” end of my sword and a wedgeshape was carved into the point or kissaki. I am using Japanese katana terminology because my first sword training was within the Kosho Ryu Kenpo Jujitsu and Karate system. However, I prefer a straight sword of the Chinese style or what is called a Dao.

So, began my first sword lesson as I sat at the feet of my teacher as he carved me a sword, taught me the parts of the sword, and inflamed my imagination with tales of old warriors and their valor. It was a perfect beginning and one that I have since many times “gifted” to my own sword students. I always begin and conduct sword lessons in the woods. As I reflect backward over half a century, I realize that that moment was a moment of awakening, a rite of passage, and a step along the path of manhood.

After we had “freed” my sword from its tree came my first lessons in the use of the sword which included the basics of how to hold the sword correctly, how to place my feet, how to assume a proper “cutting” stance, and how to move forward, backward, right, and left. But most importantly, how to properly cut through any object placed before me. The bottom-line in the use of any bladed weapon is how to correctly stab and cut.

The stance

When I start training a beginning student in the martial arts, a common starting point is simply how to assume a defensive/offensive stance. These stances have different names in the various martial arts but in kenpo the basic stance is called the fighting horse or the horse stance. Beginners often find basic martial art stances and movements awkward, but an effective stance and correct movement should be natural. If a student assumes a basic martial arts stance, such as the fighting horse stance, and is asked to move from point A to point B their movements are often slow, stiff, and unbalanced. I teach a more natural method of movement that is more like a boxing stance and that allows easy movement in any direction. Avoid the traditional deep and wide stances. They were designed for use on wet or uneven terrain and are not needed on concrete or asphalt sidewalks or streets.

The hold

Your grip on the handle or hilt of the sword should be firm but relaxed. Don’t squeeze the handle to death but also don’t hold the handle so softly that the sword can be easily knocked from your hands. I hold a sword using a double handed grip, I use fighting sticks for stick fighting styles such as Arnis, Kali, and Escrima with a singlehanded grip. I use short and medium bladed weapons such as a knife or machete with a single-handed grip. I use a machete to practice cutting through wood limbs that are 2 or 3 inches or 5.08 to 7.62 centimeters in thickness with a single cut. If you practice full power cuts on solid objects you will learn how to hold the sword firmly and securely.

The breath

Your breathing should be slow and relaxed. Breathe in when you are moving the sword toward your body or away from your opponent and breathe outward when you are striking, or you are moving the sword away from your body. Do not exaggerate your breathing but breathe in a natural manner. Do not make loud breath sounds when you are striking as the rhythm of these sounds can give away your timing and intent to strike. Use the abdominal breath technique for normal movement but when you are striking with great force you may wish to employ the reverse breath and to direct your explosive energy (fa jing) through the sword.

Over the years as I have picked up my sword and practiced the skills that I was taught that day in the dunes of Michigan, I have continued to hear the voice of my teacher whispering to me and guiding me in my practice. I continue to practice with a hand cut and carved wooden sword and I have learned how to seek out and find the perfect tree willing to sacrifice itself for the sake of my art and advancement.

A living tree will provide you with a sword that is strong and pliable and that is able to handle full power cuts and strokes with some resistance to breaking. When I have attempted full power cuts and strikes with manufactured wooden swords made from dried hard woods or even rattan they have broken after only a few strikes. This gets tedious and expensive. I have snapped wooden swords in half and in fact I once completely severed a rattan staff with one strike and the break was so clean that it looked like it had been sawed into 2 parts.

I have come to understand what my teacher was looking for in a tree, a sword, and a student; strong but not hardened to the breaking point, resilient and pliable, and able to be shaped and crafted to the task at hand. My first sword lesson provided me with more than just a sword, it made me the sword.

My sword and spear are symbols of my power and strength, of my resolve and determination to stand firm, to hold my ground and never waver from my duty or my destiny.

There are many ways to learn a skill. You can become skilled with a remarkable and highly competent teacher, through diligent practice and self-study, through reading literature on the subject, through scholarly research, through teaching others, through fighting and combat, through real life experience, and through prayer, meditation and communion with your soul. Over the years I have utilized all these methods.

In the early days of my sword training my teacher directed me to cut wood and over the years I became a proficient woodcutter. Whenever the opportunity arose to go into the woods with my axe, I would locate a fallen tree and begin to cut it into cords of wood which I would leave neatly stacked for someone else to put to good use.

On one occasion a new homeowner needed a large stand of trees in a woodlot behind their home cut down and removed. In stepped the “woodcutter”, not with a chainsaw, but with his trusty axe and the woodlot slowly but steadily went from a crisscross of fallen trees to multiple stacks of wood ready for the fireplace.

For my tools I had my axe, a fine file and sharpening stone, a machete, and a Swedish saw. In my frequent backpacking and camping trips these “loyal friends” were always strapped to my pack or tucked in a canvas bag laying on the bottom of my canoe.

So, you may be asking yourself, how does woodcutting relate to sword training? Many of the earliest swordsmen were farmers clearing land for their crops or woodcutters and the cutting movements used to fell a tree were like those used to fell men on a field of battle. An actual sword fight is a brutal endeavor and is far from the sanitized versions seen in most Hollywood movies. Rarely, was an opponent dispatched with a single blow. Real sword fights typically involved two men sweating, struggling, and bleeding from multiple wounds and fighting until one of both died from a loss of blood. Real sword fights are ugly and brutal.

Most students today that study the sword do so under controlled conditions and as an art form or competitive sport. The use of a foil with an electronic sensor is a far cry from a vicious cut to a major muscle or artery. Because the intention of artistic or sport sword play is so different from the violent brutality of actual sword combat the similarities might be the same as comparing modern sword play to a domestic cat and an African lion, or a poodle and a timber wolf.

Woodcutting and using an axe properly mimics the full power cutting stokes of the sword and requires that the correct body ergonomics be employed by the woodcutter. For example, woodcutting, like the use of the sword, requires the coordinated use of the entire body. Of course, the hands must be strong to hold the axe, the arms and shoulders and upper back muscles are all important, but the power needed to cut wood or to use a sword comes first from the feet and legs, is moved through the waist and core muscles of the trunk, and lastly is directed and delivered by the muscles of the upper extremities.

When you are cutting wood, such as when you are cutting down a large tree with an axe you must know how to cut through the tree. This ability is called focus. When you swing your axe you are not aiming at the outside of the tree, you are aiming either deep into the tree or entirely through the tree. The same cutting principle applies to the use of the sword. My favorite cutting tool is a military style machete. I learned how to properly sharpen a

machete from sugarcane harvesters in Jamaica. While vacationing in Jamaica I happened across a group of sugarcane workers having lunch and I sat with them for a while and asked them how they got their machetes so sharp. They were happy to show me how to sharpen a blade, and I still use their sharpening technique to sharpen my own blades. I also learned to always have a sharpened blade at the ready. This way I always have 2 blades, one that I am using and the other at the ready should I need it. I was taught this concept, “Always have a backup” from a retired mercenary.

Based upon a proper cutting principle, the development of my sword “style” and technique became the ability to cut through my opponent’s sword or weapon, and to move through the opponent’s defenses as quickly as a hot knife through soft butter. I can remember the surprised look on my training partners faces as their swords were knocked downward or completely flew out of their hands from the power of a single stroke. This method of cutting through an opponent’s weapon and focusing through the opponent is not only difficult to defend against, but also dangerous to employ in sport or training environments, which is why I practice full power cuts on dead trees.

When training with my sword, I train using either a heavy bag or a large log at least 12 inches thick. I practice repeated cuts against the log until the wooden sword breaks and it is time to make a new one. Because of their strength and resistance to breaking, I have used old oak boat oars for my swords. The ones that have been weathered by the sun and water for many years are the best, but eventually even they will shatter.

With faith in God there is no need to draw your sword. With knowledge of God there is nothing to be learned. With the love of God, the impossible is child’s play.

In a modern world how relevant is sword training? I believe that this question can be answered two ways; not very and very. The “not very” answer relates to how impracticable and illegal it is to walk around town with a sword hanging from your belt. The “very” answer relates to several essential concepts that are associated with traditional and modern sword training.

In the traditional martial arts, the sword has been prized as the supreme weapon. This is certainly true within the Japanese culture. The sword, in some cultures, has risen to mystical significance. In some Asian traditions the sword became a symbol for the human spirit or soul. Sword training in certain countries became a method (way) by which a person could train and purify their soul.

I obviously, I fall into the “very” category in terms of belief of the value of sword training and for me the sword is a symbol and a metaphor for personal growth and obtainment. However, for the practical minded martial artist I would recommend sword training simply as a training method to improve concentration and focus, to enhance the ability to attack and to enter an opponent’s “space”, and to improve striking, penetration, and the characteristic of “pung”. Pung is the ability to hit into an opponent and could be described as penetration, but the word pung represents more than simple penetration because it also embodies elements of energy and vibration and therefore does not translate well into English equivalents. But again, in a practical real-world sense are there direct benefits from sword training (other than physical conditioning) and do these benefits translate into personal self-defense? I can only answer this question based upon my personal experience.

In 1975 on Main Street in Evanston, Illinois, while walking past a small health food store a salesclerk in the store frantically attempted to get my attention. I assumed he had some urgent need to talk to me, so I entered the store to find that an armed robbery was occurring. A man had entered the store and had demanded the contents of the cash register. In his right hand he was holding a 10-inch chef’s knife that the store used to cut vegetables at its juice bar.

As I stepped into the store I began to chat amicably with the clerk and the robber as if nothing was wrong. I maintained a respectful distance from the robber and the large intimidating knife. As I had entered the store, I noticed that by the front door there was a mop and a galvanized bucket full of dirty water. I took the mop from the bucket, and I began to mop the floor and as I mopped the floor, and while acting as if I could care less about the knife, I began to mop in front of the armed robber and I forced him to step back away from the sales counter and the clerk. I “accidently” splashed water on the robber’s shoes and while keeping direct eye contact with him I smiled and apologized for my sloppiness.

Please keep in mind that while I am describing this scenario lightly, there was nothing “light” about my attitude during this dangerous encounter. I learned long ago how to project a calm and pleasant demeanor while internally

evaluating life or death decisions. In my hands the mop was far more than a domestic tool for cleaning floors, if needed I planned on literally “mopping up the floor” with the robber.

Consider my humble weapon. A mop full of dirty water, a wet string mop head that could act as a bludgeon, and a 5-foot wooden handle, just the kind of weapon that I had spent years training with (except for the mop part). As part of my early training with a wooden sword I was required to demolish concrete blocks. Human bones, the skull, collar bone, and humerus, ulna, and radius are no match for a strike from a well-placed “mop” sword.

All such potentially violent encounters have a significant psychological component where a perpetrator is making quick decisions (called an interview) regarding his or her chosen victim and whether to attack or to move on to easier prey. From the moment that I walked into that store I was engaged in a mental exchange with the robber and attempting to keep him mentally off balance. Apparently, I gave off the right (or wrong) signals because the robber put the knife down and began talking like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred and then left the store. It was only after he had left that I returned the mop to its bucket. The police were called, and the robber was caught attempting to rob another store just up the street. My “cleaning” chores completed I walked to my apartment.

This was not the only encounter that I have had where access to a walking stick, a shovel, or a garden rake was needed to prevent an aggressive challenge from becoming a violent encounter. From my personal experience and perspective my training in the way of the sword has been a valuable component of my overall training as a martial artist. Of course, I would not take a mop to a gun fight…

The foolish have usurped the swords of valor and courage and laid claim to the warrior craft, but the heart of error can never prevail. Stand strong within your circle, Red Lions, Black Dragons are we! Have you not heard that the poor shall inherit

In both my opinion and experience training with the sword, as is presented by several different systems and styles of martial arts, has been made overly complicated. I would also observe that the more complicated a move or a technique is the less likely it is to be remembered, used, or to be effective. Especially when a person is fearful or under pressure or experiencing high stress and duress.

Offensive sword techniques can be organized into two categories. In category one are the cutting strokes and in category two are the thrusting techniques. If you add to these two categories defensive techniques for blocking, deflecting, and redirecting attacks you pretty much have summed up the kinds of things that you can do with a tool such as a sword. However, I prefer to skip the defensive techniques and move right to the attack, or to make the defense and attack a single movement. If you think that you have a reason to use a weapon you probably do, so use it offensively.

I feel that the most important sword technique that you can learn is how to cut or strike. Second to this is how to close the distance on an opponent and to get within striking range. I will concede that these two qualities are equal in importance. For my style of training the cut is everything. What I train to obtain is the ability to defeat an opponent with one powerful single stroke. A cut or strike that moves through the opponent’s weapon, their defenses, and that penetrates into the opponent’s body in a manner that is both devastating and unanswerable.

To train to do this you cannot simply perform sword forms or kata in the empty air. You must learn how to execute full power strokes against solid objects. Solid objects may include dead trees, concrete blocks, and punching bags. But you should learn what it feels like to strike something and to hit it correctly. There are many reasons for recommending this kind of practice. If you have never actually executed a full power stroke, into and through an object, then you do not know how to use a sword and your practice is more like dancing than actual sword training. When you hit various objects and depending upon their mass and water content you will experience and feel different reactions from the sword including rebound. Rebound is when the sword might hit a solid object and bounce back at you. You need to experience this rebound energy and learn how to use it to redirect your attack.

Many martial artists study complete sword forms or kata and these forms and kata contain many complicated and even acrobatic movements. Such movements are rarely effective in using a weapon like a sword. What is effective is to keep your techniques as few and as simple as possible. I keep my sword practice techniques limited to a single powerful cut aimed at the skull, the clavicles, the acromion processes on the top of the shoulders, the upper and lower arm bones, and the wrist and the hands. I direct sword thrusts to the eyes and throat.

I have known many martial artists who have trained with the sword for personal health and physical conditioning and even for the sword’s esthetic beauty, and I applaud this. My path, perhaps because of my earliest training with the sword and other bladed weapons, and because I approach the martial arts as combat, has been different. When I hold a sword, I hear my teacher telling me, “Never face an opponent unless you are willing to kill or to die. But do neither.” For me my intent is simple, make the cut.

There is one thing that up until this point I have neglected to mention, the sword is just a tool, you are the weapon. In one encounter with a knife, I did the unthinkable and broke all the rules by pitching my knife into the face of an attacker, using that moment of surprise to close the distance, and to incapacitate the attacker.

Test yourself by the two-edged sword of heaven and earth for you are the physical manifestation of the divine.

The wooden blade and the ritual

In this article I have shared with you some of my training “secrets”. Whenever possible I train in nature, and in nature, I find my weapons. From nature I select and carve my own training weapons whether I need a set of fighting sticks, a staff, a knife or a medium or longer bladed weapon. When I do this, I am limited to the location in which I am searching and the kinds of trees that grow there. On one trip to Maui my search led me to a beautiful stand of bamboo trees and although less than ideal for full power sword strokes, I had an amazing time training with a bamboo sword and using it to strike against the flexible bamboo trees standing in this bamboo forest. Each kind of wood and sword brings its own lessons.

Most hardwoods are good sword woods. Avoid softer woods like conifers, poplars, and willows, unless you have no other choice. Maple, oak, beech, hickory, sycamore, cherry, and my favorite when I can find it ironwood, are good choices. Each of these types of woods have strengths and weaknesses. For example, maple is prone to cracking and chipping. The author working on a wooden training weapon and using a smooth stone to “sand” out the rough edges.

Once you have selected wood to work with you need to sit quietly and to begin to release the weapon within it. This is where I become a mystic because I thank the tree and the earth for its gift, and I begin to talk to the weapon to coax it from its wooden cocoon. Once released and fully awakened to its potential it becomes the butterfly that finds its flight in your hands.

Once I have my “butterfly” sword my training begins again but like every butterfly this swords life is limited and will end. When your butterfly sword becomes tattered and worn it is time to set it free again. In the case of the bamboo sword that I used in Maui I burned it on the beach to release its spirit to the sky. If fire is not an option, I suggest giving your old sword a good burial. Remember, your sword has been a conduit and a receptacle for your spirit, and it deserves to be treated with respect.

The beginning strokes of carving a wooden training knife for practice. The knives seen in this, and the previous photograph, are strictly used for making wooden weapons. The crafting of wooden knives, swords, kali sticks, and staffs for training purposes is a regular part of my training of students in the use of bladed weapons.

Anatomy of the knife

Embrace the blade

To become proficient in the use of bladed weapons you must “embrace the blade” which simply means that whatever the weapon you select and train with you must become a part of the weapon and the weapon must become part of you. When I taught my young daughters how to use a knife, I taught them to treat the knife like a “pet”, to have the knife with them constantly, and to even sleep with it. The blade becomes an appendage of your body like an extra finger and works in harmony with the rest of your body.

Dawn to dawn, day to day seek to forge the sword of your soul in the heat and cold of constant training. Strive to polish the blade to a mirror like finish with the burnish of daily life. When you feel dull and blunted return to your center, train harder, and raise a mighty cry to summon divine assistance to your aid.

About the Author

Gregory T. Lawton, D.C., D.N., D.Ac. is a chiropractor, naprapath, and acupuncturist. He is the founder of the Blue Heron Academy of Healing Arts and Sciences where he teaches biomedicine, medical manual therapy, and Asian medicine. Dr. Lawton is nationally board certified in radiology, physiotherapy, manual medicine, and acupuncture. He was the vice president of the Physical and Athletic Rehabilitation Center which provided physical therapy for professional athletes, Olympians, and victims of closed head and spinal cord injuries. Since the early 1960’s Dr. Gregory T. Lawton has studied and trained in Asian religion, philosophy, and martial arts such as Aikido, Jujitsu, Kenpo/kempo, and Tai Chi Chuan. Dr. Lawton served in the U.S. Army between 1965 and 1968 achieving the rank of Sergeant E-5.

Dr. Lawton’s most noted Asian martial art instructor was Professor Huo Chi-Kwang who was a student of Yang Shao Hou.

Authors Note:

All the quotes used in this article are from my small book entitled, Scent of a Forgotten Flower.