Learning how to Handle a Sword Attack is Absolutely Necessary for Today's Martial Artist!

By Al Case


One would think an old technique, one from hundreds of years ago, would not be necessary in today's society. A good martial artist, however, knows that self defense sword techniques must be mastered. Just consider the following headlines.

Pregnant woman struggling to survive after sword attack! Man wielding Samurai sword killed by security guards! And there are a lot more stories like these out there.

The thing that many people don't realize is that, when it comes right down to it, a sword is a long stick with an edge. Actually, if you consider it, most weapons are really nothing but varieties of sticks. Stubby or long, blunt or sharp, you have the club, the spear, the knife, and so on.

One of the basic defense moves is to close with the attacker with uplifted crossed wrists. This is derived from the Pinan Five Karate Kata practiced by many traditional martial arts schools. While it may seem a little simple, it will begin the educational process, and remember, this technique was practiced by Imperial bodyguards on Okinawa to manipulate a samurai sword attack!

You rush the attacker because you must block his wrists. If you are too slow or too late you will be blocking a long edge of sharp steel. This is definitely not a good thing.

Once you have closed with your attacker, quickly shift to the side and push up on the elbow and pull down on the wrist of the arm closest to you, this will redirect your attacker's direction. This will create an armbar, or an elbow roll type of technique. Move forward then, use your entire body weight to push on his arm, and force your assailant over.

As I said, this is a basic technique, but it will open the door to many additional self defense tricks. You can learn wrist twist self defense moves, elbow locks, and even shoulder throws if you learn this particular move well. As you can see, learning sword protection can really start you thinking, but it is up to you to follow that thought and figure out good, viable methods of self protection.

Now, one last thing that you must understand. When you start your training, move very slowly and figure out how to work the joints so that you don't injure your partner. And, this point is crucial, use a broomstick or some other light object, don't try to handle a sword attack with a real weapon until you really know what you are doing!




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