KJKDC Knife fighting is the name we give to the study of bladed or edged weapons. This includes all kinds of weapon attacks as long as they are edged with a blade. The reason for this is because of the way force is applied with an edged weapon. As you will learn in the stick and staff section of our site, there are mainly two types of strikes with weapons. These being Slashing and Smashing. With a bladed weapon you are slashing your way through your opponant and not smashing them with the blade of your weapon. Being able to do this gives you an advantage over a blunt weapon as you can do damage from every movement and also with very little effort. For example on the way back from a thrust you can cut an arm as you exit an attack. It is this very fact that changes our perception on how to train with edged weapons. If someone can simply change directions and pullback while still being able to do maximum damage then we must take this into consideration. We must then be not only careful as we avoid or block a knife attack but we must also be aware of the danger after the block has taken place.
It is for this reason that we employ the use of passing movements and smother and grab type control to resolve the knife attack versus simply blocking and countering. It may seem almost natural and maybe even make sense to simply smash someones arm with a forearm block and follow up with a counter strike or disarm. However anyone that has spent some time having even the most unskilled person attack them with a training blade can tell you that it takes a very high level of skill to not only evade but gain control of the weapon without been cut very badly. In fact if you study any of the stats and material available such as video footage and police briefs you will quickly notice that in almost every knife encounter where the assailant was trying to cut the victim that they are successful in thier task.
This does not mean however that you can't come out of such an attack on at least the better side of the coin. It's simply just a matter of drilling against an unwilling opponant and keeping your movements fluid and fast. That alone will give you a better ability at defending the knife. Now couple this with some skills in evading,passing,striking,disarming,pushing and pulling. At this point you will have a decent vehicle for defending yourself in a knife attack taking into consideration the fact that you can get past the pshycological aspects of being in a life or death sitaution.
More to come shortly
In the picture below you can see a defense against a knife slash to the face. It is stopped by a stick and at the same time the hand is hit to disarm the knife. You will also notice that the structure used allows the defender to not only counter but also react if the disarm fails to make the assailant drop the knife.
