Defence against a concealed weapon 1

This is a pre-emptive defensive technique designed to prevent an opponent bringing a concealed weapon into play by suppressing the potential attacking arm, breaking the overall balance by pushing the head (or striking) back at 45 degrees and taking the opponent down to the ground on their back. Ideally the opponent will end up pinning their own arm (with the weapon) underneath their body making retaliatory action even more difficult. As the technique leaves the attacker in a standing upright position they then have options to aggressively pursue the defence using body and head stomps, kicks or punches should they feel this is justified. The movement in the technique employs much of the same balance breaking mechanics found in the major outer reap (osotogari) throwing technique and should be executed as a single flowing powerful movement. The aim is to totally dominate the opponent leaving no time or space for them to resist or retaliate.
Defence against a concealed weapon 1

Pad work and take down drill

This drill is used to add a little more contact to attack and defence movement drills. In this case the attacker initially throws a straight punch attack at the defender who then counters and attempts to move into the attacker either outside or inside the guard and then perform a take down to neutralise the attacker. If the attacker finds the defender inside their guard and open to further strikes then these should be delivered at one third power until the defender executes a take down or escapes the guard.
The defender must move correctly to gain a position where they can effect a take down. The safest position is outside the guard but moving inside the guard offers many opportunities to perform a take down. However not performing a decisive take down quickly, or lingering in the opponents strike zone gets punished with strikes from the pads.
Pad work and take down drill

Movement drill 3: counter strike to front kick

Movement drill 3 utilises the same essential footwork, positioning and timing seen in Movement drills 1 and 2 but in this drill the opponent is attacking with a front kick. This means the starting distance between the combatants is usually greater as kicks have a slightly longer range than punches. The attacker also tends to commit their weight more fully to a kicking technique. So the defender must adjust and move a little further with the correct timing but again the line of counter attack is at 45 degrees to the line of attack. In this drill we include an open hand counter strike to the throat as this does little permanent damage to the attacker (therefore good for contact practice drills) but is an effective stopper even against large muscular opponents.
Movement drill 3

Movement drill 2: counter punching

Building on movement drill 1 where the focus is purely on correct footwork, body positioning and timing, this second drill progresses to adding a counter strike to the movement. The counter strike is a straight lead hand punch delivered as the opponent moves in to attack and given power through the defender's movement diagonally in towards the attacker around their line of attack. This could then be followed up with secondary techniques. This drill focusses on practising the timing, movement and body positioning to deliver a fast, powerful counter strike either outside or inside the guard. The strike is not wound up or the hand pulled back at all before striking as the strike depends on speed and dynamically putting bodyweight behind the strike. It can help to imagine the counter punch like an iron bar which has been thrust into the path of the oncoming opponents face.
Movement drill 2

Movement drill 1

Movement is an essential component of any defence technique. Specifically moving your body relative to the attacker to position yourself in a safer position that also enables effective application of a counter. Those safer zones are often referred to as outside or inside the (opponents) guard i.e. moving outside a punch and in towards the opponent to end up just behind their shoulder, or moving in diagionally to an opponents centre line having avoided a strike positioning yourself for a counter technique such as a throw.
Along with movement timing and distance must be correct which takes effort and practice as it varies dynamically from opponent to opponent and technique to technique. Therefore movement drills are good basic practice which should be repeated often. This video demonstrates the stripped down movement practice without any counter striking or follow up techniques which would normally follow. The focus in the drill should be on correct footwork and positioning in relation to the line of attack. The defender should move in towards the attacker diagonally at about 45 degrees to the line of attack. Use straight line attacks (punches, kicks) to start with and progress to circular attacks (hook punch, roundhouse kick).
Movement drill 1

Single wing choke combat application

Single wing choke combat application - a self defence technique against a straight or roundhouse punch. Recorded May 2010 at The Budokan, Naha. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2a2WG5gJNk

Vision and Principles

Vision
My aim is to test out, learn and refine techniques that reliably work in real, non-uke-compliant situations. Therefore we can in theory include any technique and supporting practise drill, etc from jujitsu, karate, wrestling, etc without restriction due to established syllabus of any particular ryuha (school/style). However there must be some underlying principles that guide our activity. Otherwise we risk turning into a Youtube-fueled, mixed martial arts mess. So I suggest the following which I'm sure will evolve and be refined as time and experience accumulate.



Goshinjitsu (self defence)
Principle 1 - Self defence techniques should be an obvious response to a common, likely attack. Or stated the other way round, we should not devote unnecessary time to training defences to unusual or highly specialised attacks. There are defences to flying kicks and sword attacks but the probability is that you are much more likely to face someone trying to push, grab, punch or headbutt you from close range if you are unlucky enough to get into some kind of confrontation. There has been some great work done in recent years by prominent martial artists as well as law enforcement agencies on the most common attacks which provide a fairly consistent guide to HAOV.
Principle 2 - Self defence techniques should be intuitive and simple. The more intuitive a technique the more likely you are to be able to respond with it in a high pressure situation. And techniques should be simple enough that they can be executed quickly and modified based on the real time responses of the opponent which will always be to some greater or lesser extent unpredictable. Multi-step techniques that require any more than 3 seconds to complete and depend on very specific responses from the opponent are much less useful than a short, sharp, effective defence that neutralises the initial opponent and allows the defender to move onto the next attacker or ideally take an escape option.
Principle 3 - Techniques taught should be backed up by experience and practice. In other words defences considered should have a demonstrable origin in a traditional martial art or modern law enforcement/security experience and should be taught with reference to that origin by someone with experience in that field. All techniques should be tested to the highest possible and practical intensity i.e. with the maximum aggression possible without seriously damaging your practice partner. Use of protective gear and pads is often required here.
Principle 4 - A successful defence must result in the defender being in a position of superiority and ready for a subsequent attack whatever that be, or to take the opportunity to escape. The strongest position to be in during and at the end of a defence is stood upright in a balanced natural stance. There are very necessary and very strong ground fighting techniques that should be learnt as they are essential to defending yourself when you have been thrown, tripped, pushed or grappled to the ground but a defender should always prioritise getting back to their feet as quickly as possible and thereby minimise the risk of a secondary attack whilst down there (i.e. a kick to the head from a second attacker). In summary, don't get tied up in a chess match on the ground, get to your feet fast, ready to fight or flee.

I'm hoping we will build on these principles to establish a syllabus and programme of training over time that remains open and receptive to improvement and innovation whilst retaining the strong core ethos ("train hard, fight easy") and principles. I'm going to do a lot more videoing and posting up our lesson plans, and I will ask other people who teach in the sessions to do the same. I hope that we can attract guest teachers from the traditional Okinawan arts as we visit and train at various dojo around Okinawa.