Dealing with knife attacks
[Warning: this article contains a graphic image which might distress some readers.] Introduction In modern times it has become fashionable to regard the traditional martial arts as ineffective against knife attacks. And yet if you look at the techniques in traditional forms, I believe you will find plenty of realistic knife defences . This should not be surprising: traditional fighting arts are, after all, principally civilian defence systems . And throughout history, in every culture, knife and dagger attacks have remained relatively common in civilian society - precisely because knives (or similar bladed tools) are so ubiquitous: We have used them in our daily lives for thousands of years, be it in hunting, skinning/scaling and gutting, cooking as well as general utility. (There is a reason that the Swiss Army Knife is first and foremost a knife - not a screwdriver, saw or file etc.) At the same time, the knife has enormous advantages as an instrument of civili...