FMA > Knife

Knife

The knife is a weapon to be feared. Not only can it kill, but it can also cause horrific damage. The primary focus in Hertao regarding the knife is to learn to defend against it. To do this we must also learn to attack with it. However, I'd generally advise against using a knife for self defense for both legal and practical reasons, unless there are no better options of course. There are times when a knife may be your best weapon.

In Hertao we use a simple but very effective strategy for dealing with the knife. The idea is to attack the opponent either hitting him or forcing him to be defensive for a moment, and then to get both hands on the knife bearing limb to take away the threat. You can see an example of the first level drill here (or on the Pekiti Tirsia Knife Tapping page):

The above method works well when the attacker leads with the knife. When he doesn't, empty hand defense becomes far more difficult. You can see one possible solution to a knife attack where the knife is not in the lead hand here: Jab and Stab Defense.

Check back soon for more on Hertao knife techniques and defense...

FMA > Knife