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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The Killing Blows of Karate

Caveat: This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding. Oh, and just because I wrote it and just because it sounds reasonable and just because it makes sense, does not mean it is true.)

Most karate aficionados will often spout of the platitude that karate is about learning its inherent killing blows trait where they advocate that one must achieve “one blow” to apply it in a fight. Many karate systems promote and teach how one must hit, strike, kick, etc. with one blow to end the fight, i.e., the “Killing Blows of Karate.” 

Are there actually blows taught that can and will kill another human being? Yes, there are but in my view not many, if any, martial art karate teachings actually teach those types of techniques, properly. One reason is this, “You cannot teach a killing blow because to validate it would require you kill someone.” You cannot teach, practice and know killing blows by applying techniques, whether killing or not, to a makiwara or heavy bag or some other training device. It is like saying you used a kill shot by hitting a paper target dead center, NOT. Even if you hit someone with a bullet in the chest there is no guarantee they will die and even if death comes it can be after the adversary has shot you. 

Here is an aspect to this maxim that karate teaches us killing blows. First, how do you know they will kill? How do you know that you can even apply them in a fight where chaos, surprise, pain, fear or anger, movement and many other factors come into play? Isn’t it about hitting a target, a specific target, in a specific way while under the influences of the adrenal flooded fight? How often do karate-ka actually even attain a knock out blow under such circumstances? 

Yes, targeting is one of those important aspects to self-defense and fighting (both real and sport). After all, try boxing and see just how easy/hard it is to get a knockout. 

Second, human instincts prevent humans from deliberate taking of human life. It is about instincts and human survival where the tribe trumps the individual because killing reduces the readiness of the tribe to defend and protect itself. Humans today still have to deal with this instinct so to take a human life requires a certain effort and mind-set/mind-state. Then take into account societies propensity toward those legal ramifications in taking another human life let alone all the beliefs, religious rules and moral obstacles that will crop up. Just taking karate and thinking you have learned killing blows of karate will not mean you can actually kill with those blows.

Killing is something that must be trained in and it must have the tribes approval and that approval comes with the taking of “others lives” outside that tribe or in our case, society. We humans tend to even resist applying great bodily harm on humans as well. All of our social conditioning, even in ancient times, was to apply techniques and tactics that would ensure, mostly, the other guy will survive. It seems understandable that in a lot of cases where a fight occurred and a life is lost that the lost life was actually attributed toward a mishap while fighting, i.e., like hitting your head falling, etc. It is not that often the actual blow itself results in death but rather the results of that blow, i.e., hit someone hard to where they fall and they fall against some very hard object, like a cement sidewalk or wall. 

In my view, in modern times, and even in ancient practice of karate, there are no “Killing Blows” of karate. To achieve such a state of mastery requires more than merely the physical application. It takes a certain mind-set/mind-state that almost all proverbial normal humans cannot and will not actually take deliberately. 

I also believe that most, if not all, of the stories of ancient times where killing blows are believed to exist actually are fables and stories made up in modern times to promote the study of such arts. It is about stroking the minds and ego’s of practitioners toward a feeling of security and safety. To truly have applied a kill shot in karate would leave most normal humans suffering from psychological ramifications let alone the legal and moral ones. 

How many karate blows have been used to commit such murders? No matter the depth and breadth of crime statistics will you find such data and there are not historical records to even indicate that karate had and used “Deadly Killing Blows” in a fight, duel or combative situation? 

Of course, in the advertisements promoting the ultimate martial system of self-defense whereby after a few weeks of training you can apply your deadly killing blows to protect yourself with the ultimate self-defense system ever is just not believable or even true. 

Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.

Bibliography Articles on Self-Defense/Conflict/Violence

The main page leading to the articles I have chosen as a starting point to attain knowledge of conflict, violence and self-defense is: http://ymaa.com/articles/society-and-self-defense where you can navigate to the below or you can simply find a title below and click for direct access to the articles. Most of these are actually introductions to the references written by the authors themselves. It is advisable to start here then move on to the more in-depth stuff in their publications. This section will get you a beginning understanding necessary in phase one of learning self-defense. 

I.M.O.P. Principle—Intent, Means, Opportunity and Preclusion http://ymaa.com/articles/2014/10/imop-principle-intent-means-opportunity-and-preclusion
Introduction to Violence: Scale of Force Options http://ymaa.com/articles/introduction-to-violence-scale-of-force-options
Facing Violence: The Unconscious Stuff-Finding Your Glitches http://ymaa.com/articles/facing-violence-the-unconscious-stuff
Violence: What Everyone Needs to Know About Fighting http://ymaa.com/articles/violence-what-everyone-needs-to-know-about-fighting

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014. 
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #1: Getting Shot.” NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #2: Getting Stabbed.”  NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2015.
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.
Jahn, C. R. “FTW Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2012
Jahn, C. R. “Hardcore Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2002.

Bibliography of RBC Drills (Some titles have RBC drills included):
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc (Animal). “Taking It to the Street: Making Your Martial Art Street Effective.” Paladin Press. Boulder, Colorado. 1999.
MacYoung, Marc. "A Professional's Guide to Ending Violence Quickly: How Bouncers, Bodyguards, and Other Security Professionals Handle Ugly Situations." Paladin Press. Boulder, Colorado. 1996.
Miller, Rory. “Drills: Training for the Sudden Violence.” Amazon Digital Services, inc. Smashwords. 2011.
Quinn, Peyton. “Real Fighting: Adrenaline Stress Conditioning Through Scenario-Based Training.” Paladin Press. Amazon Digital Services, inc. 1996

My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com

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Advincula, A.J. Isshinkai Yahoo Group. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/isshinkaiKarate/. 2010
Advincula, A. J. MSgt USMC (Ret.), Isshinryu Sensei. "His writings and postings of Isshinryu and Kenpo Gokui on Isshinkai. California 2009.
Advincula, A.J. "Chinkuchi". Isshinkai Group Thread: February, 2007
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Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.

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DeMente, Boye LaFayette. "Samurai Strategies: 42 Martial Secrets from Musashi's Book of Five Rings." Tuttle Publishing. Vermont. 2008.
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Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
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Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
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Jahn, C. R. “Warrior Wisdom.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2012.

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MacYoung, Marc (Animal). “Taking It to the Street: Making Your Martial Art Street Effective.” Paladin Press. Boulder, Colorado. 1999.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #1: Getting Shot.” NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2014.
MacYoung, Marc. “Writing Violence #2: Getting Stabbed.”  NNSD. Amazon Digital. 2015.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000.
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Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Miller, Rory. “Drills: Training for the Sudden Violence.” Amazon Digital Services, inc. Smashwords. 2011.
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