KNIFE FIGHTER OR FIGHTER WITH A KNIFE?

What’s the difference? You may ask.  Well there is a world of difference between the knife fighter and the fighter with a knife.  The definition of each is crucial to your understanding of blade work and of how you will structure your training.  

The knife fighter is good with a blade, they know it inside out.  The knife fighter is confident in their ability to use their knife to bring you harm or death.  The Knife fighter spends a lot of time practicing with their blade.  They blade gives them confidence.  The blade is the focus of their attack and defense.     

The fighter with a knife is good at fighting.  They know fighting inside and out.  The fighter with a knife is confident in their ability to bring you harm or death by any means necessary.   The fighter with a knife spends a lot of time practicing their fighting ability.  Their fighting ability gives them confidence.  Their fighting ability is the focus of their attack and defense.  

Are you starting to see my point here?  A knife fighter may be good with a blade but in the chaos of the real world even a blade might not be enough to get your ass out of the frying pan.  The knife fighter is well equipped to duel but not much else.  The fighter with a knife is much more prepared to deal with a self defense scenario. 

“I have a Knife in my hand”.  “How many weapons do I have”?  That is a question that I often pose to my students.  The answer is usually wrong.  Most of the students who I pose that question to, normally answer, “One”.  I take that answer as a perfect segue opportunity to explain to the student that they may have one knife, but they have many weapons.  The hands, the feet, knees, elbows, even the head.  These are the weapons that we all possess.  When it comes to knife work however, many of us forget that we have them.  Many students will make the error of over fixating on their knife to the point of neglecting their other tools.  I want to make sure that you understand that the awareness and implementation of these tools is what separates a knife fighter from a fighter with a knife.  I like to think that I train fighters who may happen to have a knife. You see a fighter who happens to have a knife in their hand is still a fighter first and foremost.  They will punch, kick, knee, elbow, spit, bite, tear and use auxiliary weapons of opportunity.  They are more well rounded and complete than the knife fighter will ever be. 

There is a saying on the island of Okinawa that there is no kobudo (Okinawa weapon system) without Karate (Okinawa empty hand system).  I find this to be an undeniable truth in regard to the relationship of weapons combat and unarmed combat.  While warriors past and present have learned weapons skills without necessarily learning unarmed skills, I firmly believe that the practitioner strengthens one with the other in their training.  

In my opinion the Practitioner must be good with a blade but also be good with everything else as well.  We do not want to limit ourselves to one weapon when we have so many available to us.  Remember that the tactical advantage goes to the Practitioner who has more weapons at their disposal.  So, make sure that your training reflects this reality.  If you are training for the art of the blade, then being a knife fighter is fine.  If you have any aspirations that your training will serve you in a combative situation then you must forget about being a knife fighter and focus on becoming a fighter with a knife.