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- Feb 23, 1999
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I just finished up attendance at a fencing seminar on the big three knives, the Bowie, Arkansas Toothpick, and Khukuri. This was offered by James Keating in the small eastern Oregon town of Milton Freewater. I've known Mr. Keating for years. As is usual in his seminars, there were numerous martial arts instructors from various schools in attendance. Having to travel hundreds of miles from nowhere to get to the instruction tends to skew the attendee demographics. As usual, everyone was courteous and patient with the dunderheaded (yours truly), and shared their knowledge from many different perspectives and arts. Keating made his name by applying marital arts concepts from around the world to various small arms. He finally got around to the khukuri. There was much of value in the seminar and if Keating offers khukuri instruction in the future those interested in khukuri techniques will certainly get some things to think about.
Various infighting techniques were presented, largely drawn from the Filipino arts. I'll not go into detail on any of those here, other than to say that many of the infighting concepts from those arts generalize to the khukuri. They are however, a bit complex and take some study to understand and integrate into one's movement. For those interested in close range techniques a study of the Filipino arts may be of value.
The khukuri really excels at longer ranges. I will share just a couple of presented concepts applicable to longer range that I found very valuable. You have read here on the forum time after time that the khukuri are all different and that you need to learn from your knife. That is very true, so think of these as concepts to explore with your knife. I am only offering the questions. I have no answers, so do not bother to ask.
1 - consider the use of the spine and the flat of the blade. For many khukuri this may be the equivalent of a steel pipe. This offers the potential of not only less lethal striking, but also of a powerful block or beat clearing the way for a chop or cut. A rapier fencer may not beat too effectively off a bo staff, but a khukuri might.
2 - think of how to vary the timing. Swinging a big heavy object tends to create a predictable path. What happens to predictability if progress along that path were delayed for a few fractions of a second?
A beautiful unifying concept that is applicable to both of the above explorations is the florette. The florette is a circular redirection of the blade. For exploration 1, a fraction of a circle will enable the block or beat to be transformed into a chop or cut without bringing a halt to the momentum of the blade and then starting it back up in another direction. In exploration 2 the addition of full or partial circles can change up the timing of the strike.
Here is an old Keating YouTube video on a florette exercise. While I have little use for a flashy "web of steel" all the elements for efficient redirection of the blade and variations of timing are present inside the movements of this exercise.
A search of YouTube turned up these other two excellent videos, from gentlemen I otherwise do not know. I admire their skill though and these are the very concepts that will aid in explorations 1 and 2.
Various infighting techniques were presented, largely drawn from the Filipino arts. I'll not go into detail on any of those here, other than to say that many of the infighting concepts from those arts generalize to the khukuri. They are however, a bit complex and take some study to understand and integrate into one's movement. For those interested in close range techniques a study of the Filipino arts may be of value.
The khukuri really excels at longer ranges. I will share just a couple of presented concepts applicable to longer range that I found very valuable. You have read here on the forum time after time that the khukuri are all different and that you need to learn from your knife. That is very true, so think of these as concepts to explore with your knife. I am only offering the questions. I have no answers, so do not bother to ask.
1 - consider the use of the spine and the flat of the blade. For many khukuri this may be the equivalent of a steel pipe. This offers the potential of not only less lethal striking, but also of a powerful block or beat clearing the way for a chop or cut. A rapier fencer may not beat too effectively off a bo staff, but a khukuri might.
2 - think of how to vary the timing. Swinging a big heavy object tends to create a predictable path. What happens to predictability if progress along that path were delayed for a few fractions of a second?
A beautiful unifying concept that is applicable to both of the above explorations is the florette. The florette is a circular redirection of the blade. For exploration 1, a fraction of a circle will enable the block or beat to be transformed into a chop or cut without bringing a halt to the momentum of the blade and then starting it back up in another direction. In exploration 2 the addition of full or partial circles can change up the timing of the strike.
Here is an old Keating YouTube video on a florette exercise. While I have little use for a flashy "web of steel" all the elements for efficient redirection of the blade and variations of timing are present inside the movements of this exercise.
A search of YouTube turned up these other two excellent videos, from gentlemen I otherwise do not know. I admire their skill though and these are the very concepts that will aid in explorations 1 and 2.
