On December 7th, 2017, a shrine priestess in Tokyo was murdered by her brother, who attacked her with a katana.
Tomioka Nagako, 58, was the victim of Tomioka Shigenaka, 56, at Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine, reportedly over disagreements of family succession.
So yeah, okay okay…I admit...it IS within the realm of possibility that you'll be attacked someday by someone with a samurai sword. Or Rob Rowland with a Scorpion Spear.
But for the rest of us not living in a Japanese anime, if you're attacked by someone with a weapon they'll most likely have a gun, stick, knife, or something that doubles as one of those. The Hachimangu incident is not an everyday occurance and if you keep your eye on crime news you’ll find this to be true.
I swear, I quote Hock Hochheim once a week on weapons: "we live in a knife/gun/stick world".
So, the focus of your weapon training in Kajukenbo should be on those. But even then, like with open-hand fighting, don't expect your traditional weapon defenses to work unless you've tried them on a non-compliant training partner.
"Tha's not a knoife. Tha's a knoife."
I count machetes as big knives. Mara Salvatrucha, a gang started in Los Angeles and set up by/for Salvadorian immigrants, is known to use machetes regularly.
My JKD friend from Nottingham, England, says machetes have been somewhat common in juvenile violence there, and a quick google search brings up a few stories you can check out.
Meanwhile, former Kajukenbo student Hieu Le was living in Columbia in 2020 when he fought off three muggers. One had a knife, the others had machetes.
Le's experience brings up important points for weapon defense, keeping in mind that when a weapon is introduced the chance of one strike ending the fight is amplified.
First, the incident occurred on a pedestrian sidewalk on an overpass. The barriers on each side made for a narrow pass that allowed Le to limit how many people could reach him at once. (See the Battle of Thermopylae, a topic that used to come up in the black belt test for James Juarez' students.)
Second, there were no fancy disarms like the ones you'd see in a Steven Seagal movie. Le basically “rage-choked" (his words) a guy long enough to scare him into running away, which got the second guy running away, which in turn helped get the third guy running away when Le charged him.
Third, Le got nicked and bruised. Luckily it was nothing serious, but if you ever end up in a knife situation and don't get nicked, immediately run to the store and buy a lotto ticket before your luck runs out. If you never get nicked when drilling your knife defense techniques, your training methods most likely suck.
Back to Le: no fancy kenpo. No flying armbars. Just down and dirty fight-or-flight responses with good strategy.
On Guns
For gun lovers and gun haters both, a certain level of experience is necessary.
Politically, it doesn't matter if you have a poster of former NRA president Charleton Heston in your room to throw darts/knives at or if you have five guns hidden in your bathroom right now in case of zombie home invasion…if you do Kajukenbo it's your responsibility to get whatever gun training and experience you can.
Even the simple act of holding a gun will affect your understanding of self defense against them, as you realize the power behind a trigger and the (literal) weight of a loaded weapon. Meanwhile, the safety rules of responsible gun use will save your ass if you end up (accidentally or otherwise) with a gun in your hand.
On Sticks
People tend to think that knives are more dangerous than sticks because they're sharp. Pushing aside the damage that does occur when you're hit with a stick, there's also the fact that getting hit in the head will make you feel like you just took 10 shots of jäger, giving you the balance of an inebriated ostrich.
They also have better reach than most knives and can target the hand holding a knife.
On Knives
You know what? Nevermind. I'm gonna start a new page here because I got a lot to say about knives. Tune in next time.
If you liked this article and want to read more like it, be sure to check out our new book, "Blood, Sweat, and Bone: The Kajukenbo Philosophy".
American Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sweat-Bone-Kajukenbo-Philosophy
Japanese Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.jp/Blood-Sweat-Bone-Kajukenbo-Philosophy
If you want to read a more recent article on how martial artists misuse the word "respect", click here.
And, if you'd like to see Combat Self Defense's Rob Rowland in Scorpion cosplay swing a Scorpion Spear, click here.
As always, please like, share, and comment. It goes a long way toward getting this info out there.