Practical Martial Arts Association

There is a lot to be said for assessing the items which you have to have with you all the time in terms of their use as a weapon.  In the final section of the Lähitaistelu film, we see fighting with and against the small shovel.  It is important because it is something everyone in these circumstances had on them, so you can use it if you have to and someone may use it against you. If you gave me a choice I wouldn't select a fake metal fan to fight with, however, if it was all I was allowed to carry when I went to many cultural events then I would try to make the best of it as a weapon. Against the rifle, we see a common thread of short weapons - when the opponent armed with a longer weapon inevitably gets the first shot at you, deflect it and move in. You wouldn't equip a soldier with a baton (or a jutte) however there is a congruence with weapons of a certain size be it a small shovel, baton or the kama on a kusarigama. This is why weapons don't really become outdat...

In the final section of the film, we see fighting with and against the small shovel (or entrenching tool, which I presume everyone had to carry around with them). Lapio (Shovel)  Stance with shovel same as usual: Stance variation for the better-armed opponent: Striking targets: Unarmed against shovel: Shovel against fixed bayonet:

There is a lot of talk about Fairbairn's 'gutter-fighting' knife system, but you must keep in mind a lot of that was about having an appropriate knife and stabbing the other person somewhere deadly.  In the scheme of things, these systems are not really for fighting unarmed, hence these portions are typically questionable.  There is a reliance on mindset and action.  There has always been a lot of mystique surrounding military knife systems however when you think about it they are rightly inappropriate solutions in other situations and are probably most useful in considering the actions of an attacker in a civilian or policing context. Puukko (Knife) As always the stance is the same, like the pistol the knife is brought back to the hip: The blade is shown as being held in an inverted position, with a sabre type thumb configuration: No other offensive advice is given, from here it is from the point of being unarmed against the knife: Possibly one of the worst demonstration...