Lähitaistelu (Close Combat) Part 1 - Introduction - A Detailed Look at the 1950's Finnish Combatives Film

The Finnish Military film 'Lähitaistelu', literally 'close combat' or 'melee combat' is said to date from 1957 and provides an interesting look at what I like to call the re-engineering of Jujutsu (1). In some ways, the system is extremely sophisticated, with a high degree of systematisation and some complex training exercises.

For the most part, I don't want to add detailed commentary as what appears in the film is self-explanatory and I am unable to understand the Finnish soundtrack - for all I know it may show something and be saying "never do this".

The first part of the film is somewhat of an introduction, but I have included it as it shows physical training (reminiscent of the old Camp X footage) and some shooting. The film is broken up into sections, and I will, therefore, make one post per section in the manner of the film.

Lähitaistelu (close combat)

Highlights from coming sections:

Sub-machine gun training with moving and pop-up targets:

Physical training:

(1)What I mean when I call Combatives the re-engineering of Jujutsu is this:

The fathers of 'Modern Combatives', really being Fairbairn and Sykes, took a comprehensive system developed for policing from various martial arts as a toolbox, and they pulled from this toolbox a subsystem for use by insurgents, agents and special forces soldiers. This system was bare bones but brutally effective.

As time went on this system became quite commonplace, however, it was developed to be taught to people who would be deployed soon and have to use it. At the end of WW2 things went back to normal in many parts of the world in terms of deployment (if not politics), so training time extended and the focus broadened.

At this stage, we see what are essentially expanded versions of the WW2 system. People began to try and re-engineer more complete systems from the subsystem - be they for military, civilian or police use. A lot of the time the incubation pool for these additions was not hardcore policing or combat, rather it was modern Budo, such as Judo and even Aikido and Karate, or sports such as boxing and wrestling (or again, Judo).

The success of these attempts varies - however they are typically more effective than modern Jujutsu systems that do not take WW2 Combatives as part of their DNA and instead are put together only from modern Budo and sports.

The original film is here:

Spear (Yari) in Owari Kan Ryu 尾張貫流 (Kudayari & others)

Owari Kan ryū is known for its use of the kuda-yari (tube spear). The e (shaft) is run through a kuda (metal pipe) that’s in the front hand of the practitioner. Interestingly the school’s students start training by doing shiai (competition) and only after considerable training they learn the school's kata (forms). Most classical schools that practice shiai do so after learning kata. Thrusting using the kuda. Cross-stepping. Thrusting attack with kuda. Wide stance. Shiai. Shiai using a spear with a cross piece. The original demonstration from which these stills were taken is here:

The Structure of the Tenshinshoden Katori Shinto Ryu Syllabus

It should be noted that the current head, Otake Risuke, has commented that not all of the parts of Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto Ryu survive. I recall his comments in various documentaries that Archery was once a component, and only some of the spear survives. Through various sources, mostly Otake's book, I have put together this brief outline of their syllabus, however I have little idea of the exact stage each is taught except that I believe the students start with Omote no Tachi. I will use this as the basis for further posts and may add to it over time. I believe their are important implications when Otake says that one of the main reasons for training all the weapons is to train the swordsman against them. Note in this section in brackets are my own comments and should therefore not be relied upon, those from the written work of Otake are clearly marked. Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto Ryu -Kenjutsu (Otake lists Tachi, Ryuto and Kodachi under Kenjustsu) --Tachi (Use of the singl

Australia’s Turning Point – Signals Intelligence leading to the Battle of the Coral Sea

Australian/American Signals cooperation was not only important in stopping the Japanese advance to Australian shores but marked the beginning of Australia embedding its forces with the United States rather than simply furnishing troops for the British. Whilst the British, in my opinion , had a long history of using Commonwealth troops to either protect their colonial interests or to take on deployments with high expected rates of attrition, when Australia faced the real possibility of invasion with the vast majority of its troops and equipment deployed overseas, it was the Americans, whose interests in the Pacific aligned with our own, that were on hand to push the Japanese back from our shores. The Battle of the Coral Sea saw the beginnings of the deployment of Australian sea power under direct American command, a joint approach that would continue to the present time – it was, however, Signals Intelligence that led the way to the embedding of US/Australian forces and played a major

Practical Martial Arts Association

Search This Blog