Exactly, and if you're encountering an unskilled opponent he'd most probably flail real quick with the sword rather than skillfully perform calculated strikes. So to me, with a skilled or unskilled opponent, going unarmed is a bad idea either way.
In reality probably more than twice - your arm is very likely going to be messed up but you still probably have an arm with at least a functional shoulder after trying to block a sword with it and some time before the bloodloss will get you, so you can still flail that mangled arm around to some degree of defence. And if you get the timing right or get lucky you might even be able to turn the tables, just don't bet on it...
This isn't really difficult. The following moves will work every time against a swordsman. 1. Face your opponent with either your left or right foot slightly forward. 2. When your opponent begins his move, quickly rotate your body 180 degrees. 3. Run away as fast as you can.
I remember an old martial arts movie where the protagonist simply caught a downward strike between his first two fingers on his right hand. He then proceeded to flip the sword out of the attacker's hands. Seems straightforward enough.
A lot of those movies played on the mystique of unarmed fighters who could kill with their bare hands and with style. Some of the moves wouldn't work as well in a real fight.
If you're superman it should work great! I think it can also work if you happen to have a solid metal prosthetic right hand, possibly because this was previously attempted with a real hand!
You know, im starting to think that if an unarmed person could always beat a swordsman the sword would not have really.. been invented. So yeah, best choice is probably running away, if thats not an option - hope that your opponent is using a sword for the first time
I did manage to pull off unarmed vs. sword at least once in sparring years ago, at least to the extent that I avoided a cut & then rushed in. As I recall, we paused there. My sparring partner was definitely better at grappling, though, so I still would have lost if we had continued. That's one of the worst parts about unarmed vs. sword. Successfully getting around the sword still requires winning the resulting grappling match.
Reminded me of that clip of a hema bout where the guy who was disarmed realized he was in command grab range and powerbombed the opponent. It was brought up that even if an armed peasant managed to disarm a knight they still had to deal with a muscular ironclad wrestler who's closer to you than the hurty end of your pointy stick.
@@Mordecrox- Which may be why so many of the pointy sticks had a spike or hammer on one side. Disarm, then bludgeon or get that spike into the armor and hold while your buddies finished the job.
And typically, even if you do manage to get the weapon out of their hands, you're in a rotten position to do something with it if they don't lose their mind.
4:30 if you examine the old manuscripts carefully, the take down includes _biting the genitals_ of your opponent, in order to reduce the risk of them being able to use the sword to 'end you rightly' with the pommel. Just look at the head positioning in the illustrations. Is that why codpieces were so popular?
Unarmed sword defense is like extreme unarmed bat defense. You have to get in close, VERY fast, attack the hands, and trap the weapon or disarm the opponent. Works best is a relatively close environment where the ability to escape is limited. In an open environment just run away.
Pretty much, yes. Will it work against a COMPETENT swordsman? Probably not. But against an amateur, or a drunk, sure. As someone who had to defend himself against after being cornered by a sword-weilding assailant who was BOTH (my alcoholic, abusive, and likely schizophrenic soon-to-be-ex), I can say that it can be done. It certainly helped that she didn't know anything about measure or tempo, and approached in the long point guard, forcing her to take an extra tempo to withdraw the blade before she could initiate an attack- which gave me the fraction of a second I needed to step in and seize her wrists. If she'd had any fencing experience whatsoever, I'd have been screwed.
If you want to make that forearm deflection more viable, you can either wrap your cloak around your forearm (provided you have enough time) or wear a hidden bracer or block of wood under our sleeves as some street fighters in Spain were attested to do (e.g. in Godinho). The former may not be able to step direct two-handed blow, and the latter may fail as well or get your arm broke, but it is hell of a lot better than nothing.
doing it with a skin-exposed arm it's guaranteed to rend your flesh like a kebab, so yeah, either you're ready to get injured, or have prepared something like this before attempting it.
If you have enough time to wrap a cloak around your arm then you probably have enough time to start running away. This would have to be some really contrived scenario where he corners you in a dead end alley but is also the slowest attacker ever.
Nah.. some drunken guy with a machete decided to bring his life's drama to the streets. My cousin was coming home from his shift and encountered the guy. My cousin lived beside my house so I saw it happen. Immediately after he was injured he ran to my direction and slammed the door on the drunk. He didn't pursue further. We heard he was later detained after police found him.
@@traptor14x98 he didn't die. The doctors cut off the flesh that was still attached and grafted skin on it. His right forearm looks thinner than the left but he's able to function in society.
I agree with everything that's been said. I would like to also add that it is safe to deduce that the most realistic scenarios that these techniques would be used rely on the attacker not being in an all out "fighting" situation. Maybe against an overconfident opponent that tries to simply cut you down without committing too much on faints or proper footwork (regardless of him being trained or not), or someone drawing a weapon in a fit of rage and trying to attack you wildly (still a slim chance of living through these though). I find it very unlikely that any of these were created for a duelling scenario in which both opponents start facing in other, with proper stance etc. Of course as you said the training in itself being beneficial as well as the high skill gap are the 2 most important points.
Pretty much, yes. Will it work against a COMPETENT swordsman? Probably not. But against an amateur, or a drunk, sure. As someone who had to defend himself against after being cornered by a sword-wielding assailant who was BOTH (my alcoholic, abusive, and likely schizophrenic soon-to-be-ex), I can say that it can be done. It certainly helped that she didn't know anything about measure or tempo, and approached in the long point guard, forcing her to take an extra tempo to withdraw the blade before she could initiate an attack- which gave me the fraction of a second I needed to step in and seize her wrists. If she'd had any fencing experience whatsoever, I'd have been screwed.
@@drizztdourden4241 It depends on what you mean by suddenly. She had initiated a verbal argument hours previously, and had consistently refused to allow me to withdraw from the berating; and she had been obviously drunk for quite some time, so there was reason for me to be wary, but she cornered me unexpectedly with a sword she pulled off a wall hanger in the other room. The attack itself initially consisted of advancing menacingly with the point extended (anyone who knows fencing knows this is not a viable guard from which to fence), so I had several seconds of warning that I was about to be attacked, but I was stuck in a corridor with a locked and child-safety-latched door behind me (which meant I could not rely on opening and escaping through the door faster than an attack could be delivered). As she advanced into measure, she suddenly raised the point above her head to deliver a downward blow, which gave me the opening to rush under her guard and seize her wrists. I tried to use a forearm-over-wrist arm bar to twist the sword out of her grip, but was unable to actually get it out of her grasp (though I did get it into a position from which she could not attack). Couldn't get enough rotation on her wrists to force her to release it. Despite outweighing her by nearly double. Eventually had to use my body mass to press her off-balance against the wall and hold the sword arm hyperextended with one of my arms as an elbow-lever, then use the other hand to pry her fingers off until she gave up. She didn't make it easy, and I was very close to resorting to elbow strikes to the face to gain control of the weapon. As to serious intent: she swung a sharpened sword at my head. I count that as serious intent, yes.
tl,dr: it's like defending yourself unarmed against a knife, but its even worse because the knife is much bigger this time. get close to the opponent to grapple or run.
In a way I think it might actually be more viable than fighting someone with a knife. Closing the distance will be difficult, but once you do close the distance it will be easier to prevent your opponent from attacking you with their sword, since it's a much larger weapon for them to have to swing or stab towards you. If you're facing someone with a knife on the other hand then closing the distance will barely even do you any good, they'll still be able to stab you with minimal effort because a knife is small enough that you don't need much room for movement or building momentum.
Unironically probably a decent tactic. At least you have a bit of range attack that will hopefully distract them long enough to get in. (Of course you're still probably screwed, but, slightly better than nothing.)
I mean, the modern equivalent of pocket sand is OC spray. I carry one bottle around with me everywhere I got and have a backup one sitting at home. Also another similar option is to get a high-lumen strobe flashlight which I have several of those as well.
I think if you find yourself in this kind of situation and you cannot simply run away, then even a 1 to 2% chance to getting some of these techniques done is better than the 0% chance of getting out of this situation by doing nothing. Definitively worth learning.
I would say you are able to run away far more often than what you might be thinking, or at least run to give your self time to improv a weapon, like picking up a stick.
@@SaiTaX_the_Chile_boi I really don't understand why so many feel the need to make this argument every time a video comes out with advice on what you could do to attempt to survive a dire situation. Yeah, obviously if it's at all possible you should just run away, no shit, but the whole point of a video like this is WHAT TO DO IF YOU CANT. Yes, it will be extremely rare to end up in a situation where you are unarmed, your attacker has a melee weapon, and you have absolutely no chance to run away. In the vast majority of cases you will have some opportunity to run away, but what happens if you don't? Are you just supposed to sit there and die because "Welp, this had such a low probability of happening that I just assumed it never would, guess I'll die" Really? The chances of getting struck by lightning, or winning the lottery, are also extremely low, but if you Google it right now there will be thousands of results full of advice on how to avoid getting struck by lightning, and smart ways to handle your money if you win the lottery. Just because something is improbable does not mean it's impossible, and knowing that I'd say it's a pretty good to at the very least keep little methods like this in the back of your mind for a rainy day, if not legitimately put some time and effort into practicing them, just in case. On top of all that, not everyone lives in the 1st world, and there are plenty of places all over the planet where dire situations like this happen much more frequently, and guess what, they still have internet access, and advice like this could potentially save lives. Things in the 1st world have been getting pretty bad in recent years too, crime rates are going up, and America specifically is really going downhill in just about every metric, so again, this information is useful.
@@SaiTaX_the_Chile_boijust running away isn't as simple as it's always described. Running away is a skill that needs a ton of practice. How good is your 100m dash? How long can you sprint without losing your breath? How good are you at overcoming obstacles? How good is your orientation under stress? How capable of fighting do you feel after a 400m dash? The scary truth is, if someone is charging you with a knife/machete/hatchet etc., you probably won't outrun them. They just have to reach you with the tip of the blade to inflict damage. The time it takes you to turn around gives them plenty of time to charge and once you're both running, it's horse power vs horse power whilest they have the reach advantage. If they catch up, congratulations, now you're tired and they still have the weapon. If you actually manage to outlast them, they still might throw the damn thing into your back (and chances are high that they got a 2nd one). There are a few videos on YT where this actually gets tested and the attacker pretty much always shanks the runner. So if your plan is to run away, practice that! Treat it like sparring in martial arts. Give a friend a small pool noodle and let them chase you once or twice a week. Additionally, practice your dash and endurance running on a track and in the field, learn some parkour, do orientation drills in unknown surroundings, practice to cry for help (yes, that needs practice too!) and hit the gym at least once a week to lift some weights, so you get stronger and more explosive. Tldr; Running away is only viable, if you're really good at it, so how much do you practice?
@@jc-kj8yc I agree 100%, just the turning around takes time, not much but enough time for your opponent to get 'that' bit closer needed for an attack. If the distance between you and your opponent is 10' or more and you trust your dash speed and/or stamina then yeah, run to the hills, run for your life 🤘🏻😉 I practiced this just for fun with a friend many years ago, using a piece of garden hose as a knife stand-in. NO chance of running away if he is at a 6-7 feet distance (unless he's a complete moron) A sword, machete, a baseball bat, or even a length of metal pipe is slower to swing or stab with but got much more range, so... The scary thing about a simple knife is how fast it is to attack with Thank you for your comment
As a life-long (since 5 years) empty-hand and weapons practitioner with a couple years overseas, the best advice is RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! But thanks for showing how narrow a situation has to be for a weapon disarm to work.
What if they have a gun instead of a sword? Is running still a good idea if you don't have cover? I suppose attempting to disarm is still mostly useless if all they need to do is pull a trigger.
@@elio7610 If someone is pointing a gun at you and they REALLY want you dead, then unfortunately you're just gonna be shot. But I'd say that the majority of the time an assailant is using a gun as a free "I'm invincible, you're scared of me, give me your stuff" card but they don't actually want to use that gun.
@@julietfischer5056They'd have to be truly mentally deficient to do that. Even if you don't WANT to, I'd imagine most of them at least want to have the option.
Assuming that your opponent is as fast or faster is okay if it is in a way of not expecting it, but being prepared for it. Otherwise, having a limiting mentality is worse and harder to grow out of than foolishness.
I think that definitely a lot of these techniques are meant to be used against a less skilled opponent. I know that for a lot of firearms self defense training you're not trained to do things like strafe or shoot accurately while moving or things like that mostly because the teacher is counting on the crooks not being able to hit the broad side of a barn and therefore simply standing still and having better shot placement will win the day. Obviously it's always better when you DO learn more advanced things but yeah I think when it comes to self defense a skill gap between you and your attacker is the name of the game hence why we learn these things. This was a great video by the way, I always enjoy watching your content.
"Strafe" does not mean sidestep. It has leaked into popular vernacular through misuse of the term by video gamers. Strafing is a machine gun or cannon attack from an aircraft upon a ground target. It does not actually mean "shooting while sidestepping".
@bronco5334 no, it's not "misuse" of the term. In life your definition of strafe is correct. In the context of gaming, strafing is moving left and right quickly to dodge incoming fire. 2 separate definitions of the same word. Its been called that since the first shooters cane out. It has nothing to do with shooting going sideways lol, although you can shoot while doing it
I feel like unarmed vs a sword if you can't flee then you are basically dead anyway. Since your already basically guaranteed to die your only chance is to lean in to the risky play. If you can get a hard tackle without taking a fatal strike then you could disarm them and bring them into a grappling match where the odds are more favorable.
If they cut you at all youre at a huge disadvantage in a grapple. You wont be able to leverage properly if your joints are cut, cant maintain a strong grip if your hands are cut and if they have any limb free they can just dig it into your wounds for easy escape/advantage
@@kingkino2116 that's very true. But if it's between certain death at the point of a sword and in a disadvantage position in a grapple, I will take the grapple.
I think the whole discipline, if we can call it that, relies on a significant skill gap between the armed and unarmed parties. I remember doing a knife defense camp for a week, then on the last day we used markers as "knives" and wore white t-shirts. Everyone was very, very colorful after some free sparring. You're just going to get cut up. A lot. So don't get into knife fights, or sword fights!
Knife fights, Sword fights... And frankly I wouldn't want to fight a mace either. You try to slap that to the side and I think you just get broken fingers.
@@1stCallipostle Honestly against a mace you probably have a better shot just rushing the guy and punching him in the face until he goes down. Mainly because maces can't stab you up so running in is less dangerous. Just gotta avoid the swings and endure the lighter hits to your body.
Part of me honestly wants to see these unarmed techniques in a Batman movie/game. They look cool, and since Batman is supposed to be a master at hand to hand while fighting mostly untrained criminals, the skill gap question is more believable.
@@christiandauz3742And yet still seems to prefer punch 90% of the time. The rest of the Bat Family tends to be smart enough to bring like a Stick or Two sticks. And then when Jason is allowed in the party then we have flashbangs, handguns, a sniper rifle, and a knife but we'll ignore that.
@@Deatheater4444 Yeah armor makes him WAAAY more capable of fighting guys with swords and guns than an actually unarmed person. Someone in plate armor versus someone with a sword probably just wins outright unless the opponent also has armor. In which case its still way more even because the sword loses most of its instant lethality. Batman can block a strike effectively is the point and thus is capable of attempting grapples.
It’s a complex formula. The military says: your opponent always has a vote. That goes two ways: skill, armor (or not), age, fatigue level, terrain, existing wounds, and inebriation. A person who has to defend but gets a knife out may take non-disabling hits and kill his opponent, only to bleed out or die of sepsis. I think the overall outcome for unarmored fights vs a completely unarmed opponent is in the 85%+ chance of death range, but even that seems optimistic, since fights between equally skilled opponents come down to to the thing that is different between them. Thus, without a weapon, an unarmored defender is screwed.
Weapons are invented for a reason. Can you win a fight if you are unarmed against sword? Yes, but chances are pretty slick... Can you win sword against pistol? Can you win pistol against assault rifle? Can you win with rifle against tank? Yes in some very specific conditions you can win, but 99.9 times out of 100 you are going to lose in a blink of an eye.
Usually the "I can keep trucking" mentality comes from people that haven't actually been hit in a fight before. I personally haven't been in a fight but after hitting my side on a corner pretty hard, I *know* that I'm not invincible and will probably stop even after a non life-threatening injury
@@AVGyerra22well during a fight, there would be a hell of a lot of adrenaline in your body, which would definitely help you keep trucking, but if you get a broken arm, or several broken ribs, or a deep laceration, you're out of that fight
The old Liam Neeson defense in “Rob Roy” where he guides the rapier thrust through a non lethal part of the abdomen (hopefully) and then closes down and attacks.
Its very important to learn these techniques in Canada as the current government wants to remove from law abiding citizens the ability to legally own firearms. Practice!
the only way the boxer would have a chance: is if he has full amour and the guy with the sword not, cause then the boxer really could tank a few hits depending on where they land.
Never watched the second channel, but Shogo's main channel is great for insights into japanese culture and society issues. Simple to follow, very fluent in english and understands western perspective because of his background.
I think horizontal cuts are close to imposible to work against unarmed! i think that many montante style moves are close to imposssible to wok against UNARMED! I think flat diogonal cats are hard to fight against as well UNARMED!
Actually I'd argue that a sword is less dangerous than a knife when it comes ot being unarmed. A sword of a significant reach become far less effective up close. A knife doesn't.
To be a little bit fair this looks like the stuff you teach to your students last as "use only if you cant run away and have no other choice". Cuz if it's life or death and pushing that sword away as you close in means you are losing some finger, but the alternative is death....I mean it would suck, but if its do or die. People can be willing to trade one hand for their lives. As its pointed out many times, even after being badly wounded by a sword, your opponent can still fight. Plus a pair of proper thick leather gloves and the applicability rises a bit. Small bit but still. The main issue here is people who treat it as some kind of mystical technique that can defeat any blade.
Sadly for me all the points I wanted to make were covered in your final summary. Keep up the good work, my real problem with videos such as this is the number of people who watch them and unquestionably believe that such martial skill is easily learnt from these presentations.
Having been taught and practiced unarmed vs sword techniques...yeah, they're super hard to pull off, and terribly prone to failure. Like, sure, when you're drilling one specific technique it's nice and reliable--you get the cut you expect and already know what to do. But then, even in reduced speed free practice, where you have time to think about what you're doing and see what's coming--the person with the sword wins the vast majority of the time. And this includes going against people who are mostly trained in unarmed and have very little skill with a sword. Several feet of sharp metal is a heck of an advantage. Knife defense often goes the same way. Techniques work in practice--but as soon as you go more freestyle? It gets extremely hard, even moving at "don't hurt your partner" speeds. But, worst case scenario? I'd rather have something I can try rather than nothing. But I cannot emphasize enough how important I think the 'freestyle' (even moving at 75-80% speed) practice is to grounding people in how hard these are to pull off.
I kept thinking to myself “USE THE HOODIE!!!” My first plan of action if someone comes at me with a blade when I’m unarmed is to take my shirt off and try to catch the blade with it.
@@Skallagrimalso flicking it at the opponent, whip his eyes with the zipper! (Ideally of course) Done in knife fights, living folklore in Argentina actually.
If people have a harder time with unarmed vs knife, then this is just a no brainer that bigger blade weapon like swords are even harder, 2-3 times harder. the lethality & the range of the attacks are simply the most deciding factors withing those milliseconds of counters.
4:32 - That's either a manuscript for a tackle or................ ......something else. SURPRISE BJ! Hey, you knock it, but it has a higher probability of ending the fight than any of your other options!
@@die_buecher7090 Maybe that is how it used to be, but you can find at least a few good quality swords really cheap (i.e. APOC Survival swords) and also find really expensive machetes if you look hard enough.
I apologize if anyone has already pointed this out. At 2:10 the technique looks a lot like shomenuchi iriminage. (To make this throw more effective, try placing your free hand on your assailant's lower back during the throw.) I suspect that these techniques were developed for the scenario of disarmed-samurai-in-full-armor versus armed-samurai-in-full-armor.
Of course in reality.. vast majority of people have limited if any knife abilities an training. An about all average people are gonna have limited or no sword abilities an training whatsoever. Like ALL unarmed fighting fighting unarmed vs armed assailants imagine depends VERY very much on whom vs whom an how good they are even more then everything else in world. An what they're trained to do. Someone well versed in Karate, akido, wrestling etc will handle an armed attacker unarmed then someone a Judo or Muay Thai master will. An a Krav Maga, A literal Kung Fu fighter or Kali specialist will probably all do very different things too Even Tyson or Muhammad Ali would KNOW better then to try an tank Sword slashes an perhaps stabs too. Even an amateur swordsman would STILL probably literally butcher them. It takes quite ALOT of specialized training to be unarmed an STILL be able to beat a swordsman an your unarmed an STILL stay safe doing it
10:03 That's just the weird thing in spoken Japanese where final weak i's and u's get de-voiced to a whisper or dropped altogether. So it's written "Seki sensei" but it's pronounced Sek'. Just like "desu" can often turn into dess' and that one dude Yusaku Maezawa has the handle "Yousuck" because the name is pronounced Yusak', effectively without the final u, bringing it dangerously close to "You Suck".
Much like your last unarmed vs knife video. Traditional HEMA and classic manuals are as full of bullshito as any other martial art when it comes to unarmed combat. RUN is your best defense. Arm yourself with ANYTHING at hand is your second best defense. That being said when you can't run any defense is better than none and against a longer weapon like a sword you actually have a better chance than say a knife. None of these manuals promise you won't make it out unscathed but remember swords aren't light sabers. Most hits are going to be painful but not seriously life threatening once you get inside...hopefully. I would however NEVER be the aggressor. Wait for the swing, avoid it then follow it back in. That's your best chance. Stepping in before or during an attack is crazy. Counter attack is where a sword is least deadly. Think of how boxers follow a punch at them back with a punch of their own. That's the moment an attacker is most vulnerable. You have to be fast and toss caution to the wind though.
Once again, missing the point of the lesson. "Swordlessness" isn't for fighting people without needing weapons, it's an exercise to stop you from peeing your pants and freezing up if you're caught without one. Beating the other guy with a teakettle, Jackie Chan style, could be called "swordlessness", as could using a trashcan lid as a shield, or dropping your own weapon to grapple with the opponent. Even people who practice this stuff will tell you that it just doesn't work on somebody who's expecting it, and that the point isn't to beat people with weapons without having weapons yourself, but to be ready, and not shocked or surprised if you get jumped while unarmed, because that can get you killed.
Since I have watched the video about knife vs martial artist you have posted, this seems utterly ridiculous. That vid was simply eyeopening how different reality is from theory.
Same is with all weapons. It is a matter of first distance, then skill. The kendo video is just stupid. The boxer guy lost a long time ago. You should open a school. A dude in Smith's Cove is the only other one I know off.
There is 2 ways to do it: a) armor/shild/useing a weapon/gun/mix b) is to be much physically quicker and faster. It would be better in addition to that to be very tall , 2m+ something like 2.2m tall. U need to be an arrow faster and very quick. It requires also an insane muscle memory and alot of skill. Like u need to be 0.5sec and below quick. Note: u could try to make your opponent attack at the wrong direction with a wrong lead. U need to be an elite Gigachad to do this. Like LuBu like. U need to be so good that even a master looks like nobody incomprisen to u.
I really like your cursor :D Also it would be fine if you said "Seki" Sensei, the guy just says the "ki" part really fast so it comes out as "kh", but it's still okay to say the whole thing in normal speed. It's like a familiarity thing. Rob - Robert kind of a thing, but not in a belittling or infantilizing way.
The only chance is to grab his arm and make him drop the weapon, but if the other guy has the same skill, that would be almost impossible to pull off. In any case, as slim as the chances are, no doubt they are better with training. Of course, your 1rst choice would be to avoid the fight at all costs. If you manage to run away, your're good. But if that's impossible, at least you have trained. It's better than nothing, but probably not a lot better than nothing. I suppose that's why those techniques were trained: to use them as the last chance you have. If you are a knight, you better train for any possible situation, even if unlikely. Also, maybe you had armor, or at least sturdy gloves, then your chances could be better.
With a hit to the neck, sure you can shrug it off, what are you talking about? ... your head, I mean. With a hit to the neck, you can easily shrug off your head.
Why swinging the sword vs. somebody unarmed? They would just stab one and there is nothing one can do. And if they miss they can just stab again, stabbing with the sword is super fast and prevents anybody unarmed getting close to you... That is also the reason why a spear is so effective.
Sort of to play devil's advocate, but do you think that if we're trying to get a grounded perspective on this, we should consider that in some situations, you can more or less intentionally take a hit in the attempt to level the playing field. Like how people say with knife defence: "It's not if you get stabbed, it's a question of how many times you get stabbed" - some situations you're going to get hurt, but maybe you won't die. When it comes to the idea of being unarmed against some kind of long striking weapon, my thinking is that you need to close that distance and negate their ability to strike, and that probably includes trying to use one of your arms (ideally your weak) as a meat-shield lol. I feel safe in saying that you stand a better chance grappling a someone with only one of your arms working while in agony than you do maintaining distance while unarmed against an opponent with a long weapon.
IF you attack unarmed it's not an option openly. Only with a suprise or other big advantage. You demonstrate scenarios when the unarmed is cornered and has no options to flee. I would pick any object to use near me at the space or just throw it to flee/charge.
having seen people grab swords in HEMA tournaments, they almost always go for that attempt once the sword has lost momentum and is more or less suspended in space after a parry or while it's bound when both people are moving in to close ground the thumbnail image looks like an attempt to draw a moment like that, a freeze frame done on papyrus, representing an opportunity to grab the sword when it's suspended in space. i've never seen someone try to grab a sword bare handed but i've seen people lose or cast their swords away to go for a grapple involving grabbing the other person's sword
even by holding oit a sword in front or back is often enough to keep an unarmed person at bay, or have them run into it. literaly a few moves in tai chi jian. also the range iw so much more than some expect, with just 1 or two steps you can hit someone trying to flee. best chance is to surrender or run fast, very fast
it is a great way of proving how bad someone is at sword fighting, stepping in and taking the sword. in short the skill gap matters more than the fact you know how to do this. if they are so bad you can do this, then it's merely making a point.
Let's say, hypothetically, I am a barbie girl. Okay let's even say I'm in a barbie world. Right so, in this scenario, I would obviously know from personal experience that life in plastic is fantastic. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume you could brush my hair and undress me literally everywhere? Imagination; you can derive from the fundamentals of basic logic that life is your creation.
well I'm dead anyway why try and take the sword away when I can grab the throat and yank it out pull the eyes out hit the groin punch the back of the head cave the nose in... etc swords are really bad when ur that close to the opponent they can't accelerate the sword enough to cut deep enough and the angles are awkward at best
I tend to avoid pissing people off who are wielding stabby things. Maybe just buy them a pint at the pub. I remember doing Jujitsu and knife attack stuff. The new Sensei would hand his wallet over to anyone attacking with a blade.
Hilarious! I love how movies depict characters dealing with knives and swords like a walk in the park. The average guy thinking he can go up against a person armed with a sword. Yeah you're at least gonna lose part of your hand.
I think the big caveat is the skill gap if you want to take unarmed vs sword seriously, but even then it's situational. Not exactly unarmed vs sword but in a tournament pool, my opponent, didn't quite grasp the measure difference between us, would approach me and pull back for a cut and lead with the hands. So twice, I closed distance and entered a grapple with my left hand, catching their pommel/hands like in the first technique and pushed their hands back to break structure while thrusting with my sword. While my own sword played some roll in altering how we both entered the exchange, (threat of my own weapon, the ability to safely defend myself, etc), it demonstrates the validity of the mechanics of the technique, if not the situation with which to use them. I would think the techniques are more applicable to entering a grapple and you are either disarmed or have dropped your sword to preform the grapple. I could also see it being applicable to armored combat, drop your sword, armor allows you to safely enter grapple, preform a technique before drawing a dagger. The Fiorie pannel you showed even depicts a sword on the ground as if they drooped it or were disarmed, not entering a fight unarmed. I've also seen Jesse Tucker have his rapier disarmed and go on to win the exchange with just his dagger, so there's that
Realistically, I think almost all the chance of actually pulling off any unarmed vs. weapon techniques successfully would tend to come in the brief window *before* they actually start attacking you, if you take the initiative while their guard is down because they don't expect you to do something as stupid as fight them without a weapon. If you manage to take them by surprise, you have a brief window of opportunity. Without the element of surprise, you have basically no window of opportunity whatsoever.
Kendo points require more than just a shout. The concept is called 'kikentai no ichi', which basically translates to 'spirit, blade, and body as one'. The overall concept of what it is trying to do isn't all that strange for a martial art: ensure good consistent body mechanics and promoting putting your all into each attack. It's just that the method of measuring that is a bit more rigid and not useful to anything trying to be a real combat art. You have to show that you have the sword (shinai), body, and spirit all working in unison to land the strike, by doing the following three things simultaneously: Ki: This is the shout part. Pretty straight-forward. Technically, you are supposed to shout the name of the location you are hitting, but once you into the Dan ranks, they generally don't require that detail because it's pretty clear what you were aiming for just from watching your attack at that skill level. Ken: This is the shinai strike landing. If you look closely at the shinai, you'll see that there is a band of fabric about 3/4 of the way up the bamboo shaft,, and well as fabric covering the tip. you have to strike between those points for it to count. That is where you *want* to hit with a cutting sword in pretty much any martial art, but in kendo, it is absolutely mandatory. It is also supposed to be a powerful strike, which is usually judged based on the sound it makes when connecting with the armor. The one exception to all of this is the one storing point that is not a cut, but instead a thrust to the throat. Tai: To show your body was also in the strike correctly, you have to stomp your front foot on the floor. For it to be a valid point scored, you have to do all three of these at the same time.
I always assumed the best opening move for a unarmed-v-sword defense was injecting your enemy with tranquilizer. Boxing seems like a terrible match for sword fighting. I'd want something more grappling based.
I think the idea with that boxer may have been that their gloves worked like gauntlets, so they could block with them and it's why hits weren't counted. It made it a slightly more even playing field and allowed the boxer to use techniques as they were used to in boxing.
In an open field of battle picking up a stick or rock would open up your options dramatically but the second you introduce scenery your chances are a tiny bit better since you could put something between you and the sword like a tree forcing the sword wielder to either stay on the other side poking at you or get past the tree to strip you of the cover during which you would have a much better chance of closing the gap (TL;DR Use your environment) Edit: Even better assuming you had a second you could remove your own shirt and use it to catch the blade
Yea, i recently saw the reaction to the knife defense trial in a locked room, and was just thinking - but how would it look with sword - an boom, here's the video. I mean in all fairness, probably the sword IS less effective then knife if you close in an go for grappling, but as we can see getting close unharmed is unlikely. As far as boxer vs kendo - not sure, maybe the assumption was wearing partial armor - aka fighter loosing sword but still wearing gauntlets and some body armor? It looks like he is "parrying" or blocking with gloves which only makes sense if these are for some reason "invulnerable" against sword cuts
The Korean on the window says 대한검도 (Daehan Geomdo), i.e., "Great Korea Sword Way," in which "Sword Way" (i.e., fencing) comes from the same two Chinese characters as used to signify Japanese kendo. Geomdo and kendo, however, are not exactly the same martial art despite having certain similarities, just as Korean hapkido and Japanese aikido use the same three Chinese characters but are not the same martial art. The golden Chinese characters visible inside the dojang also say 대한검도/Daehan Geomdo/大韓劍道.
Ezeo from assassin's Creed has some cool disarms that kind of look similar but fantasy ish hr does usually use a lot of arm protection and comes in really close to the hands a lot by forcing the blade down after a diagonal step away then he does a nother step in effectively stepping too far into their sword range to be useful and rips on there hands and helt before they can do much. Its kinda unrealistic but in a croud fight but in duels it could be possible. Plus its cool so don't hate
Does the guy coming at you have short stubby arms, a hunchback, concaved skull and you can hear his laboured breath(like a pug)? Congratulations, you might survive!
Funny, I discovered Weaponism last night, and binged a bunch of their stuff. I dont know anything about Kendo but it seems like if they score, they just keep going if they are already in the starting position, or close enough. Instead of taking the time to reset, they just keep going. But in the boxer video, I got the feeling they just messed around and hit eachother.
So many of those kendo vs boxer fights, if transposed to real life, would've ended with a long drag cut from up close, if not sooner I definitely think the best bet is before the sword fully even clears the sheath, or after running away and aquiring a tool (even if it's just some of your own clothing, but ideally something better), if the attacker even remains at that point
There was a great moment like that in The Wheel of Time, where a character's first move was to slam on the opponent's pommel while the sword was still in its scabbard.
The biggest problem I see with even the more reasonable counters is getting close enough to attempt any of this at all. If it's any somewhat competent swordsman they wouldn't be standing that close anyway and would be keeping proper distance as soon as the opponent made any effort to get closer. Their opponent being unarmed wouldn't suddenly make them forget about their measure.
Make it two unarmed, then. Or three. Wolf pack tactics. How would that play out? Also, other types of weapons and armors, the environment, the tactical situation...
![[UNCUT] “บอสณวัฒน์” ลากไส้!! ใครหนุนหลัง "แม่ตั๊ก ป๋าเบียร์" I คนดังนั่งเคลียร์ I 30 ก.ย. 67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QlD7mU2KKRk/mqdefault.jpg)
A very important part is also having your opponent move really slowly.
🤪
The master move is then to speak very slowly, as if in slow motion, distracting your opponent and forcing them to fight in slow motion. It’s science.
Exactly, and if you're encountering an unskilled opponent he'd most probably flail real quick with the sword rather than skillfully perform calculated strikes. So to me, with a skilled or unskilled opponent, going unarmed is a bad idea either way.
And to strike only when you are fully ready, of course
Like in a 70s Bruce Lee movie.
You can use your arms to block swords twice. Then you will be un-armed
Dis-armed.
Tis but a scratch
good one😂
In reality probably more than twice - your arm is very likely going to be messed up but you still probably have an arm with at least a functional shoulder after trying to block a sword with it and some time before the bloodloss will get you, so you can still flail that mangled arm around to some degree of defence. And if you get the timing right or get lucky you might even be able to turn the tables, just don't bet on it...
I've had worse.
This isn't really difficult. The following moves will work every time against a swordsman.
1. Face your opponent with either your left or right foot slightly forward.
2. When your opponent begins his move, quickly rotate your body 180 degrees.
3. Run away as fast as you can.
NIGERUNDAYOOOOO!!!
In all honesty, while you just have to run barehanded the swordsman has to carry a sword so yes, this might work
What if the swordsman chases you?
@@rainmaker9300 DAWORLDO!!!
@@ArifRWinandar The swordsman has to carry a sword so assuming equal physical form you should be better
I remember an old martial arts movie where the protagonist simply caught a downward strike between his first two fingers on his right hand. He then proceeded to flip the sword out of the attacker's hands. Seems straightforward enough.
A lot of those movies played on the mystique of unarmed fighters who could kill with their bare hands and with style. Some of the moves wouldn't work as well in a real fight.
If you're superman it should work great! I think it can also work if you happen to have a solid metal prosthetic right hand, possibly because this was previously attempted with a real hand!
Who needs that hand anyway
You know, im starting to think that if an unarmed person could always beat a swordsman the sword would not have really.. been invented.
So yeah, best choice is probably running away, if thats not an option - hope that your opponent is using a sword for the first time
Same for armor; if armor did not protect you, nobody would have worn it. Of course, it all depends on what you are facing against.
Or has never done anything outside the training arena.
Weapons add a huge advantage, so does training. Untrained w/sword vs trained h2h... advantage sword, but maybe 70/30 or 65/35.
If unmarmed was a viable technique we wouldn't have spent thousands years to invent basically anything that's not unamrmed
So you guys are saying Hollywood movies and wuxia are not entirely accurate? o.O
Unarmed vs Sword, a step by step guide:
1) Become armed
I got arms, what is step 2?
Use one of those arms to draw, aim, and fire a handgun.
Gun
2) Use that fancy footwork to stab the opponent.
@@slytlygufyUse both please. One handed shooting is SO Pre-1970's.
Best technique for unarmed vs. armed: Do not skip leg day.
Sounds like sprint start cardio day might be better.
I did manage to pull off unarmed vs. sword at least once in sparring years ago, at least to the extent that I avoided a cut & then rushed in. As I recall, we paused there. My sparring partner was definitely better at grappling, though, so I still would have lost if we had continued. That's one of the worst parts about unarmed vs. sword. Successfully getting around the sword still requires winning the resulting grappling match.
That's true for every form of combat where wrestling isn't explicitly prohibited. If you can't wrestle/grapple, you can't fight.
Reminded me of that clip of a hema bout where the guy who was disarmed realized he was in command grab range and powerbombed the opponent.
It was brought up that even if an armed peasant managed to disarm a knight they still had to deal with a muscular ironclad wrestler who's closer to you than the hurty end of your pointy stick.
@@Mordecrox- Which may be why so many of the pointy sticks had a spike or hammer on one side. Disarm, then bludgeon or get that spike into the armor and hold while your buddies finished the job.
And typically, even if you do manage to get the weapon out of their hands, you're in a rotten position to do something with it if they don't lose their mind.
yo gimmie that @@Mordecrox
>command grab range
this sounds incredible
4:30 if you examine the old manuscripts carefully, the take down includes _biting the genitals_ of your opponent, in order to reduce the risk of them being able to use the sword to 'end you rightly' with the pommel.
Just look at the head positioning in the illustrations.
Is that why codpieces were so popular?
Wouldn't surprise me if Spearmen throughout history target the enemy's nuts
The head position probably isn’t biting of genitalia i think thats a huge logical leap.
Unarmed sword defense is like extreme unarmed bat defense. You have to get in close, VERY fast, attack the hands, and trap the weapon or disarm the opponent. Works best is a relatively close environment where the ability to escape is limited. In an open environment just run away.
Pretty much, yes. Will it work against a COMPETENT swordsman? Probably not. But against an amateur, or a drunk, sure.
As someone who had to defend himself against after being cornered by a sword-weilding assailant who was BOTH (my alcoholic, abusive, and likely schizophrenic soon-to-be-ex), I can say that it can be done. It certainly helped that she didn't know anything about measure or tempo, and approached in the long point guard, forcing her to take an extra tempo to withdraw the blade before she could initiate an attack- which gave me the fraction of a second I needed to step in and seize her wrists. If she'd had any fencing experience whatsoever, I'd have been screwed.
If you want to make that forearm deflection more viable, you can either wrap your cloak around your forearm (provided you have enough time) or wear a hidden bracer or block of wood under our sleeves as some street fighters in Spain were attested to do (e.g. in Godinho). The former may not be able to step direct two-handed blow, and the latter may fail as well or get your arm broke, but it is hell of a lot better than nothing.
doing it with a skin-exposed arm it's guaranteed to rend your flesh like a kebab, so yeah, either you're ready to get injured, or have prepared something like this before attempting it.
Or just start throwing rocks if there are some in the vicinity. Which is fortunately quite often.
If you have enough time to wrap a cloak around your arm then you probably have enough time to start running away. This would have to be some really contrived scenario where he corners you in a dead end alley but is also the slowest attacker ever.
My cousin did this. Trying to parry the flat of a machete from a drunken guy. Exactly like what you did but it filleted his arm quite a bit.
Is or was he okay?
He watched a lot of anime?
Nah.. some drunken guy with a machete decided to bring his life's drama to the streets. My cousin was coming home from his shift and encountered the guy. My cousin lived beside my house so I saw it happen. Immediately after he was injured he ran to my direction and slammed the door on the drunk. He didn't pursue further. We heard he was later detained after police found him.
I am sorry to hear this. :|
My condolences.
@@traptor14x98 he didn't die. The doctors cut off the flesh that was still attached and grafted skin on it. His right forearm looks thinner than the left but he's able to function in society.
I agree with everything that's been said. I would like to also add that it is safe to deduce that the most realistic scenarios that these techniques would be used rely on the attacker not being in an all out "fighting" situation. Maybe against an overconfident opponent that tries to simply cut you down without committing too much on faints or proper footwork (regardless of him being trained or not), or someone drawing a weapon in a fit of rage and trying to attack you wildly (still a slim chance of living through these though). I find it very unlikely that any of these were created for a duelling scenario in which both opponents start facing in other, with proper stance etc. Of course as you said the training in itself being beneficial as well as the high skill gap are the 2 most important points.
Pretty much, yes. Will it work against a COMPETENT swordsman? Probably not. But against an amateur, or a drunk, sure.
As someone who had to defend himself against after being cornered by a sword-wielding assailant who was BOTH (my alcoholic, abusive, and likely schizophrenic soon-to-be-ex), I can say that it can be done. It certainly helped that she didn't know anything about measure or tempo, and approached in the long point guard, forcing her to take an extra tempo to withdraw the blade before she could initiate an attack- which gave me the fraction of a second I needed to step in and seize her wrists. If she'd had any fencing experience whatsoever, I'd have been screwed.
@@bronco5334 did the person attack you with serious intent suddenly?
@@drizztdourden4241 It depends on what you mean by suddenly. She had initiated a verbal argument hours previously, and had consistently refused to allow me to withdraw from the berating; and she had been obviously drunk for quite some time, so there was reason for me to be wary, but she cornered me unexpectedly with a sword she pulled off a wall hanger in the other room.
The attack itself initially consisted of advancing menacingly with the point extended (anyone who knows fencing knows this is not a viable guard from which to fence), so I had several seconds of warning that I was about to be attacked, but I was stuck in a corridor with a locked and child-safety-latched door behind me (which meant I could not rely on opening and escaping through the door faster than an attack could be delivered). As she advanced into measure, she suddenly raised the point above her head to deliver a downward blow, which gave me the opening to rush under her guard and seize her wrists. I tried to use a forearm-over-wrist arm bar to twist the sword out of her grip, but was unable to actually get it out of her grasp (though I did get it into a position from which she could not attack). Couldn't get enough rotation on her wrists to force her to release it. Despite outweighing her by nearly double. Eventually had to use my body mass to press her off-balance against the wall and hold the sword arm hyperextended with one of my arms as an elbow-lever, then use the other hand to pry her fingers off until she gave up. She didn't make it easy, and I was very close to resorting to elbow strikes to the face to gain control of the weapon.
As to serious intent: she swung a sharpened sword at my head. I count that as serious intent, yes.
tl,dr:
it's like defending yourself unarmed against a knife, but its even worse because the knife is much bigger this time.
get close to the opponent to grapple or run.
In some way the size of the sword is its detriment because it would make the sword easy to spot from far away which lets you know who to avoid.
In a way I think it might actually be more viable than fighting someone with a knife.
Closing the distance will be difficult, but once you do close the distance it will be easier to prevent your opponent from attacking you with their sword, since it's a much larger weapon for them to have to swing or stab towards you.
If you're facing someone with a knife on the other hand then closing the distance will barely even do you any good, they'll still be able to stab you with minimal effort because a knife is small enough that you don't need much room for movement or building momentum.
This is why you should always carry a dagger.
@@elio7610 Historically, in medieval/Renaissance Europe, people did typically wear a dagger or at least a knife.
@@b.h.abbott-motley2427 Their eating knife, if nothing else.
You could always try pocket sand...
Unironically probably a decent tactic. At least you have a bit of range attack that will hopefully distract them long enough to get in. (Of course you're still probably screwed, but, slightly better than nothing.)
Pocket sand rocks.. if you also have a weapon or trying to run. Your opponent would just flail at you and hack you up on approach.
Have you all just thought about carrying a gun instead?
🤣
I mean, the modern equivalent of pocket sand is OC spray. I carry one bottle around with me everywhere I got and have a backup one sitting at home. Also another similar option is to get a high-lumen strobe flashlight which I have several of those as well.
Seki Sensei has some cool stuff and like you said he explains the reasons for the katas, the limitations and the historical aspect of those
I think if you find yourself in this kind of situation and you cannot simply run away, then even a 1 to 2% chance to getting some of these techniques done is better than the 0% chance of getting out of this situation by doing nothing. Definitively worth learning.
I would estimate it as 0.1%, but still better than nothing.
I would say you are able to run away far more often than what you might be thinking, or at least run to give your self time to improv a weapon, like picking up a stick.
@@SaiTaX_the_Chile_boi I really don't understand why so many feel the need to make this argument every time a video comes out with advice on what you could do to attempt to survive a dire situation. Yeah, obviously if it's at all possible you should just run away, no shit, but the whole point of a video like this is WHAT TO DO IF YOU CANT. Yes, it will be extremely rare to end up in a situation where you are unarmed, your attacker has a melee weapon, and you have absolutely no chance to run away. In the vast majority of cases you will have some opportunity to run away, but what happens if you don't? Are you just supposed to sit there and die because "Welp, this had such a low probability of happening that I just assumed it never would, guess I'll die" Really? The chances of getting struck by lightning, or winning the lottery, are also extremely low, but if you Google it right now there will be thousands of results full of advice on how to avoid getting struck by lightning, and smart ways to handle your money if you win the lottery. Just because something is improbable does not mean it's impossible, and knowing that I'd say it's a pretty good to at the very least keep little methods like this in the back of your mind for a rainy day, if not legitimately put some time and effort into practicing them, just in case. On top of all that, not everyone lives in the 1st world, and there are plenty of places all over the planet where dire situations like this happen much more frequently, and guess what, they still have internet access, and advice like this could potentially save lives. Things in the 1st world have been getting pretty bad in recent years too, crime rates are going up, and America specifically is really going downhill in just about every metric, so again, this information is useful.
@@SaiTaX_the_Chile_boijust running away isn't as simple as it's always described. Running away is a skill that needs a ton of practice. How good is your 100m dash? How long can you sprint without losing your breath? How good are you at overcoming obstacles? How good is your orientation under stress? How capable of fighting do you feel after a 400m dash?
The scary truth is, if someone is charging you with a knife/machete/hatchet etc., you probably won't outrun them. They just have to reach you with the tip of the blade to inflict damage. The time it takes you to turn around gives them plenty of time to charge and once you're both running, it's horse power vs horse power whilest they have the reach advantage. If they catch up, congratulations, now you're tired and they still have the weapon. If you actually manage to outlast them, they still might throw the damn thing into your back (and chances are high that they got a 2nd one). There are a few videos on YT where this actually gets tested and the attacker pretty much always shanks the runner.
So if your plan is to run away, practice that! Treat it like sparring in martial arts. Give a friend a small pool noodle and let them chase you once or twice a week. Additionally, practice your dash and endurance running on a track and in the field, learn some parkour, do orientation drills in unknown surroundings, practice to cry for help (yes, that needs practice too!) and hit the gym at least once a week to lift some weights, so you get stronger and more explosive.
Tldr; Running away is only viable, if you're really good at it, so how much do you practice?
@@jc-kj8yc I agree 100%, just the turning around takes time, not much but enough time for your opponent to get 'that' bit closer needed for an attack.
If the distance between you and your opponent is 10' or more and you trust your dash speed and/or stamina then yeah, run to the hills, run for your life 🤘🏻😉
I practiced this just for fun with a friend many years ago, using a piece of garden hose as a knife stand-in. NO chance of running away if he is at a 6-7 feet distance (unless he's a complete moron)
A sword, machete, a baseball bat, or even a length of metal pipe is slower to swing or stab with but got much more range, so...
The scary thing about a simple knife is how fast it is to attack with
Thank you for your comment
Damn you have a high ceiling...
As a life-long (since 5 years) empty-hand and weapons practitioner with a couple years overseas, the best advice is RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! But thanks for showing how narrow a situation has to be for a weapon disarm to work.
What if they have a gun instead of a sword? Is running still a good idea if you don't have cover? I suppose attempting to disarm is still mostly useless if all they need to do is pull a trigger.
@@elio7610 If someone is pointing a gun at you and they REALLY want you dead, then unfortunately you're just gonna be shot. But I'd say that the majority of the time an assailant is using a gun as a free "I'm invincible, you're scared of me, give me your stuff" card but they don't actually want to use that gun.
@@VivaSativaMusic- Some haven't loaded their gun. It's there to scare the victim.
@@julietfischer5056They'd have to be truly mentally deficient to do that.
Even if you don't WANT to, I'd imagine most of them at least want to have the option.
@@1stCallipostle- Why do you think that's stupid? Most of these people just want the money.
Major tip for any aspiring martial artists; never assume you'll have more actions than your opponent. They will be as fast as you.
This is the biggest one. Assume they will be as fast or faster than you so you aren't cocky.
If someone is willing to attack you and you are are just defenseless and not prepared, chances are that your opponent has more action points.
People that don't train lag, don't need to assume anything
Assuming that your opponent is as fast or faster is okay if it is in a way of not expecting it, but being prepared for it. Otherwise, having a limiting mentality is worse and harder to grow out of than foolishness.
@@steelwasp9375 you think believing you are the strongest at all times (foolish) is better than believing others are stronger and faster than you?
I think that definitely a lot of these techniques are meant to be used against a less skilled opponent. I know that for a lot of firearms self defense training you're not trained to do things like strafe or shoot accurately while moving or things like that mostly because the teacher is counting on the crooks not being able to hit the broad side of a barn and therefore simply standing still and having better shot placement will win the day. Obviously it's always better when you DO learn more advanced things but yeah I think when it comes to self defense a skill gap between you and your attacker is the name of the game hence why we learn these things.
This was a great video by the way, I always enjoy watching your content.
"Strafe" does not mean sidestep. It has leaked into popular vernacular through misuse of the term by video gamers. Strafing is a machine gun or cannon attack from an aircraft upon a ground target. It does not actually mean "shooting while sidestepping".
@bronco5334 no, it's not "misuse" of the term. In life your definition of strafe is correct. In the context of gaming, strafing is moving left and right quickly to dodge incoming fire. 2 separate definitions of the same word. Its been called that since the first shooters cane out. It has nothing to do with shooting going sideways lol, although you can shoot while doing it
Use the Indie tchnique:
When unarmed -> draw ur revolver -> shoot the sword swinger (with an annoyed/bored face expression)
That scene was improvised, it was supposed to be a sword vs whip fight, but Harrison Ford had diarrhoea and didn't want to jump around.
@@jimslater8685 And that's how legendary scenes are born :D
I feel like unarmed vs a sword if you can't flee then you are basically dead anyway. Since your already basically guaranteed to die your only chance is to lean in to the risky play. If you can get a hard tackle without taking a fatal strike then you could disarm them and bring them into a grappling match where the odds are more favorable.
If they cut you at all youre at a huge disadvantage in a grapple. You wont be able to leverage properly if your joints are cut, cant maintain a strong grip if your hands are cut and if they have any limb free they can just dig it into your wounds for easy escape/advantage
@@kingkino2116 that's very true. But if it's between certain death at the point of a sword and in a disadvantage position in a grapple, I will take the grapple.
I think the whole discipline, if we can call it that, relies on a significant skill gap between the armed and unarmed parties. I remember doing a knife defense camp for a week, then on the last day we used markers as "knives" and wore white t-shirts. Everyone was very, very colorful after some free sparring. You're just going to get cut up. A lot. So don't get into knife fights, or sword fights!
Knife fights, Sword fights...
And frankly I wouldn't want to fight a mace either.
You try to slap that to the side and I think you just get broken fingers.
@@1stCallipostle Honestly against a mace you probably have a better shot just rushing the guy and punching him in the face until he goes down. Mainly because maces can't stab you up so running in is less dangerous. Just gotta avoid the swings and endure the lighter hits to your body.
Part of me honestly wants to see these unarmed techniques in a Batman movie/game. They look cool, and since Batman is supposed to be a master at hand to hand while fighting mostly untrained criminals, the skill gap question is more believable.
Batman has weapons and armor
@@christiandauz3742And yet still seems to prefer punch 90% of the time.
The rest of the Bat Family tends to be smart enough to bring like a Stick or
Two sticks.
And then when Jason is allowed in the party then we have flashbangs, handguns, a sniper rifle, and a knife but we'll ignore that.
He also wears armor. Spiky armor on his forearms, no less.
@@Deatheater4444 Yeah armor makes him WAAAY more capable of fighting guys with swords and guns than an actually unarmed person. Someone in plate armor versus someone with a sword probably just wins outright unless the opponent also has armor. In which case its still way more even because the sword loses most of its instant lethality. Batman can block a strike effectively is the point and thus is capable of attempting grapples.
It’s a complex formula. The military says: your opponent always has a vote. That goes two ways: skill, armor (or not), age, fatigue level, terrain, existing wounds, and inebriation. A person who has to defend but gets a knife out may take non-disabling hits and kill his opponent, only to bleed out or die of sepsis. I think the overall outcome for unarmored fights vs a completely unarmed opponent is in the 85%+ chance of death range, but even that seems optimistic, since fights between equally skilled opponents come down to to the thing that is different between them. Thus, without a weapon, an unarmored defender is screwed.
Weapons are invented for a reason. Can you win a fight if you are unarmed against sword? Yes, but chances are pretty slick... Can you win sword against pistol? Can you win pistol against assault rifle? Can you win with rifle against tank?
Yes in some very specific conditions you can win, but 99.9 times out of 100 you are going to lose in a blink of an eye.
People also seem to forget how much weaker being injured makes you, assuming the pain doesn't outright stop you
Usually the "I can keep trucking" mentality comes from people that haven't actually been hit in a fight before. I personally haven't been in a fight but after hitting my side on a corner pretty hard, I *know* that I'm not invincible and will probably stop even after a non life-threatening injury
@@AVGyerra22well during a fight, there would be a hell of a lot of adrenaline in your body, which would definitely help you keep trucking, but if you get a broken arm, or several broken ribs, or a deep laceration, you're out of that fight
The old Liam Neeson defense in “Rob Roy” where he guides the rapier thrust through a non lethal part of the abdomen (hopefully) and then closes down and attacks.
Its very important to learn these techniques in Canada as the current government wants to remove from law abiding citizens the ability to legally own firearms. Practice!
the only way the boxer would have a chance: is if he has full amour and the guy with the sword not, cause then the boxer really could tank a few hits depending on where they land.
Glad to see you’ve found Shogo. That’s his second channel, promoting his sensei’s dojo. His main channel is about Japanese culture and society.
Never watched the second channel, but Shogo's main channel is great for insights into japanese culture and society issues. Simple to follow, very fluent in english and understands western perspective because of his background.
I like these mildly aggressive wife hugging videos
I think horizontal cuts are close to imposible to work against unarmed!
i think that many montante style moves are close to imposssible to wok against UNARMED!
I think flat diogonal cats are hard to fight against as well UNARMED!
I think the boxer is supposed to have armored gloves, so he can at least block a little.
They call it Gauntlets.
Just like unarmed knife self defense even though it might be possible it's also very very very unlikely.
Actually I'd argue that a sword is less dangerous than a knife when it comes ot being unarmed. A sword of a significant reach become far less effective up close. A knife doesn't.
To be a little bit fair this looks like the stuff you teach to your students last as "use only if you cant run away and have no other choice". Cuz if it's life or death and pushing that sword away as you close in means you are losing some finger, but the alternative is death....I mean it would suck, but if its do or die. People can be willing to trade one hand for their lives.
As its pointed out many times, even after being badly wounded by a sword, your opponent can still fight.
Plus a pair of proper thick leather gloves and the applicability rises a bit. Small bit but still.
The main issue here is people who treat it as some kind of mystical technique that can defeat any blade.
Here was my sensei's opinion on the subject: You are likely dead, but you are dead if you don't do anything anyway, so you might as well try
The boxer basically competed by the rules of the Marquess of _Nuh-uh._
Sadly for me all the points I wanted to make were covered in your final summary. Keep up the good work, my real problem with videos such as this is the number of people who watch them and unquestionably believe that such martial skill is easily learnt from these presentations.
Having been taught and practiced unarmed vs sword techniques...yeah, they're super hard to pull off, and terribly prone to failure. Like, sure, when you're drilling one specific technique it's nice and reliable--you get the cut you expect and already know what to do. But then, even in reduced speed free practice, where you have time to think about what you're doing and see what's coming--the person with the sword wins the vast majority of the time. And this includes going against people who are mostly trained in unarmed and have very little skill with a sword. Several feet of sharp metal is a heck of an advantage.
Knife defense often goes the same way. Techniques work in practice--but as soon as you go more freestyle? It gets extremely hard, even moving at "don't hurt your partner" speeds.
But, worst case scenario? I'd rather have something I can try rather than nothing. But I cannot emphasize enough how important I think the 'freestyle' (even moving at 75-80% speed) practice is to grounding people in how hard these are to pull off.
I kept thinking to myself “USE THE HOODIE!!!”
My first plan of action if someone comes at me with a blade when I’m unarmed is to take my shirt off and try to catch the blade with it.
Yes, wrapping thick clothing around your arm has been a common tactic against sword or machete attacks.
@@Skallagrimalso flicking it at the opponent, whip his eyes with the zipper! (Ideally of course)
Done in knife fights, living folklore in Argentina actually.
I would love to see you do a video on the 3,000 yr old sword recently found in Southern Germany
If people have a harder time with unarmed vs knife, then this is just a no brainer that bigger blade weapon like swords are even harder, 2-3 times harder. the lethality & the range of the attacks are simply the most deciding factors withing those milliseconds of counters.
4:32 - That's either a manuscript for a tackle or................
......something else. SURPRISE BJ! Hey, you knock it, but it has a higher probability of ending the fight than any of your other options!
The only way to survive sword attacks is to not live in a medieval era
machetes and knives are a thing in modern life
@@neohubrismachetes are just a peasents hunting sword
@@die_buecher7090 Maybe that is how it used to be, but you can find at least a few good quality swords really cheap (i.e. APOC Survival swords) and also find really expensive machetes if you look hard enough.
Mr. Miyagi said it best, "Best defense is no be there".
holy crap, the intro!! skall, your editing skills are pushing the fucking envelope!!!
Run away.
Draw concealed carry pistol.
Start blasting.
I ain't going anywhere near a masked sword maniac.
I apologize if anyone has already pointed this out. At 2:10 the technique looks a lot like shomenuchi iriminage. (To make this throw more effective, try placing your free hand on your assailant's lower back during the throw.)
I suspect that these techniques were developed for the scenario of disarmed-samurai-in-full-armor versus armed-samurai-in-full-armor.
Be fit, run away. Works if the two first things are true. Works against any weapon if you are reeeeeeally fast.
Of course in reality.. vast majority of people have limited if any knife abilities an training. An about all average people are gonna have limited or no sword abilities an training whatsoever. Like ALL unarmed fighting fighting unarmed vs armed assailants imagine depends VERY very much on whom vs whom an how good they are even more then everything else in world. An what they're trained to do. Someone well versed in Karate, akido, wrestling etc will handle an armed attacker unarmed then someone a Judo or Muay Thai master will. An a Krav Maga, A literal Kung Fu fighter or Kali specialist will probably all do very different things too
Even Tyson or Muhammad Ali would KNOW better then to try an tank Sword slashes an perhaps stabs too. Even an amateur swordsman would STILL probably literally butcher them. It takes quite ALOT of specialized training to be unarmed an STILL be able to beat a swordsman an your unarmed an STILL stay safe doing it
Being unarmed and beating an armed opponent is easy. On TH-cam.
I hate those crooks peddling fake defence videos.
10:03 That's just the weird thing in spoken Japanese where final weak i's and u's get de-voiced to a whisper or dropped altogether. So it's written "Seki sensei" but it's pronounced Sek'. Just like "desu" can often turn into dess' and that one dude Yusaku Maezawa has the handle "Yousuck" because the name is pronounced Yusak', effectively without the final u, bringing it dangerously close to "You Suck".
I like when his partner just throws his hands up like "what should i even do"
Much like your last unarmed vs knife video. Traditional HEMA and classic manuals are as full of bullshito as any other martial art when it comes to unarmed combat. RUN is your best defense. Arm yourself with ANYTHING at hand is your second best defense. That being said when you can't run any defense is better than none and against a longer weapon like a sword you actually have a better chance than say a knife. None of these manuals promise you won't make it out unscathed but remember swords aren't light sabers. Most hits are going to be painful but not seriously life threatening once you get inside...hopefully. I would however NEVER be the aggressor. Wait for the swing, avoid it then follow it back in. That's your best chance. Stepping in before or during an attack is crazy. Counter attack is where a sword is least deadly. Think of how boxers follow a punch at them back with a punch of their own. That's the moment an attacker is most vulnerable. You have to be fast and toss caution to the wind though.
Once again, missing the point of the lesson.
"Swordlessness" isn't for fighting people without needing weapons, it's an exercise to stop you from peeing your pants and freezing up if you're caught without one.
Beating the other guy with a teakettle, Jackie Chan style, could be called "swordlessness", as could using a trashcan lid as a shield, or dropping your own weapon to grapple with the opponent.
Even people who practice this stuff will tell you that it just doesn't work on somebody who's expecting it, and that the point isn't to beat people with weapons without having weapons yourself, but to be ready, and not shocked or surprised if you get jumped while unarmed, because that can get you killed.
Since I have watched the video about knife vs martial artist you have posted, this seems utterly ridiculous.
That vid was simply eyeopening how different reality is from theory.
Same is with all weapons. It is a matter of first distance, then skill. The kendo video is just stupid. The boxer guy lost a long time ago. You should open a school. A dude in Smith's Cove is the only other one I know off.
Pfffft your supposed to slap away the sword with the back of your wrist silly goose
You could run.
You could throw dirt or something at them......then run.
There is 2 ways to do it: a) armor/shild/useing a weapon/gun/mix
b) is to be much physically quicker and faster. It would be better in addition to that to be very tall , 2m+ something like 2.2m tall. U need to be an arrow faster and very quick. It requires also an insane muscle memory and alot of skill. Like u need to be 0.5sec and below quick.
Note: u could try to make your opponent attack at the wrong direction with a wrong lead.
U need to be an elite Gigachad to do this. Like LuBu like.
U need to be so good that even a master looks like nobody incomprisen to u.
I really like your cursor :D
Also it would be fine if you said "Seki" Sensei, the guy just says the "ki" part really fast so it comes out as "kh", but it's still okay to say the whole thing in normal speed. It's like a familiarity thing. Rob - Robert kind of a thing, but not in a belittling or infantilizing way.
The only chance is to grab his arm and make him drop the weapon, but if the other guy has the same skill, that would be almost impossible to pull off. In any case, as slim as the chances are, no doubt they are better with training.
Of course, your 1rst choice would be to avoid the fight at all costs. If you manage to run away, your're good. But if that's impossible, at least you have trained. It's better than nothing, but probably not a lot better than nothing.
I suppose that's why those techniques were trained: to use them as the last chance you have. If you are a knight, you better train for any possible situation, even if unlikely. Also, maybe you had armor, or at least sturdy gloves, then your chances could be better.
With a hit to the neck, sure you can shrug it off, what are you talking about?
... your head, I mean. With a hit to the neck, you can easily shrug off your head.
Weaponism has a video of Kendo vs Kudo (Karate + Judo) the Kudo guy does well in some instances & he does not cheat as much.
Why swinging the sword vs. somebody unarmed? They would just stab one and there is nothing one can do. And if they miss they can just stab again, stabbing with the sword is super fast and prevents anybody unarmed getting close to you... That is also the reason why a spear is so effective.
Sort of to play devil's advocate, but do you think that if we're trying to get a grounded perspective on this, we should consider that in some situations, you can more or less intentionally take a hit in the attempt to level the playing field. Like how people say with knife defence: "It's not if you get stabbed, it's a question of how many times you get stabbed" - some situations you're going to get hurt, but maybe you won't die. When it comes to the idea of being unarmed against some kind of long striking weapon, my thinking is that you need to close that distance and negate their ability to strike, and that probably includes trying to use one of your arms (ideally your weak) as a meat-shield lol. I feel safe in saying that you stand a better chance grappling a someone with only one of your arms working while in agony than you do maintaining distance while unarmed against an opponent with a long weapon.
IF you attack unarmed it's not an option openly. Only with a suprise or other big advantage.
You demonstrate scenarios when the unarmed is cornered and has no options to flee. I would pick any object to use near me at the space or just throw it to flee/charge.
My suggestion would be to RUN... and pray that you are faster than your opponent. Lol
Even unarmed vs unarmed demonstrations are similar. Reality is never so rigid and much faster and chaotic.
having seen people grab swords in HEMA tournaments, they almost always go for that attempt once the sword has lost momentum and is more or less suspended in space after a parry or while it's bound when both people are moving in to close ground
the thumbnail image looks like an attempt to draw a moment like that, a freeze frame done on papyrus, representing an opportunity to grab the sword when it's suspended in space. i've never seen someone try to grab a sword bare handed but i've seen people lose or cast their swords away to go for a grapple involving grabbing the other person's sword
with adrenaline I could see a win by an unarmed opponent if he/she gets in close fast, otherwise just no lol...
even by holding oit a sword in front or back is often enough to keep an unarmed person at bay, or have them run into it. literaly a few moves in tai chi jian. also the range iw so much more than some expect, with just 1 or two steps you can hit someone trying to flee.
best chance is to surrender or run fast, very fast
it is a great way of proving how bad someone is at sword fighting, stepping in and taking the sword. in short the skill gap matters more than the fact you know how to do this. if they are so bad you can do this, then it's merely making a point.
UNARMED vs. SWORD? Best Technique = Run, Lego Boi!
Let's say, hypothetically, I am a barbie girl. Okay let's even say I'm in a barbie world. Right so, in this scenario, I would obviously know from personal experience that life in plastic is fantastic. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume you could brush my hair and undress me literally everywhere? Imagination; you can derive from the fundamentals of basic logic that life is your creation.
Yes.
I'd like to see you revisit this topic/exercise but with a rapier or similar thrusting sword, rather than the generic longsword/katana prop.
well I'm dead anyway why try and take the sword away when I can grab the throat and yank it out pull the eyes out hit the groin punch the back of the head cave the nose in... etc swords are really bad when ur that close to the opponent they can't accelerate the sword enough to cut deep enough and the angles are awkward at best
Basically you only have a chance if they are not skilled - so maybe in today's world but not back in the day lol
I tend to avoid pissing people off who are wielding stabby things. Maybe just buy them a pint at the pub. I remember doing Jujitsu and knife attack stuff. The new Sensei would hand his wallet over to anyone attacking with a blade.
Hilarious! I love how movies depict characters dealing with knives and swords like a walk in the park. The average guy thinking he can go up against a person armed with a sword. Yeah you're at least gonna lose part of your hand.
I think the big caveat is the skill gap if you want to take unarmed vs sword seriously, but even then it's situational.
Not exactly unarmed vs sword but in a tournament pool, my opponent, didn't quite grasp the measure difference between us, would approach me and pull back for a cut and lead with the hands. So twice, I closed distance and entered a grapple with my left hand, catching their pommel/hands like in the first technique and pushed their hands back to break structure while thrusting with my sword.
While my own sword played some roll in altering how we both entered the exchange, (threat of my own weapon, the ability to safely defend myself, etc), it demonstrates the validity of the mechanics of the technique, if not the situation with which to use them. I would think the techniques are more applicable to entering a grapple and you are either disarmed or have dropped your sword to preform the grapple. I could also see it being applicable to armored combat, drop your sword, armor allows you to safely enter grapple, preform a technique before drawing a dagger. The Fiorie pannel you showed even depicts a sword on the ground as if they drooped it or were disarmed, not entering a fight unarmed.
I've also seen Jesse Tucker have his rapier disarmed and go on to win the exchange with just his dagger, so there's that
Realistically, I think almost all the chance of actually pulling off any unarmed vs. weapon techniques successfully would tend to come in the brief window *before* they actually start attacking you, if you take the initiative while their guard is down because they don't expect you to do something as stupid as fight them without a weapon. If you manage to take them by surprise, you have a brief window of opportunity. Without the element of surprise, you have basically no window of opportunity whatsoever.
Never bring fists to a sword fight, never bring a sword to a gunfight.
Kendo points require more than just a shout.
The concept is called 'kikentai no ichi', which basically translates to 'spirit, blade, and body as one'. The overall concept of what it is trying to do isn't all that strange for a martial art: ensure good consistent body mechanics and promoting putting your all into each attack. It's just that the method of measuring that is a bit more rigid and not useful to anything trying to be a real combat art. You have to show that you have the sword (shinai), body, and spirit all working in unison to land the strike, by doing the following three things simultaneously:
Ki: This is the shout part. Pretty straight-forward. Technically, you are supposed to shout the name of the location you are hitting, but once you into the Dan ranks, they generally don't require that detail because it's pretty clear what you were aiming for just from watching your attack at that skill level.
Ken: This is the shinai strike landing. If you look closely at the shinai, you'll see that there is a band of fabric about 3/4 of the way up the bamboo shaft,, and well as fabric covering the tip. you have to strike between those points for it to count. That is where you *want* to hit with a cutting sword in pretty much any martial art, but in kendo, it is absolutely mandatory. It is also supposed to be a powerful strike, which is usually judged based on the sound it makes when connecting with the armor. The one exception to all of this is the one storing point that is not a cut, but instead a thrust to the throat.
Tai: To show your body was also in the strike correctly, you have to stomp your front foot on the floor.
For it to be a valid point scored, you have to do all three of these at the same time.
Woah, Kendoka are real nerds
I respect that
Yes I did find it interesting. I many people merge fantasy with reality to their detriment.
I always assumed the best opening move for a unarmed-v-sword defense was injecting your enemy with tranquilizer.
Boxing seems like a terrible match for sword fighting. I'd want something more grappling based.
I think the idea with that boxer may have been that their gloves worked like gauntlets, so they could block with them and it's why hits weren't counted. It made it a slightly more even playing field and allowed the boxer to use techniques as they were used to in boxing.
In an open field of battle picking up a stick or rock would open up your options dramatically but the second you introduce scenery your chances are a tiny bit better since you could put something between you and the sword like a tree forcing the sword wielder to either stay on the other side poking at you or get past the tree to strip you of the cover during which you would have a much better chance of closing the gap (TL;DR Use your environment)
Edit: Even better assuming you had a second you could remove your own shirt and use it to catch the blade
2:10 the tactical hug maneuver, overcoming your enemies with the power of love
Yea, i recently saw the reaction to the knife defense trial in a locked room, and was just thinking - but how would it look with sword - an boom, here's the video. I mean in all fairness, probably the sword IS less effective then knife if you close in an go for grappling, but as we can see getting close unharmed is unlikely.
As far as boxer vs kendo - not sure, maybe the assumption was wearing partial armor - aka fighter loosing sword but still wearing gauntlets and some body armor? It looks like he is "parrying" or blocking with gloves which only makes sense if these are for some reason "invulnerable" against sword cuts
What about tonfas or sai? How about vanbraces?
Shouldnt the guy have no arms if he is unarmed? I have yet to see a demonstration of that
The Korean on the window says 대한검도 (Daehan Geomdo), i.e., "Great Korea Sword Way," in which "Sword Way" (i.e., fencing) comes from the same two Chinese characters as used to signify Japanese kendo. Geomdo and kendo, however, are not exactly the same martial art despite having certain similarities, just as Korean hapkido and Japanese aikido use the same three Chinese characters but are not the same martial art. The golden Chinese characters visible inside the dojang also say 대한검도/Daehan Geomdo/大韓劍道.
While there is a separate Korean martial art called haidong gumdo, the Weaponism people do Japanese kendo.
Ezeo from assassin's Creed has some cool disarms that kind of look similar but fantasy ish hr does usually use a lot of arm protection and comes in really close to the hands a lot by forcing the blade down after a diagonal step away then he does a nother step in effectively stepping too far into their sword range to be useful and rips on there hands and helt before they can do much.
Its kinda unrealistic but in a croud fight but in duels it could be possible.
Plus its cool so don't hate
Does the guy coming at you have short stubby arms, a hunchback, concaved skull and you can hear his laboured breath(like a pug)?
Congratulations, you might survive!
Somehow, I feel like this is a reference...
Funny, I discovered Weaponism last night, and binged a bunch of their stuff. I dont know anything about Kendo but it seems like if they score, they just keep going if they are already in the starting position, or close enough. Instead of taking the time to reset, they just keep going. But in the boxer video, I got the feeling they just messed around and hit eachother.
So many of those kendo vs boxer fights, if transposed to real life, would've ended with a long drag cut from up close, if not sooner
I definitely think the best bet is before the sword fully even clears the sheath, or after running away and aquiring a tool (even if it's just some of your own clothing, but ideally something better), if the attacker even remains at that point
There was a great moment like that in The Wheel of Time, where a character's first move was to slam on the opponent's pommel while the sword was still in its scabbard.
The biggest problem I see with even the more reasonable counters is getting close enough to attempt any of this at all. If it's any somewhat competent swordsman they wouldn't be standing that close anyway and would be keeping proper distance as soon as the opponent made any effort to get closer. Their opponent being unarmed wouldn't suddenly make them forget about their measure.
Make it two unarmed, then. Or three. Wolf pack tactics. How would that play out? Also, other types of weapons and armors, the environment, the tactical situation...