Professor Rick Clark, 8th Dan, is a well-renowned Pressure Points expert and founder of the Ao Denkou Kai. He holds seminar tours twice yearly in the UK. For further details of these seminars please to the Ao Denkou Kai website for further information. Test.

Professor Rick Clark, 8th Dan, is a well-renowned Pressure Points expert and founder of the Ao Denkou Kai. He holds seminar tours twice yearly in the UK. For further details of these seminars please to the Ao Denkou Kai website for further information

Self-defence appears to be one of the main reasons individuals begin their study of the martial arts. Of course there are other reasons someone may take up the arts, but at some level self-defence is a consideration for choosing the martial arts. With this decision there is an implicit statement that they do not know how to defend themselves. They may have been a victim of an assault, a family member may have been assaulted, or it may be an increased perception of the possibility of personal assault. Only since the early 1900's has the martial arts been seen in any light other than a means for self-defence.

With the development of martial arts as a sport there appears to be a decrease in the combative applications found in the arts. While it is still possible to teach and learn self-defence techniques from a sport oriented system, some of the major concerns must be on sport applications, safety, physical fitness, and personal development. From the competitive side of the martial arts you will find division by age, sex, rank, and weight. These artificial divisions are important to the competitive nature of martial sports. But these divisions are useless when it comes to self-defence techniques.

A person must be able to defend against a heavier and stronger individual. Artificial divisions will not occur in real life. A woman will probably be assaulted by a male who is taller, stronger, and heavier. If a child is being abducted, it will be by an adult. The attacker in most situations will attempt to have the advantage in the assault. Our job as martial arts instructor is to provide a tool for the smaller, younger, or weaker individual to utilize when faced with a determined attacker.

What is it that will give the smaller person an advantage over the larger and stronger opponent? If you look at Judo tournaments you will see the larger opponent having an advantage over the smaller Judoka. Of course the smaller Judoka can throw and score on the larger opponent, but it requires a high degree of skill and ability to do so. This is one of the reasons you see weight divisions in Judo tournaments. Weight does have an impact on paring of opponents. Skill level is another consideration in tournaments. You do not see black belts sparring against yellow or green belts in tournaments. Can the lower ranks a score points on a higher ranked and experienced martial artist? Of course they can, but by and large the black belts should be able to beat the lower ranked students. Do you see juniors competing against adults? Or, do you see the senior students competing against juniors or the younger adults? No. Is it because the junior or senior could not win? Of course not, they could, but in the interest of being fair to the competitors, age divisions are set up to lay down a level playing field for them.

We must train our students then, to defend themselves against older (or younger), stronger, bigger, faster, or more skilled opponents. It is imperative that we offer a way to equalize the advantages the aggressor may posses against our students. Everyone knows there are places on the human body that are vulnerable to attack. It is common knowledge that a punch to the stomach can cause a person to lose their breath. Yet, with training, you can learn to take a strong punch to the stomach. That same punch, if delivered to the testicles, throat, or eyes could be quite destructive. So at one level we understand there are targets on the human body that are more vulnerable than others. If we understand and accept the fact there are places on the body which are more susceptible, then it would seem logical we should look for these weaker places. Once we know where these weak points are located it then becomes a matter of developing the skill to make use of these points in a moment of stress.

For centuries "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu has been one of the treasured books of the literate warriors of the Orient. Even today we can find words of sound advice. For example Sun Tzu said "to be certain to take what you attack is to attack a place the enemy does not protect." You might stop and say "how does that effect my practice of self- defence?"

To answer this I would like to lay a little foundation. If you look toward the back of Gichin Funakoshi's Karate-Do Kyohan you will find a section that discusses vital points (Kyusho) and the results of strikes to various parts of the body. In many cases the places he describes to strike are quite obvious targets to attack.

For example, some of the targets are ones that the man on the street would be aware of attacking. These are the eyes, nose, groin, or solar plexus. Yet, in this same section he states that if you strike a specific point on the wrist you will knock out your opponent. Funakoshi also details points on the arm, legs, back, chest, neck, and head that will cause an opponent to become unconscious or possibly be fatal if struck. It is not only Funakoshi or other oriental authors that make such claims. Charles Yerkow in his series "Modern Judo" (1942) notes a number of points that would be used in self-defence but not in practice as these points are very dangerous. One point at the bottom of the foot he notes can be deadly when applied against a barefoot opponent. You can find examples of places to strike in "Super Ju-Jitsu" by Prof. H.H. Hunter (1938) where he locates points on the arm and leg that will give 'partial paralysis' if struck.

I would like to go back to the quote from Sun Tzu "to be certain to take what you attack is to attack a place the enemy does not protect." If we look at the comments of Hunter, Yerkow, and Funakoshi they all state there are places on the extremities that can be struck to cause partial paralysis, unconsciousness, or death. If a person is being attacked what does the individual have to do to make contact with you? They must put out their arm or leg to attack with. Once they place a part of their body near you they are in effect giving you a target to attack. I am confident that individuals would not be overly concerned with a person attacking the arm or leg. Yet they would be protective of their eyes, noes, ears, throat, groin, or solar plexus. So if you are aware of the results of attacking vital points on the arms and legs of your opponent, it is possible to have a relatively clear shot at attacking the arms or legs of your opponent. Once you had successfully struck these pinpoints it would be too late for them to adequately defend against further attacks to vital points located on their body. These points, which previously would have been harder to access, may now be seen as targets of opportunity and can be readily attacked.

A sound knowledge of the vital points located on the extremity of the body can prove to be a valuable asset in any self-defence situation. They will offer you the door to enter should you wish to attack points on the head, neck, chest, or back. Thus providing an equalizer for the serious student of self-defence.