Knife
Techniques
Typically, Shaolin Kempo schools teach a few categories of
knife techniques. The standard organization tends to group
them into three categories, with only a few exceptions. The
three categories are the stab / thrust, the slash, and the broad
'placement knife' in which the knife is placed on the
defenders body (the classic knife to the neck / belly
/ back). The techniques are usually trained in a
'traditional' manner with the attacker 'half mooning'
in and attacking once. Many schools have adopted a
more 'lively' training method, often cross-training in
a Filipino martial art to address what many feel are
the shortcomings of the 'traditional' approach, but I
felt that it was best in the interest of full
disclosure to present what are considered the standard
Shaolin Kempo knife techniques. The attraction of the
FMA, besides its utility, is that the movement
patterns of most FMA styles mesh smoothly with that of
Kempo, largely due to the fact that many of the early
Kempo / Kajukenbo / Karazenpo proponents also were of
Filipino heritage and / or had exposure to FMA
training.
