Piper System - South African Knife Combatives

[arnisador]

Thanks for sharing your experiences! I have to agree about folders--so many people seem to have had the experience of being attacked while carrying one and being unable to access it.

 

[Charleston Combat]

Very interesting clips! Although,I don't have much knowledge of the African Martial Arts they seem to be very effective. Brad

 

[Rob Wilson]

It's busy looking, that's for sure. But I don't see him covering his head very much and it seems predictable, despite the chaotic nature of all the shifting and cutting. I'm an arnisador, so I can see many, many openings for multiple strikes at Largo range. Corto, well, anything is potentially troublesome at corto range.

I'll say and agree with the others that it's impossible to say anything with any credibility without having experienced it, so my opinion is probably meaningless. I accept that. But for me, I wouldn't try it, I'm happy with the arts I study....and I'm not dumb enough to want to test what I know against anybody who's got a knife and has had way too much expresso,which is what this looks like to me.

 

[arnisador]

It's busy looking, that's for sure. But I don't see him covering his head very much and it seems predictable, despite the chaotic nature of all the shifting and cutting. I'm an arnisador, so I can see many, many openings for multiple strikes at Largo range.

You mean, for knife-to-knife dueling?

 

[tellner]

I'm an arnisador and a pesilat, and when I first saw clips I thought "OK, he's got some rhythm, but I recognize everything. It shouldn't be too hard to deal with."

Boy, was I wrong.

It has to be felt.

And Mushtaq Ali Al-Ansari let me feel it. He's been doing Kali and Silat and a bunch of other obscure martial arts since Noah was in diapers, and he said it blew him away. He learned it from a couple South Africans who were 'in business' in Darusha, Tanzania. Worked out with them several times a week. When we played with it he blew me away. More than he normally does. Terry Trahan of Boker knives, one of the founders of the self defense forums and TPI, etc. has been and done, didn't buy the t-shirt because he needed the field dressing. He was blown away. Bobbe Edmonds, who has enough Kali and Silat credentials to wallpaper the Vatican (the stuff on his blog isn't half of it) and the life experience to back it up said it's revolutionized what he does.

These men haven't 'seen the elephant.' They've set up a gift shop and snack bar concession in the freakin' elephants' graveyard. I respect their opinion enormously.

This stuff isn't magic. But there's a lot more to it than most people are seeing if they haven't actually felt. The attitude is a lot nastier and more brutal than the knife duelling that most of us practice. The rhythm, the loose jointed unpredictable nature of the thing and the way slides around counters are something to be reckoned with.

 

[Rob Wilson]

You mean, for knife-to-knife dueling?

Howdy,

No, I mean with a stick. If I had a knife I'd be somewhere else, which is pretty much my philosophy for any knife encounter if possible. Hell, if a ten year old girl came after me with those left handed scissors from collage class or whatever it's called, I'd run away- assuming I wasn't able to land a couple of good stick shots first. And then I'd still run for it, as hitting little girls with sticks is not well received where I live.

I'm man enough to admit that even though I train with them, knives make me pee in my pants.

 

[arnisador]

No argument about the knives--even in untrained hands they're very dangerous.