When it comes to kicking our minds often becomes subject to the cognitive
fallacy known as the availability bias.
That is, we conjure the most common images of kicking and overlay
these as our general understanding of what kicking is in general or as a whole.
For many of us that availability bias chooses images from sportive
environments [UFC, Muay Thai, the Jean Yves Theriault days of the PKA.]
For some of us our images come from Tom Laughlin’s [Billy Jack]
stunt-double, Hapkido Master Bong Soo-Han or an updated reference in the vein
of Jet Li, or some other high-kicking, fast-spinning martial arts cinema we
have consumed.
Whether our minds have gone to sport or cinema there is not a wide
gulf between the two as to what overall kicking “looks like.”
There may be technical differences in how the kicks in the two
available domains are delivered but, overall, our images of “kicking” in the
mind’s eye are not too dissimilar.
Now, let’s step out of our available images and address a world of
low-line combat that might be so unfamiliar we have a hard time even envisioning
just what exactly this sort of animal might be.
Let’s turn to the world of integrating low-line kicking in the
fighting that appeared in multifarious forms along the Early American Frontier.
Since there was a surprisingly wide variety in both arsenal and
strategic use it is difficult to pin down a definitive “Here’s what it
looked like” definition.
What we will do here is outline in broad strokes this fascinating,
and, oh, so useful topic of foot/knee combat.
The use of kicking in a scrum can loosely be defined as “Dirty Dog”
or “Low Dog” tactics in Rough ‘n’ Tumble combat.
Broadly, a “Chinfight” was an engagement that limited
itself to hands, a bit of elbows, headbutts. There may be a few stomps, tosses
with impalements here and there, but generally it was an upper-tool dominated
affair.
In an “All-In” affair, one could expect the tools of the chinfight
with the addition of more wrestling and groundwork, but…keep in mind gouging
and eye-scooping were a large part of some of this “All-In” game. Not all went
this direction as many were friendly competitive matches but when blood was
bad, blood was sought.
To engage in a “Dogfight” was to acknowledge or describe, “Well,
hell, it’s all on the table.” Bites, scoops, fists, elbows, knees, impalements,
tosses, ground scufflin’, etc.
A fighter adept with his or her feet and knees could be said to be
“Low doggin’” or “dirty doggin’” one with no compunction against
kicking in a fight.
[For another dive into early kicking see our blog post Kicking in the Wild West.
Since these fights were, just that, fights and not sportive duels
with hard/clear boundaries lowline kicking held the fore. [Nothing like reality
to whittle arsenals and hone and temper useful steel.]
OK, we’ve had a general look from the outside, let’s dial in a
little bit and tighten our focus.
Broad Themes in Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble Kicking
Cadence-Rapidity. Incessance. This is not a “line up your shot”
game. There are aspects of this game that are and can be fired at 80 reps per
minute. [Yep, you read that right—80 reps per minute.]
It is the kicking embodiment of this advice from General George S.
Patton, Jr.
“In battle, casualties vary directly with the time you are
exposed to effective fire. Your own fire reduces the effectiveness and volume
of the enemy’s fire, while rapidity of attack shortens the time of exposure. A
pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood!”-War As I knew It, 1947
Combination Fighter Integration—This is perhaps the hardest part to
envision. Often our contemporary understanding of combat arts is “Oh, this
is a striking art and that one is grappling and this one is trapping, that one
is…” and other such faux empirical mock Linnaean separations. In the early
days of the population melting pot, the combat was also a thorough melting and
melding cauldron of mayhem. Each strike informed an additional strike OR a
grappling answer, each wrestling maneuver set-up a strike. It was always seeing
things as a whole.
[For an in-depth view on this mindset of meld see here.]
Let’s dial our focus a bit more…
Loose Classifications of Frontier Kicking
Low Dog-As a whole, we will use this to refer to the low-line game where
we use the foot [toe, heel, arch, instep], shin, knee, Achilles tendon etc. as
striking surfaces.
“Kwip’u
su’anir’u” which loosely translates as “smoke-kicking.” This
refers to power-throttled kicking that is hard to see coming, stealthy shots
that arrive as if out of “the smoke of battle.”
“Kwasi
tona[?]” [The use
of the “question mark” informs us that the intonation rises as we do when we
ask a question.] “Kwasi tona[?] is a scorpion. Here we refer to the astoundingly
large arsenal that is combat and survival kicking from the ground.
Stabbing-A class of kicks where short precise “stabs”
or “impalements” to vital areas are the watchword.
And, last, but not
least, the wild abandon that is…
“Let ‘er fly?”
or “matusohpe[?]” [wildcat] Lest we think all early days kicking was
lowline, this class cures that image. Don’t think of this class as high kicks,
or jump kicks, or any of the cinema kicks we may be familiar with. Envision rather,
taking a wet angry wildcat and tossing it on a human being. That’s about the
best textual definition I can provide.
The availability bias
leads us down one path, the path of history leads us in another entirely different
direction. A direction with broken-down washed-out signboards along a trail
riddled with time-bleached bones—these signs point us towards a vicious variety
of mayhem well worth resurrecting.
[Want a4-page syllabus that details some of what we just covered?]
In The Black Box Project we provide old-school combat nitty-gritty
straight from the historical record—Will you find drills, tactics and applications
of the old school kicking just described? Hell, yeah!
The link takes you to the full syllabus of The Black Box volume
where we begin our long excursion into this fascinating world of frontier kicking.
For skinny on The Black Box Project itself.
[For
techniques, tactics, and strategies of Rough and Tumble Combat, Old-School
Boxing, Mean-Ass Wrestling, Street-Ready Frontier Scrapping & Indigenous
Ability culled from the historical record see the RAW Subscription Service, or
stay on the corral fence with the other dandified dudes and
city-slickers. http://www.extremeselfprotection.com
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