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Old 07-22-2011, 02:31 PM   #18
Diana Frese
Dojo: Aikikai of S.W. Conn. (formerly)
Location: Stamford Connecticut
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 386
United_States
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Re: Improvised Weapons No. 1: The Umbrella

We had air raid drills when I was a kid. We had to go to the school basement and cover the back of our necks with one forearm (or was it hand, I'm not very flexible now and memory is not so good)
and our eyes with the other. Same in the classroom or was that just for nap time.... I guess elementary school being decades ago I forgot. Anyhow my dad was a local civil defense air raid warden, probably had to do with planning safe locations for people to go to in case the war came over here....

I think this is why he had what looked like a wooden police baton in the hall closet. It had a leather loop on it. One day he decided maybe he should explain how to use it if need arose, for self defense. He said, most people (in those days) thought of hitting someone over the head with one of those, but he seemed to be saying that would be easy to block. In stead he recommended doing a slight feint as if going for an overhead strike, and instantly changing course for the solar plexus.

Dial up is difficult for videos, but I plan to check them out. I thought this example might be interesting, though, from a time when people usually thought of the baseball bat style of self defense, my childhood.

In Japan, one of our teachers did refer to the solar plexus as suigetsu, so I'm glad it was brought up in this column. I wasn't sure if I had remembered correctly. I'm finding these columns a fascinating way to continue my education. Thanks, everyone.
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