How to Defend Against an Angled Slash with a Knife

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Tres Tew. I'm an instructor here at Yeshua's Ryu Martial Arts and today I'm going to be talking to you on behalf of Expert Village, about how to use a knife for self defense. We are going to talk a little bit about defense coming in at an angle slash, coming from the right (their left) shoulder, just like this. Now, we are in our stance: as soon as they move, we want to move with them. And we are catching it; the higher up we can catch it (if we can catch it up here), that's better. If we catch it right here, they have the possibility to turn their knife over and stab in. So we want to pull it up close. Whether or not we've got a back grip or what, we've got this. Just keep in mind the vital areas of his body: the ribs, spine, back of the head, throat. We can always snake around and control him, just like this (pulling on the back of their head). That always seems to make people feel scared. So we've got all of those cuts. But, the initial catch, as soon as you see them start to step forward and do that movement right there like they are about to cut through, you're catching their arm right where you want it. If you want a less lethal version of this, that would be to roll them over like this and apply an arm bar. That's going to cause them to lose their knife. From there, if you want to disable that arm, that tricep right there, after you've got it set, just snake across and cut the tricep. That's going to completely deaden that arm. That's how to defend yourself against an angled slash."