Sensei T. Tucker demonstrating Kani Basami on me (Winter Haven News Chief 1997)
In my last
article I talked about SSG Robert Carlin’s inclusion of the drop kick in his
classic WWII Combatives manual Combat Judo and how his drop kick more than
likely come from a technique called Kani Basami, the scissor takedown or crab
scissor. Both techniques are executed in much the same way.
For me
personally, Kani Basami was one of the throws that really caught my imagination
in my study and practice of judo. It wasn’t a technique that is shown to
beginners, that was for sure and I recall not being taught Kani Basami until
after I was at a more advanced level. I learned kani basami as a leaping
technique as opposed to the posting a hand on the mat version. I remember
thinking when I saw the execution of the throw that it was indeed very advanced
as well as very athletic. It remains the one throw that my instructor taught
that stands out the most in my mind. Often when we would randori my teacher
would surprise me with this technique.
Tactically,
Kani Basami had many advantages. Mainly it was/is a high percentage takedown
with a very low risk of getting countered. It can also be used as a counter. It
is one of the best dynamic entries one can use to surprise their opponent.
With Kani
Basami my instructor was particularly careful when executing it. A point of
fact, he was extremely careful in our practice of it. It is a technique that
has caused a number of injuries over the years in competition and practice and
as a result it has been banned from competition. Even when Kani Basami is
EXECUTED by a well-trained Judoka, the slightest misjudgment of distance and
height on a moving opponent can result in a serious and even career ending
injury. The injuries most often occur when the technique is executed too low
and the thrower’s shoots his far side leg in first. With the leg furthest from
your opponent going in first the thrower’s body weight is driven into the side
of uke’s leg (much like a baseball player sliding into home base).This has the potential to cause serious
injury to knee (the ACL can blow easily) and ankle.
To execute
the throw safely and effectively the thrower has to place one leg across the
opponent’s abdomen right at or just above the waist and the other leg is placed
much lower down behind the knee or shin. To avoid injuring your opponent, the
thrower should leap upward and throw the leg that is going to the front of the
opponent’s abdomen/waist first, slightly ahead of the thrower’s other leg, that
goes behind the opponent’s knee.
RIGHT SIDE
EXECUTION OF KANI BASAMI
Generally,
this throw is executed when you are to the opponent’s left side and both of
your feet are in line with both of his feet.While gripping on the opponent’s shoulder, around the neck or the lapel
with the right hand, the thrower launches off both feet and jumps up with his
body facing to the left placing his right leg on uke‘s lower abdomen at the
waist or just above. The thrower’s left leg then goes to the back of uke's
knees. The thrower executes a scissor-like movement, from both the front and
the rear, on the lower half of uke's body. The thrower twists his waist back
towards the right, pulls back with the right hand while reaping so that uke
falls towards his rear.
Now some may
be used to seeing a lot of vids on you tube with the throw being executed by
posting a hand on the mat and then executing the take down. However, as
mentioned before, I was taught it as more of a leaping/jumping technique.
Another point one may need to keep in mind is that I wouldn't leap directly into
uke but rather the leap was directed more toward the rear as to further off balance
uke rocking him back on his heels.
Article by Barron Shepherd The problem with the combatives industry is that too many
people will simply read a book on WWII combatives and then deem themselves an
authority on the subject, refer to themselves “subject matter experts”. Most of these types have
zero experience, have never been in the military.
Most recently a couple of so called experts
shared their personal analysis of Carlin's book Combat Judo calling it a questionable inclusion and referring to it as a WWE professional wrestling type of technique. The following is a quote from their book:“Also of questionable inclusion is the drop kick. Yes a WWE style drop kick, against a knife no less. WWII era combatives are always
touted as bare bones, direct and absent of flash. What happened here? Why do
combatives experts ignore Carlin’s obvious mistake with the drop kick? This however can be forgiven as a sign of the times.”
I have to ask now, what exactly is there to be forgiven? Of course, these “know it alls” never answer or even try and
answer their own question. Instead they just second guess Carlin's methods.
Carlin’s inclusion of the drop kick made no sense to these self titled “experts” so they
attempt to explain it away as some sort of glaring tactical error or misjudgment on Carlin's part.
They literally seem to suggest that Carlin, after spending two years putting this book
together, out of nowhere, all of a sudden, in the middle of it, had a brain
freeze and apparently forgot all his training or something.
Simply addressing Carlin’s drop kick lesson as a "WWE" style pro wrestling type move is very telling as to how little research was actually put into
understanding Carlin's Combat judo method.Professional wrestling was kind of popular back during this time but the
fact that this may have influenced Carlin I find to be very highly unlikely. As
mentioned in an earlier article Carlin was a man extensively trained in Judo
and Hand to hand combat, a man who had literally taught thousands of Marines.
So just throwing something in there that is all of a sudden out in left field
or just as "filler" doesn’t make any sense. What does make sense is
that martial arts is an athletic endeavor regardless if it is tai chi or judo.
It is ALL athletic movement. Some movements are complex and some are gross
motor based movements. Actions like the drop kick, running, jumping, etc. are
all primal gross motor actions. Combatives are generally primal gross motor
movements these movements function optimally when under duress, like the duress
of war.
There were more than a few reasons for Carlin to include the
drop kick in his book. Unarmed hand to hand combat techniques were taught
because the soldier on the battle field may need a means to fight if he has
somehow found himself not being able to use his weapons or was without a
weapon. If we look at old combatives manuals we very often see techniques that
are made up of primal gross motor action.
Long range unarmed fighting
techniques like kicks were used against a knife and bayonet wielding enemy. A leg kick is a natural choice as a long-range weapon if there was no
other choice, when no other type of weapon could be picked up or used.Parrying and countering a bayonet thrust, or knife thrusts and slashes with kicks were quite commonly seen in many military
combatives field training manuals. A drop kick/scissor takedown actually shows up in the knife disarm section of the 1963 US Army FM 21-150.
Carlin’s book describes combat
Judo to be a streamlined fighting method and Carlin shares example after example
of what he classified as "streamlined". They were techniques that share the same tactics, strategy, principles and movement.For an example one can look
at lessons 16 and 17 in Carlin’s book. Lesson #16 utilizes a front kick to the
groin to stop a forward assault, in lesson 17 in the same type of attack the
front kick is executed in the same way as it is in lesson #16 and it
simultaneously sets up the wheel throw/Tomo nage.
KANI BASAMI - LEG SCISSOR TAKEDOWN
Bearing Carlin's definition of streamlined in mind, it isn’t a huge transition to go from a technique like Kani
basami (pictured left) to turning it into a drop kick. They both require the same basic
athletic movement to execute (see video below). Now some who are used to seeing a lot of vids on
you tube will see Kani basami executed by posting a hand on the ground and then
executing the take down. I was taught kani basami as more of a leaping
technique or motion. This execution of it is indeed very athletic. Looking at
it in this light I can possibly see why Carlin interjected his drop kick
method. In all likelihood, being a judoka, it was or he saw it as a variation
of Kani Basami.
Here is a clip of Royal Marines doing a Combatives
demonstration. Look at the movement that pops up throughout the video both the drop kick and kani Basami/scissor takedown...…
Lastly, another reason Carlin likely put this in the book is
because what was known as Combat Judo was taught during the later part of WWI.
It had gained a reputation as being extremely effective in trench warfare.
Fighting in the trenches (Imagine yourself fighting in a narrow corridor.)
meant there was no room to circle your opponent and in a lot of cases not even
get an angle on the enemy. The only option was to go straight in.We actually see an example of this in old
combatives training footage from WWI. In a clip we see the soldiers training
run in and throw their training partner to the ground quickly.
Taking the adversary off his feet as quickly
as possible gave the soldier a tactical advantage, this was an ideal that carried on to WWII and
beyond. It definitely would have given you and your unit some tactical
advantages. Hitting someone with a drop kick when fighting in a trench would
have sent the adversary reeling backgrounds knocking him down and had the potential to knock others down behind him. It would have definitely slowed
the enemy's forward movement thru the trench and created a myriad of problems. Having the enemy
momentarily have to negotiate how to get over or around a fallen comrade would
have definitely given the soldier another fighting advantage. How much sense
does a long range kicking technique like a drop kick make now?
The drop kick was just good old primal gross
motor athletic movement based on sound tactics
and strategy. As Carlin says in his opening pages; "A combatant on the
battlefield who is unarmed must use the tools he has on him." Carlin’s
inclusion of the drop kick certainly fits the bill.
Barron Shepherd is a Judo 3rd degree black belt instructor, trainer and coach, a certified boxing coach and certified NASM Sports Performance Enhancement Specialist.
Member of USA Judo and USJA (the United States Judo Association) the National Governing Bodies for Judo.
