its paid sponsors, whose products you need!
“Stay ‘unreasonable.’ If you
don’t like the solutions [available to you], come up with your
own.”
Dan Webre
The Martialist does not
constitute legal advice. It is for ENTERTAINMENT
PURPOSES ONLY.
Copyright © 2003-2004 Phil Elmore, all rights
reserved.
An Interview with Mike Janich
By Phil
Elmore (intro provided by Mike Janich)
Michael Janich has been studying and teaching
self defense and the martial arts for more than 25 years. He has instructors
credentials in American Self-Protection (ASP an eclectic art that includes
elements of judo, aikido, boxing, fencing, and French Savate), the Filipino art
of Serrada Eskrima, and Datu Kelly S. Wordens Natural Spirit. He is
also a member
of the elite International Close-Combat Instructors Association. He has
trained extensively in Wing Chun Gung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, Wu Ying Tao, Thai
boxing, Arnis de Mano and U.S. Special Forces combatives. Janich is also one
of the foremost modern authorities on handgun point shooting and is one of the
few contemporary instructors to have been personally trained by the late
close-combat legend Col. Rex Applegate.Janich served nine years in the U.S. Army Intelligence
and Security Command, including a three-year tour at the National Security
Agency. He is a two-time graduate with honors of the Defense Language
Institute in Monterey, CA (Vietnamese and Chinese-Mandarin) and a recipient of
the Commandants Award for outstanding linguistic achievement. After
completing his military service, Janich was recruited by the Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA) and served as an Intelligence Officer for that
agencys Stony Beach Program in Hong Kong and the Philippines. He also served
as an Investigation Team Leader for the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC)
and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA). He has led numerous
investigations into remote areas of Vietnam and Laos in search of information
regarding American prisoners of war and missing in action (POW/MIA).Janich is the author of
five books and, with the
late Col. Rex Applegate, co-authored Bullseyes Dont Shoot Back: The
Complete Textbook of Point Shooting for Close Quarters Combat. He has also
been featured in 12 instructional videotapes on defensive edged-weapon use,
the use of the Filipino balisong knife, the use of throwing weapons, and
the use of blowguns. In addition to books and videos, Janich has been
published in more than a dozen magazines and newsletters, is a contributing
editor to Tactical Knives magazine, and has been featured on national
radio and television, including a feature segment on blowguns on the
Ripleys Believe It or Not television series.Michael Janich was also one of five edged-weapon experts
selected for the prestigious Masters of Defense knife design project. His
design, the Tempest…has developed a tremendous following
among dedicated knife users. He has also designed the
Ronin and Yojimbo
personal defense knives for the Spyderco knife company of Golden, CO and has
collaborated with custom knifemakers Michael Snody, Wally Hayes, and David
Dempsey on several custom knife design projects.Janich is a popular seminar instructor and has presented
instructional programs for the world-famous Gunsite Training Center, Datu
Kelly S. Wordens Water and Steel training camp, James Keatings Riddle of
Steel, and Joseph Simonets Wind and Rock training camp. He was also one of 12 close combat experts selected by the Department of Homeland
Securitys Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to help develop a
self defense and counter-edged-weapons program for the airline industry.Janichs edged-weapons
curriculum is the basis for the Spyderco knife companys Martial Blade Craft
program. This comprehensive four-level program, taught personally by Janich,
covers all aspects of employing knives as personal defense tools. It also
forms a foundation of skill that is easily transferred to improvised weapons
and empty-hand fighting skills…Janich offers custom-tailored programs in defensive edged
weapons tactics, advanced knife fighting, stick fighting, empty-hand
self defense (including counter-knife tactics), knife throwing, point shooting
and tactical awareness. All programs are designed to be easily adapted to meet
the specific needs of the student group. Private instruction in these
disciplines, as well as other specialized skills, is also available.
Your name will be familiar to many readers, thanks primarily
to
your writing for Paladin Press. How many books, total, have you
written, and what are they?
I have had six books
published to date. They are:
Blowguns: The
Breath of Death
Knife Fighting: A
Practical Course
Street Steel
The Mook Jong
Construction Manual
Homemade Martial
Arts Training Equipment
Bullseyes Dont
Shoot Back (Co-authored with the late Col. Rex Applegate)
You work for Paladin in some capacity, do you not? What’s that
like?
I have
been the Video Production Manager for Paladin Press since October 1994 and am
personally responsible for all aspects of our pre-production, production, and
post-production for all of our videos. In this capacity, I have the rare
opportunity to work with some of the worlds most knowledgeable experts in the
areas of martial arts, self defense, combat shooting, and other specialized
topics. Life doesnt get much better than that.
Your
work,
Knife Fighting: A Practical Course is one of those texts I often
recommend to beginners interested in learning self defense with a blade.
What led you to write it? Would you change anything about it if you had
the chance to do so today?
I wrote Knife Fighting: A Practical Course
with the intent of providing others with the book that I desperately searched
for (but couldnt find) when I first got interested in the defensive use of
edged weapons. The goal was to provide a simple, practical course that would
allow the reader to understand and learn the basics of defensive knife use in
the shortest possible time.
Like any good student,
I have continued to learn since I wrote that book more than 10 years ago. My
skills are better today than they were then, primarily because my training
methodology has progressed. I now focus heavily on Filipino-style flow drills,
which I have modified and integrated to create a linear progression of skill
development. I am presently working on a text to incorporate these drills into
the basic system described in my first book and hope to offer an updated
version of the book in the near future.
I’m particularly fond of your
Street Steel. While it didn’t tell me many things I didn’t
already know, having been “into knives” for some time, reading Street Steel
was the first time I saw many of those things in print (such as the
wrist-snap opening for a folder, which a friend in college taught me).
Where did you pick up much of the lore that appears in that book? Do you
plan any future books on knife fighting or related topics?
As you correctly point
out, Street Steel was intended to document many known aspects of
knife carry and deployment. It also presents a good bit of information that I
developed over years of experimentation and trial and error that I have not
seen or heard of elsewhere. Again, the goal was to provide a single,
relatively comprehensive source of information on knife selection and carry
exactly the type of book that I wanted when I first started carrying a knife
for personal defense.
The information in
Street Steel was compiled from more that 15 years of research and reading
everything I could find on knife design, carry, deployment, and defensive use.
It also represents many years of personal experience carrying defensive knives
(and other weapons) on a daily basis, as well as knowledge I gained from
like-minded martial artists, law enforcement officers, government personnel, and military personnel.
As mentioned above, I
hope to update my knife fighting book to make it more closely parallel my
current approach to edged-weapon training.
It seems obvious that you have a love
for knives, as do many of our readers. How did you come to discover this
interest? Do you remember your first knife?
My interest in knives
started concurrently with my interest in the martial arts. As a kid growing up
in the late 1960s and 70s, I got caught up in the Bruce Lee craze and
quickly took an interest in all types of weapons. However, my interest in
knives really got started when I first started learning empty-hand defenses
against knives. When I realized that none of the defenses I learned in martial
arts class worked very well, I complained to my instructor. I will always
remember his response: If you want to learn how to defend against a weapon,
first learn how to use it. That began my lifelong interest in knife fighting
and made me realize how practical and effective knives can be as defensive
weapons.
My first knife was a
Case slipjoint pocketknife that I started carrying in 6th grade.
Once I got a basic understanding of knife fighting, I replaced it with a
Gerber Folding Sportsman II with a “Flicket” for one-handed opening.
You’ve done instructional videos,
too. How many of these would you say you’ve produced? Which ones
are popular? Which one(s) do you like best?
My 11 instructional
videos include:
Knife Fighting Combat Techniques 1-4 (Panther
Productions No longer available)
Fighting Folders
Advanced Fighting
Folders
Making It Stick
Masters of Defense (with the other original MOD
designers)
Martial Marksmanship (with Andy Stanford)
Breath of Death
Mastering the
Balisong
Of these, the
Fighting Folders videos are the most popular. These and Making It Stick
are also among the videos that I like best.
What is your martial arts background?
My
interest in the martial arts began when I was about 9 or 10. We couldnt
afford lessons back then, so I began reading everything I could find and got a
good head start on my personal library. I started boxing when I was about 11
and boxed for a year under the guidance of a former Golden Gloves champ from
Chicago.
The summer before my
freshman year of high school, I began studying American Self-Protection (ASP)
an eclectic art that included elements of Savate, Aikido, Judo and boxing. I
trained 6-7 days a week and earned my black belt in a little over a year.
Through the other black belts at out school, I also picked up elements of
Judo, Jujitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Kyokushinkai Karate (taught to us as Goju-Kempo),
military-style combatives, and knife fighting.
I joined the U.S. Army
when I was 17 and trained informally with martial artists of many different
styles during my nine-year career. Through sparring and informal study, I
added elements of Wu Ying Tao, Wing Chun, Kenpo, and Sikaran. I also trained
formally with the late Raymond Tobosa in his style of Escrima while stationed
in Hawaii.
When I left the Army
and went to work as a Department of Defense civilian, I had the opportunity to train in Muay
Thai and military combatives (through Special Forces team members) and, during my second
tour in Hawaii, earned instructors ranking in Serrada Eskrima.
Since joining Paladin,
I have had the opportunity to work and train with many noted martial artists,
including James Keating, Kelly Worden (who awarded me instructors ranking in
his style of Natural Spirit), Joseph Simonet, and Kelly McCann. Perhaps the
most unique opportunity Ive had, however, was receiving training in combat
point shooting directly from the late Col. Rex Applegate.
I keep hearing your name in
conjunction with Spyderco’s Martial Blade Craft program. What is MBC?
Martial Blade Craft (MBC) is a
comprehensive personal-protection system that provides responsible, ethical
self defense solutions. Although MBC training is focused largely on the
defensive use of the knife, the ultimate goal of the program is to develop
all-purpose defensive skills. Rather than teaching numerous techniques to
defend against specific attacks, MBC focuses on perfecting a few proven
techniques and learning how to apply them to literally hundreds of different
defensive situations. Through this easy-to-learn method, students develop
defensive proficiency very quickly and have both the ability and the
confidence to employ their skills after only a brief period of training.
The four-level MBC
curriculum includes instruction in both standard and reverse-grip tactics and
the use of improvised weapons. It focuses on the idea of structural stopping
an advanced version of the Filipino concept of defanging the snake that
maximizes the stopping power of a knife without forcing the user to resort to lethal
force.
How did you and Spyderco come to work
together to bring MBC to the public?
A student of James
Keating named Bert Locke had been teaching a basic knife program for Spyderco
after he and Spydercos founder, Sal Glesser, met at the Riddle of Steel
[a knife-fighting seminar by James Keating — ed.]. When
Bert moved out of state, Sal asked him to suggest someone to take over the
program. Bert suggested me, and after Sal reviewed my curriculum and viewed my
Fighting Folders videos, he decided to adopt my curriculum as
Spydercos official edged-weapon program.
On what is MBC based? What are its principles?
MBC is basically a
streamlined version of the Filipino martial arts based on the cinco teros
the five cardinal blows. It focuses on targeting the opponents attacking
limbs to limit or destroy both his ability to grasp a weapon and his ability
to wield it effectively. The reflexes to do this from any position are
developed through a series of flow drills. Each drill helps develop specific
skills that offer the potential for specific applications. At its higher
levels, these drills are combined so that practitioners can challenge their
training partners in a game of chess where each partner transitions from
drill to drill to challenge the other. This demanding form of training
develops incredibly fast reflexes and programs appropriate responses and
follow-ups.
Are you at all concerned with issues of liability where teaching
knife fighting is concerned? How does MBC address use-of-force and
other legal issues?
I am very concerned
with liability issues. That is why the basic MBC curriculum does not teach the
use of lethal force. Since the ultimate goal of any defensive situation is to
get the attacker to stop and to escape safely, everything in MBC is geared
toward that end. In this way, we are openly emphasizing our desire and intent
to use restraint and appropriate levels of force in everything we do.
Have you ever had to apply what you know in a real-life self
defense situation? Can you tell us about it?
While
living in working in Asia, there were several incidents in which I was forced
to defend myself empty-handed. In all cases, a single strike or kick ended the
problem.
Although I have not
yet had to draw blood in self defense, I have had several incidents in which my
ability to draw a knife quickly and display it with confidence caused
potential attackers to back down.
You’ve designed at least one knife for the Masters of Defense
Line. Can you tell us about that, including why you incorporated the
features that you did? Will you be designing any other knives in the
future?
The MOD Tempest was designed to incorporate
all the positive features of a defensive folder, based on what I knew at that
time a strong lock, a Bowie-style blade with a well centered point for
thrusting and adequate belly for cutting, a tapered handle and finger groove
for a positive grip, and tip-up carry for quick deployment. Some of the
original features of the design were not included in the final version
(including left/right ambidextrous carry).
Since designing the Tempest, I
have discovered many new concepts in knife design and the ballistic cutting
capabilities of small knives. These concepts were applied to my second
commercial knife design, the Ronin. This neck knife design was first produced
as a custom piece by knifemaker Mike Snody, then later adapted for production
by Spyderco. A folding version of the design called the Yojimbo is also in the
works, as are several more custom collaborations.
What can we expect from you in the future in terms of books and
videos?
In the near term, I am
working on a video that covers my approach to reverse-grip knife fighting.
Tentatively called Mastering Fighting Folders, it will be released by
Paladin Press in January 2004. I also have several other book and video ideas
in the works and plan to continue to share good information as long as
possible. When Ive exhausted my knowledge, it will be time for me to stop.
A well known “knife art” instructor
has referred to the Filipino grip as the “cancer grip,” complaining that it is
not secure and spreads like a “cancer” because it “looks pretty.” Could you
address this?
Ive heard this
comment before. I have also had the opportunity to train with this individual
and, in general, have a friendly professional relationship with him. Although
I respect his right to his opinion, I am very confident that this grip is not
only useful in an actual fight, but is an integral part of the knife
techniques of many different cultures, including those of the Philippines,
Indonesia, and Japan.
In my opinion, the
strength of ones grip on a knife lies in the last three fingers of the hand
just like the strength of ones grip on a pistol. Done properly, this grip
works. It also affords you some options not available with other grips.
This type of grip
(again, executed properly and not exaggerated as some photos have shown) is
also used by the most respected practitioners of the Filipino martial arts in
the U.S., including Dan Inosanto and Leo Gaje.
It seems self defense and “going armed” are becoming increasingly
difficult and less than socially acceptable in modern times. What are
your thoughts on this?
In todays society, we
are all vulnerable to attack. In many cases, these attacks are
committed by armed criminals, often by multiple attackers, and sometimes by
multiple armed attackers. In any one of these situations, the average citizen
would be justified in using a weapon for self defense, so to be truly
prepared, he or she must make the commitment to carry a weapon and know how to
use it. After all, the key element of self defense (or better yet, self
protection) is self.
We’re on our own, and the sooner we
realize that and do something about it, the safer we’ll be.