The yawara is a small stick, sometimes with sharp points or rounded edges, usually used in pairs to initiate throws, bone breaks, and pressure point strikes. The yawara stick was popularized for police officers in the 1940s by Professor Frank A. Matsuyama. You can download the original “HOW TO USE THE YAWARA STICK” Published in 1947 by Mr. Frank Matsuyama manual for police self defense at the Yarawa.com site.

In recent weeks, Coach Freedman has been emphasizing yawara techniques in his classes. It is a great weapon for training as its small size and multiple uses make it a great weapon that anyone can use for self defense. Once one learns the basics it can be transferred to any small weapon that can be held in the hand including the kubaton, pen, hairbrush or even a small rolled up magazine (who thought you could be dangerous with a Readers Digest).

In this video Coach Freedman demonstrates the use of the yawara and shows with just a few simple techniques how you can have an effective self defense. He shows how the yawara can be used to maximize the torque on joint locks, increase the impact of strikes and add power to throws. Assisting him on the demo is Ryan Birmingham Sensei.

Video by Philip Duldulao

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Coach Freedman has been teaching his own style of Ketsugo Jujutsu for many years now. He has a number of students that are teaching out of their own schools and he is concerned that they may not be teaching the core practices of his style. His style is built on three core practices  which are Footwork, the Nine Angles and the Flow Drill. In order to make sure that all his students are on the same page, he has decided to have a gathering of the Ketsugo tribe 6 times a year. This will be an opportunity to refresh the knowledge of the core practices and to meet with the other practitioners on a regular basis.

This past Saturday April 30, 2011 was the first meeting of the tribe. It was a cool spring day and students from NH and neighboring states met to get some training. Coach Freedman started the class with a warm greeting to all who attended and then talked a bit about martial arts and Ketsugo in particular. He stressed that it is important to know the history and origins of the martial art you are studying so that you can gain a complete understanding of the art you are practicing. He then began to discuss the importance of footwork in Ketsugo Jujutsu. Coach Freedman has identified 50 foot movements that he uses in his system. He took the group through the movements and explained the proper execution of each foot movement. He led the group through the 50 movements which was repeated multiple times.

Coach Freedman next began to demonstrate the usage of the foot movements.  He demonstrated how the foot movements were used to evade an attack with the long knife. By using the movements in the precise angles it became apparent how the movement was effective in the evasion of the attacks. The students then practiced the movements with an opponent attacking with a long knife. people who had not used these movements before were amazed at how effective they were. Coach Freedman demonstrated how the foot movements  along with strikes and locks were a devastating defense for this type of attack.

Coach Freedman next demonstrated leg lock and leg lock techniques. These also come out of the footwork. He had the students practice on long sticks before trying the techniques on each other. These techniques are quite effective and have to be practiced slow in order not to cause injury.

A lot more information was delivered during the course of the seminar. You had to be there to have gotten it all.

The day ended with all the students getting together in Coach Freedman’s back yard and sharing food that was brought by the students.

The date for the next gathering will be on June 25 at the Weare NH dojo from 10:00am to 2:00pm. The cost will be $25. Call (603)529-3564 to find out more information. Anyone can attend.

Below is a gallery of pictures from the day.

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On a wintery spring morning Coach Freedman had a small number of students to at the dojo for an exclusive ground fighting seminar. He started out by explaining the purpose of ground fighting. He stated that the last place we wanted to be in a fight was on the ground. Especially in a fight involving multiple opponents. This was the quickest way to get injured or killed. however what we wanted and what would happen were two different things. if we ever go to the ground we need to know what to do there.

He talked about the history of ground fighting. Starting with the earliest warriors to the current competition ground fighting. Unlike competition when you are fighting for your life there are no rules and the goal is survival at any means. He talked about how the ground gives you power and you have to learn how to use that power. All the principles that you learn when on your feet also apply to the ground.

Coach Freedman then demonstrated and had us practice techniques for ankle, knee and hip locks. He had us work slowly to avoid injury. It immediately became apparent how effective and dangerous these locks were. By the end of the seminar we all had new confidence in our skills on the ground.

Listen as Coach Freedman talks about the principles of Ground Fighting

Here are some pictures from the seminar.

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You can attend future seminars and get this advanced training. If you want to be notified about upcoming seminars then subscribe to the newsletter.

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This is a store written by Adam Coughlin acoughlin@hippopress.com. It appeared in the January 13, 2011 issue of The Hippo www.hippopress.com a weekly food, news, entertainment newspaper available on newsstands free in New Hampshire. Picture is by Adam Coughlin.

Sensei Peter Freedman was educated by the streets. In the world from which Freedman emerged this is more valuable than a doctorate from Harvard. Born and raised in Boston’s South End, Freedman says he has been stabbed, beaten, whipped by chains and shot at. To survive he turned to martial arts. Over the years, as he rose to the rank of grandmaster, he developed his own teaching method. He has experienced urban combat so that his students don’t have to. Yet, at his dojo in Weare, he arms them with the knowledge that will help them defend themselves.

With Freedman’s Method, a student learns creative thinking, not pre-arranged movements. His style of martial arts has no blocks; otherwise a smaller man could not defend himself against a larger attacker. Instead, students learn how to move out of the way like a ghost.

“You can’t hit something that is not there,” Freedman said.

Freedman molds the martial arts to his student and not the other way around. He said many martial arts studios teach moves so they become reflex. But reflexes can fade if they’re not constantly practiced. By moving slowly, Freedman attempts to enter his student’s subconscious so the moves become instincts — which can be called upon in need.

His practices have been developed over years and began when he was a student.

“I always asked questions of my teachers,” Freedman said. “I wanted to know more information so I could attack a problem from multiple angles.”

It seems to be effective. Freedman’s reputation has spread primarily through word of mouth and, according to Freedman, he has trained law enforcement, military, body guards, the Department of Defense and even a few hit men, although he declined to elaborate.

Freedman relates to all of these more dangerous professions because he has been surrounded by hard men his entire life. His father was a professional boxer who first taught Freedman to defend himself.

“As my reputation grew, I was sought out by tough guys, criminals, who didn’t need me to teach them to fight,” Freedman said.

Through an innate ability to read people and his surroundings, which he later learned was called “profiling,” Freedman was able to unlock some of the anger in these criminals and improve their lives. This only enhanced his credentials.

“At one point I could have run for mayor,” Freedman said, “and I probably would have won.”

For years Freedman owned a body-building and power lifting gym in Boston. Many of the young kids who entered were in gangs.

“We taught these kids that you must depend on yourself,” Freedman said. “You need knowledge to get out of the ghetto and to become someone.”

Freedman’s knowledge has come from many unusual life experiences. He says he has been the personal bodyguard of Michael Anthony Hall and has had Killer Kowalski call him. He was recently featured in a book called Martial Art Nutrition by Teri Tom and shot a sizzle reel for a possible reality television show where he would take troubled teens and, through his teaching methods, turn their lives around.

“I enjoy saving lives,” Freedman said. “Not just by teaching people how to defend themselves but by changing the way they think about themselves.”

But a world of violence can catch up to you. With a wife and two young daughters, Freedman decided to move to Weare 11 years ago to give them a better life. While there are not a lot of gang bangers in Weare, Freedman believes violence is growing in the state.

“I am seeing more and more people become victims of crime and it makes me feel ill,” Freedman said.

That is why he is offering a free month of self-defense classes to women on Thursdays and Fridays (visit www.freedmansmethod. com or call 529-3564). Freedman is eager to get the word out because he wants to help more people. At his home one night, he even told his oil delivery man about the classes.

This is perhaps Freedman’s greatest weapon. Despite a past stained in blood, he can disarm you with his gentleness. He chatted with the oil delivery man, finding out he used to own his own rotisserie chicken restaurant on Cape Cod. It was a conversation most people wouldn’t have taken the time to have. Yet most people have not lived like Sensei Freedman.

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John Moore demonstrates a knife attack

This is a guest post from John Moore who is a student of Coach Peter Freedman. He is a technology consultant who teaches Ketsugo Jujutsu in Maine. Visit his website at mainemartialarts.com

I live a very peaceful life. I work from home, and I live in a relative low-crime area (unless you count incidents of cow-tipping). And though I’ve trained in martial arts for probably 30 years of my life, I very rarely have gotten into a full-on kung-fu brawl like you see in the movies. That pretty much only happens in the movies.

Yes, I’ve had the opportunity to “test” my jujutsu a couple times while living in Boston. Yes I know others who have as well. However, I like to follow the philosophy I learned from my teacher, Peter Freedman, sensei that, “The warrior is always the last one to pick up a sword.” I aim to be as good a teacher as he is someday.

Last night I had an interesting conversation with one of my students. He’s only been training with me for about two months. He happens to work in corrections, supervising “high risk” teenagers who may be emotionally disturbed and too violent to be locked up with other teen offenders. He gets to do jujutsu for real almost every day. When he talks about his experiences, I listen.

He tells me that what he’s learned in the past couple of months has been extremely valuable and he’s used it. It’s important to understand that there are use of force guidelines he’s required to follow. He just can’t go house and destroy some kid who’s acting up. He’s not allowed to use strikes or chokes (and a bunch of other stuff) unless it’s a situation that requires lethal force.

Some of the benefits he’s reported include:

• He’s now more aware of when someone is about to become violent, he can read the body cues better
• He’s generally more aware of his environment and understands how to position himself defensively
• He’s able to move off the line of attack when charged, attacked, or objects are thrown at him (frequent occurrences). He’s avoided getting hit with chairs on at least 3 occasions since he’s been training with me. He tells me that other people who work there plant themselves and tense up – bad idea.
• He’s able to control inmates better without hurting them
• He did much better at a followup required defensive tactics training than he did when he originally went through
• He feels more confident when he walks onto his job
• All of these things make me feel really good. Here’s a guy who’s using the training in a positive way. Sure, I can teach him how to tear someone’s head off, but if that’s his only skill he’s more likely to hurt someone and get in trouble himself.

Ketsugo Jujutsu, when taught correctly, teaches control and a range of options. Yes, there are lethal tactics. Yes, there are less lethal tactics. Believe it or not, the less lethal stuff tends to be harder to pull off. So, for somebody with two months of training with me twice a week can do it under duress – I like it.

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Real street fighting is very dangerous and can have consequences both physical and legal. If some one is trying to cause us grave injury we must take action to defend ourselves. Coach Freedman’s Student David Weinberg presents this video on real street fighting. It is a fast paced demonstration of Freedman’s Method Ketsugo Jujutsu for defense against empty hand, weapons, and multiple attackers. It shows the simplicity, creativity, and effectiveness of Coach Freedman’s techniques.
If you watch closely you’ll see that most of the techniques consist of hidden strikes and multiple joint breaks that are all performed in one or two fluid movements. That is critical for defending against multiple attackers where time is of the essence.
Please note that some of the techniques are killing techniques. We learn these techniques to have the knowledge that if they are executed in this manner they will cause great harm. Knowing this we avoid using these techniques unless we are in grave danger. We realize that in the aftermath of a deadly encounter we may be facing legal action. If we are charged with using deadly force we must justify that to a court of law. There have been many incidents of people using martial arts to defend themselves and then ending up in jail for using excessive force. Coach Freedman teaches how spot and avoid trouble in order to avoid these dangerous situations. But once we are in a dangerous situation we must take what ever action is necessary to defend ourselves. His training gives the student the confidence to act properly in a violent encounter, avoiding physical injury and legal action.

Watch the video and pay close attention.

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A recent incident in Manchester NH involved a man who started a fight in a bar. The fight moved outside and the man who started the fight pulled a knife. In the ensuing fight he not only stabbed the other guy but his friend and managed to cut off his own finger. You can read it in the Manchester Union Leader here.

Now there is a certain black humor in this incompetent idiot cutting off his own finger, but in another way it is vary scary – knowing that there are these types of idiots out there. I would not like to meet him and I would not want to be like him. Reading this story reminded me why I train for edged weapon self defense. I want to train so that if I run in to this guy, I can get away safely. If I have to use a knife, I will not cut off my own fingers.  Before I came to Coach Freedman’s school I knew just enough about knife fighting to get my self in trouble. All those techniques that I learned in Karate and Aikido might have worked if the attacker came at me with an overhead strike or with a straight in stab. One class with Coach Freedman convinced me that I was sadly lacking in knife defense skills. Any one of his students could have sliced and diced me with little effort. After years of training I at least feel that I have a chance.

I love Coach Freedman’s saying that “ There are two types of people that are dangerous with a knife. Those that are trained and those that are not.” That is something I always keep in mind and that is what keeps me training.

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Coach Freedman shows two methods of slipping a punch and doing a quick take down. These are tricky techniques and take some courage to execute. Watch the video and practice the techniques. As Coach
Freedman says, learn how to protect your beautiful handsome face.

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We use drills to to learn all the positions that we can possible be on another human body. Once we have the drills down ,later comes the fighting, the locking, the breaks and all that is necessary for your self defense. Our ground drill teaches you how to balance on a human body while on the ground in all different positions and places you can be on the ground.

Drills are designed and structured to teach different things, build attributes that are needed for combat and self defense.  When drills are easy then fighting is easy. Remember drills are not fighting, sparring is not fighting, they only prepare you for fighting. The only way to get experience is really fighting but that means injuries, crippling or killing. We do not want that in our training. We only train in theory. Despite our kicking, throwing, punching and locking drills, this is only preparation for a fight, so that one day if you get into a fight, you just reflex right. When you are attacked or go into battle thinking, you are in a world of hurt. There should be no thought just reflex. When someone goes to stab your belly, you should not think “should I block or kick.”  By the time you think that, you are dead. Someone pokes a knife at your belly, you move your belly, it is a reflex. Someone pokes a knife at your shoulder, you move your shoulder, it is a reflex. All our drills are structured in a way to make us reflex. Someone goes for the arm we move our arm.

If you think that these drills or sparring are actually fighting, you are fooling yourself. What you do in the dojo is different from the street. In the street or battle field you have adrenalin; you have chaos; you have fear and anger. In the dojo, you do not have that. It is a learning environment, you have safety; you pick up new skills; you ask questions. Then you go home and practice and research in a safe way without getting injured. This is the real teaching methodology that got lost. People think that getting hurt and sweating is real martial art, It is to some degree but it is dangerous and unnecessary. We try to keep it as real as possible and to keep learning without injury.

When doing the drills, ask questions. If the teacher does not know the answer they should research the answer not admonish the student for asking. If you ask me a question, that is a challenge for me. I now have something new to research and bring it back to the dojo. I will let you know what every movement of your drill is for and why you are doing it.

So practice hard. Keep learning. Stay safe and be prepared for whatever comes your way.

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If you missed it, here are some highlights from the cane workshop on March 28. We had a good group and everybody was excited about learning the cane techniques. Coach Freedman had all the participants take a cane and proceeded to go over some of the uses for self defense. He started with angles of attack and showed the blocks from those attacks. He then proceeded to show a number of different defenses using the cane. Coach Freedman stressed that you can do the same things with a stick or an umbrella. He was just showing the principles that could be applied.

Coach Freedman’s senior student Roberto Davila (better known as Indio) was there to help with the demonstrations and to assist students. He got the privilege of putting on the sparing helmet and getting his head wacked (see video). He seemed to survive intact.

Everyone had a good time. Nobody got hit with all the canes flying around, which is a testament to Coach Freedman’s method of training slow. Phil Duldulao brought his camera to film the event and a big pot of his famous soup that was of course delicious.

The next workshop will be in April and will cover defense against bigger and larger attackers. Keep posted for the details on that one.

Here is the video that Phil shot for at the seminar. Get out your canes and start to practice your defense drills.

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