TonyPillagebegns a series of regular articles ex-amininsthe trutTr andmvths sunoundingthe use ofpressurE points within a combatative disdpline.

o onto any martial art internet forum and undoubtedly oneof the most hotly debated subjects is that concerningthe use of pressure points within fighting systems. Thesuppo'ters are wholeheartedly passionate about theeffectiveness of usinq these 'vital ' areas within their

own particular art whereas the 'non believers' tend to echo theirsentiments in a completely opposite way. There seems to be nogrey area where 'points' are concerned - no one seems to wantto sit on the proverbial fence,

However, at the Seni show this year one of only four semi-nars that sold-out was one on the use of pointsin combat situations taught by Joe Carslakeand myself, lt would appear that wheneverGeorge Dil lman visits these shores, hisseminars are fully booked months inadvance. Prof, Rick Clarke's DVDson lhe use of pornts are amongst thebest sellers of martial arts DVDs. Thiswould certainly intimate that this is anarea where there is huge interest within themartial arts community at large.

My own interest in this area stems from a visii toCyprus and feeling pressure points used firsthand... on me

108 / martial arts il lustrated

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a basic blueprint of pressure point map-ping had been laid down.

The 4th century work from India, the Su-shruta Samhita, identifies 107 vital pointsof the human body. Oi these 64 wereclassified as being lethal if accuratelystruck with the fist or baton. Sushruta'sworks (who is often referred to as the'Father of Surgery'), formed the basisof the school of Ayunvedic medicine (askil l practiced to this day), which wastaught alongside various Indian martialarts that had an emphasis on pressurepoint f ighting, such as Varma Kalai andMarma Adi. With many other referencesto vital points in Vedic and contemparyIndian sources, it is certain that lndia'smartial arts community knew not only ofthe importance of points from both a sel{defence standpoint and as a practicalmartial striking art.

I t would appear that rnany had takenup the baton that Bodhidharma had lefl

behind and, in the early thirteenthcentury, a book call Hai Yaun Li

contained a l ist of 32 danger-ous points. In addition, TheBubishi, a scroll used bythe Okinawan martial artsschools has many pressurepoints l isted and is sti l l used

by practit ioners to this day

The Okinawans took great interest inthe practicality of pressure points andcombined these techniques with theirown indigenous martial system called'Te'. Bear in mind that these techniqueswere not thought of as a way of f i l l ing

a seminar or looking impressive onYouTube, but as an addition to a fightingsystem that could mean the differencebetween life and death to a warnor onthe battlefield.

In Japan, the methods of Sappo (kil l ingblows) were always taught in conjunc-tion with methods of Kappo or Katsui/rocr rce i iar inn\ Thic helene o, i onnrarnh\rsJuJU |o vqrc uqu ovPtudut I

al lowed the Karate expen to dispatch anopponent and quickly revive him shouldthe need arise. This dual concept fits theOriental idea of Yin and Yang (opposites)and the importance of maintaining bal-ance and harmony in l ife. These sk l lssaved many lives throughout the tumul-tuous years of Japanese history.

'Sappo' is the art of striking vital pointswith the intent to deliver a disablingor fatal blow. These vital points areanatomical weak areas in the body'sstructure known as Atemi Waza or theJintai Kyusho. Normally they are fairlywell protected but. at t imes. these areascan be more susceptible to attack.Struck with sufficient force and theproper angle and direction, serious orfatal injury will occur. Note that many ofthe vital points are located in the midlineand are related to rhe Chakras (energywheels) ofYoga. Even the points usedon the arms and legs can be tracedback to the midline, and, even thoughthe reference points used are associatedwith the Chinese meridians, there area lot of the Japanese points which arebased on a vastly different system, lt isaccepted that these concepts of energyare ancient and are related to Ihe energy

martial arts i l lustrated / 109

pns3iuhni,oritti///////////////////t'h:/,1_nqt V ak' , morefamouslylorovm * Ut 'Death'/: Touch', is an attackon meridian and pressure pointst. found within some stvles of orienal martial arts -i especially those with ancient Chinese roqts."

t-ol6 ̂ - ' i r- ̂ rc nf 2.. i .{enis. l t shouldbe ̂ oted r ial l l .ese methods are:- - a. t r .d ero nn Innnar COnSidefed

the standard of modern medical care.These methods have been replacedaround the world by updated versionsknown as cardio-pllrrorary resuscita-tion (CPR) The question is, are themodern methods as effective? And, iftested. then it wil i be found that they are'o s"bstirute, the Karsu is far rrore ef-ficient in the treatment of severe caseso'n-scle t 'aurna, and also i r the caseor ra(r s. t : t inn nf narqnnq kno6kedout. lt is however, interesting to notethat medica research is now lookingat points (stomach 9 in particular) fortho r tca

^f raai : r i in^ iho honrt in nro^-ur rsoror ur rg U ts tgat t i l | ud-v-

of heart failure. Also, with the advent ofever more powerful means of studyingthe human body, CAT scans are nowbeing employed to inspect the brainwhen acupuncture points are beingstimulated, They have shown thatthere is a narked increase inelectr ical act ivi ty in the cor-responding parts of thebrarn. This leavesno doubt

in my mind that this actlvity could betranslated to the manipulation of pointswithin fighting systems.

'Dim Mak', more famously known as the'Death Touch', is an attack on meridianand pressure points found within somestyles of Orienta martial arts - especiallythose with ancient Chinese roots. DimMak is supposed to be a way in whichthe practit ioner can immediately inca-pacitate an opponent. Some strikes havethe abil ity to cause instantaneous death,whilst others can cause a fatality at alater t ime. The points of attack used inDim Mak correspond to the same loca-tions as used in the acupuncture pointswe discussed earlier,

A practit ioner of Dim Mak is supposedlycapable of infl icting serious harm to anlndividual by disrupting chi (qi or prana)throughout their opponent's meridians,causing the cessation of chi to majororgans such as the heart or brain which,in turn, lead to injury or death.

The secrets of Dim Mak were onlyever taught to the mostrespected of long{ermstudents whosecommitment to theart was proven,Tho tonhninrroc

naaalaal nni nnhr

p inpoint