Langes Messer: the Bogen from Below

This video describes transitioning through one aspect of the position of the Bogen, or Bow, a position of long knife fighting where one wields the long knife/messer in front of one's self at an angle or arc to deflect oncoming overhand attacks as one moves either away or under the said attack. Here we describe some uses of the Bow where the defender moves into and under the attack and uses the Bogen to help deflect the incoming attack over his or her head.

Specifically, we see here an approach that first feels out the incoming attack and then transitions through the bogen as one moves under with a winding maneuver around the opponent's blade. This set-up arises from the opinion that contact with the opponent's blade is a more desirable situation (until the need arises to change that fact), and that circularity increases overall velocity while decreasing the stress upon the body. Linear approaches, of course, may also be used, but I find transitioning circularly through this Bow, whether into or out of or both, to be more holistic.

This video also shows our normal training routine for the study of techniques, in that if we are specifically studying a piece of the equation (he attacks+you defend=he is neutralized, basically), in this case the Bow while moving under the attack, we will use that piece in the largest context possible. The defender takes any guard he or she wishes, and the aggressor then attacks one of the other openings. The aggressor's attack can take any form allowed by the parameters of the defence which we are studying—in this case a Bogen, so the attack must come from above—and the defender then responds through the bogen to an end, preferably an end that is different every single time, by following the flow that arises from the specifics of that moment. Spontaneous creativity in this way is not only more natural, in a real combat sense, but is also more fun and stimulating and by short-circuiting the often-laborious mental processes, it results in a technique-flow which is more realistic, quick, and responsive to the demands of the present situation.

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