Is Hapkido Cane Form A Good Self Defense Method?

Hapkido cane style is a fairly popular form of martial arts. Whilst most have at least heard of the style, it is quite fragmented with various men claiming they are an expert in the field, with perhaps none being truly proven.

The community is divided into various forms of cane use. Everyone is using a standard cane with a curved handle since this allows you a variety of optional grips. Not only this, but it offers you various hooks on the opponent’s body such as the neck, arms, and legs. It is unproven how effective these hook methods are since they may allow your opponent to get a grip on the cane and take it from you. Obviously, this is the last thing you would want to happen.

Almost everyone is teaching a defensive form of cane use, with any aggression being a counterattack. This again is common in martial arts, with almost everything being taught as self-defense (as perhaps it should be). Various practitioners prefer different grips to one another. Some grip the cane like a sword just above its handle, some grip the handle itself, as well as some other lesser-used grips.

Overall, you should find the cane grip that works best for you. It is a versatile weapon and can be used in a variety of ways. It is probably better to be good at your own style of cane hapkido than to be average at someone else’s style.

Maintaining Distance

As mentioned, hapkido is meant to be used in self-defense. Therefore you shouldn’t really ever be using your cane aggressively. At most you should be using it as a counterattack, which is ideal since it is a great tool to use for this purpose.

The main benefit of the cane is you are giving yourself a much longer reach than your opponent. You are able to stay at a safe distance where you can hit your attacker and they cannot hit you. If the distance is managed properly then your attacker may be put off altogether since they understand that they are going to get hit with a blunt object and will be discouraged.

However, if your attacker is a drunken lunatic, they may not care about being hit. In this case, you can either block their oncoming strikes with the cane or dodge them and counterattack. Dodging and countering is ideal with the cane since this is probably the safest method. Using either a standard cane grip or a sword grip, you’re easily able to strike your opponent after their wild lunges throw them off balance.

If the opponent is close enough where they do not have to lunge wildly, you have not managed the distance correctly and should have already struck them with the cane. If you are using enough force with either the sword grip or the standard grip, they will not be able to grab your cane without getting badly hurt.

The Sword Grip

The sword grip is the most common blocking grip when using the cane. You are essentially using the cane like a sword and ignoring the handle. If you are able to dodge a punch you can strike the opponent with decent power compared to other grips. This can be to the arm, head, leg, torso or anywhere else you feel comfortable with. You also have the option of not bothering to block your opponent’s punches with the cane. You can simply swing it at them just like a sword. With this in mind, the sword grip is a fundamental movement used in cane fighting.

The benefit of using the sword grip is that you’re less likely to get your cane stolen. Since your grip allows the full range of your shoulder and arm to swing, the opponent would be stupid to try and block a strike instead of dodging. If they do block the strike, they are going to get hurt so will not be able to grab your cane.

This is probably the safest of all grips. Once again the most important thing is NOT to get your cane taken off you. This would be disastrous.

The Handle Grip

The handle grip is also a primarily blocking form. Gripping the handle allows for a more versatile and fast range of blocking by simply flicking your wrist. The benefits are that you will be able to block a variety of strikes from more or less any angle with this grip. However, it is a “lazy” grip and allows much less control than the sword grip since your thumb is not reinforcing your finger grips. So overall, you will be able to block a larger variety of strikes, but the trade-off is that your control over the cane will be weaker. Your chance of getting your can stolen and used against you is significantly higher with this grip.

A benefit of this grip is that you can slip into the sword grip or any other grip you want with only one hand. It is also quite an aggressive grip when striking. Whilst you are able to perform “lazy” strikes with this cane grip to your opponent’s groin, you can also swing the cane over your head in a helicopter motion with the standard grip. This allows for some very powerful strikes if necessary.

The Shepherds Grip

Perhaps the fanciest and complicated hapkido cane form is the shepherd’s grip. This method allows you to hook your opponent on the ankle, lower leg, arm, or neck. Although primarily used for hooking, you are also able to block and strike your opponent. Once again, this method is risky since you’re blocking and striking with the hooked end. This gives your opponent a greater opportunity to grab the cane from you since the surface area is much larger.

When using this grip, it is almost always a mistake to hook the opponent straight away. You almost always MUST strike them first or block their strike hurting one of their limbs. If you fail to do this then they will simply turn in to you and try to grip your cane.

If you end up behind your opponent, this is obviously the most beneficial place to be. From here you have a variety of hook attacks on pretty much any part of the body which can be hooked. You can get chokes, joint locks, and other various submissions with the crane hook.

The shepherd’s grip mostly just overcomplicates a decent weapon that is to be used for primarily blocking and striking. This is not to say that the shepherd’s grip is a useless form of cane hapkido. But you must be a master of the style to consider using it.

Two-Handed Grips

When using the cane in hapkido, there are a small variety of two-handed grips. This is mostly a very defensive grip, most commonly used when your opponent has another blunt weapon such as a bat or a cane themselves.

The reason for not using the cane two-handed offensively is that your range of movement is restricted. As the cane cannot bend, you always have to keep your arms parallel to one another. If you were to do this against a trained boxer, they would be able to pick you apart since you wouldn’t move fast enough.

The advantage of a double-handed cane grip comes when your opponent is swinging a weapon at you. As mentioned, you have less range of movement, but the base of the cane is solidified. You are able to absorb a much larger impact and offer some small counter-movements of your own. If you are close to your opponent, you may even be able to hook them and throw them off balance, similarly to the shepherd’s grip discussed earlier.

Disarming Weapons

The cane is one of the most effective ways to defend yourself against a knife. This is because of the huge range it offers. Whilst you are never in a good situation if someone attacks you with a knife, you can at least have a good chance of staying safe with a cane.

In almost all circumstances you want to strike your opponent’s knife holding arm or wrist. In an ideal world, this will cause them to drop the knife in pain and give up on the attack.

If this cannot be done, then you must keep them away with a variety of cane swings, letting them know that if they come close then they will be hit.

Lastly, some very experienced practitioners will use the shepherd’s grip and hook the knife-wielding hand away from the opponent. Then disarming the knife. This is certainly possible, but not recommended for beginners since this can get you into a lot of problems if not performed correctly.

Summary

If you want to improve your knowledge of cane fighting, then this book is a particularly good place to start. Here, you can learn the basics and go from there. A good thing about learning the cane is that you can also apply it to other objects and weapons. As a result, it can also be seen as a solid, universal place to begin and offers good foundations going forwards in terms of weapon self-defense.