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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 684521" data-attributes="member: 5171">At my school, one of our requirements around brown belt is the creation of a Mass Attack kata.  We have to imagine ourselves surrounded by progressively more people (4 at one belt, 6 at the next, then 8, and eventually 10) and come up with a scenario that would get us out of there.  The rules of the kata are that we can't use the same strike twice, we can't do more than three strikes on a single opponent, we have to stay in a small space (pretty much one step), and we have to be able to do the kata in less than five seconds (at least, for the 4 man version).  The first rule is just to make us think and come up with different ideas.  The second rule is to stop us from being stupid and spending five seconds hitting a guy.  The third rule is to simulate being surrounded or stuffed -- we learn about dancing out of a group in other techniques.  The fourth rule is to keep us honest -- if you're taking ten seconds to take them out from the time you start moving, you're being way too generous with what they're going to be doing to you.For a four-man mass attack, it might end up being something like this (off top of head):Left elbow and right four-finger eye strike to the guy on my left -- the elbow hits the throat, and the eye strike hits the eys.  Assume that for purposes of the kata, he's out.Pivot to the right, firing a left jab to the face of the guy who was in front of me and a right chop to the guy who was behind me -- I'm now facing the guy who was on my right, and I use the momentum of the pivot not only to power these strikes, but to throw a left snap kick to the groin.The guy on my right is bent over from the kick to the groin -- grab the hair, right chop to his neck as I shove him toward the guy who was in front of me -- this buys me a bit of time with that guy, and I throw a rear kick at the guy who was behind me.  I'm assuming that for purposes of the kata, the guy I chopped at the neck (or jaw) is out, and the guy I chopped and then kicked is also out.  Not unconscious or anything -- just "out of the fight" enough for me to run away.Finally, as the guy who was in front of me recovers, I throw a left backhand wipe that won't hurt a ton but snaps his head to one side, followed by a right hammerstrike that hits about where the jawline reaches the ear.  He's out.  Kata's over.That took a lot longer to explain than it did to do it in the air, and my terminology might be confusing.  In the air, I think it took about four seconds.  Essentially, creating the kata teaches us the following:* The duh-worthy fact that if you're fighting more than one opponent, you really need to strike first, and keep striking.* The similarly duh-worthy fact that if you're fighting more than one opponent, you can't spend too much time on anyone -- you need to hit with kill shots, and quickly, or you need to do what Musashi talks about in the book of Five Rings -- striking opponents like fish on a line, hitting them all quickly and never focusing for too long on one person.* The notion of using people in a fight to get in each other's way -- more obvious with more people, but I didn't wanna make a 10-man attack just for this post. Throwing a dumb attacker into a smart attacker can buy you the extra second you need to take out a lazy attacker.* The importance of using your momentum to get multiple strikes off while you keep moving.For anything past four guys, you really have to start guessing -- with six guys, you can take out maybe three of them before the other guys get to punch at you, so you have to keep moving, and in the kata you have the luxury of deciding who's going to attack you next (although my teachers will get on us if we "forget" about someone, leaving ourselves open to them for too long).  It's by no means perfect, and isn't meant to teach everything, but it's a great way to start feeling the chaos of a bunch of people around you.For a look at a much-better choreographed Four-Man Mass Attack, look at "The Perfect Weapon" -- the scene where the hero is getting mugged.-Tacky</blockquote>

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