More Writing Research

[Scribe]

For those of you who don't know, I'm writing a young adult fantasy novel and my main character is into Judo (yet I know next to nothing about it). I've joined the forum in order to learn by asking specific questions relating to the story.

My main character is a 17 year old girl. She is attacked by two men who's only goal is to kill her. My editor has suggested that I have the girl hit one of the men in the solar plexus so that he tumbles down some stairs and is momentarily stunned. This would give her an opportunity to focus on the other man. Help will arrive shortly after but when it does, the people (who have never heard of Judo) will be impressed by how she handles herself.

My question is: What would she do to accomplish this (hitting the man in the solar plexus)? Would she use a kick or hand movement? Or is there something else she'd do instead?

I want her movements to be realistic to the art, so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bignick]

She could do either, as I'd mentoined judo does contain kicks and strikes, however they are usually introduced later in training. Other things she could do, ram her shoulder into the guy, if she was grabbed from behind she could elbow him, or she could simply sidestep him if he was charging and he could tumble down the stairs.

All these are pretty basic moves found in most martial arts, judo included. What really distinguishes judo is its variety of throwing and grappling techniques. That and it's philosophy of using an attacker's force against them (like aikido). The attacker can kick and punch but it would never be anything fancy, simple strikes, most likely to set up for a follow up throw or hold. My one big recommendation would be to get a book like Kodokan Judo by Kano or Canon of Judo by Mifune and look through it for ideas on some of judo's techniques

 

[Ceicei]

Or she could be grabbed from behind at the top of the stairs and she could do a "shoulder throw" and the guy tumbles down the stairs....

 

[bignick]

Here is an extremely good resource for anybody seeking information about judo. You can view videos of techniques online and it should give you a good a place to refer to.

http://judoinfo.com/

 

[Touch Of Death]

She could do either, as I'd mentoined judo does contain kicks and strikes, however they are usually introduced later in training. Other things she could do, ram her shoulder into the guy, if she was grabbed from behind she could elbow him, or she could simply sidestep him if he was charging and he could tumble down the stairs.

All these are pretty basic moves found in most martial arts, judo included. What really distinguishes judo is its variety of throwing and grappling techniques. That and it's philosophy of using an attacker's force against them (like aikido). The attacker can kick and punch but it would never be anything fancy, simple strikes, most likely to set up for a follow up throw or hold. My one big recommendation would be to get a book like Kodokan Judo by Kano or Canon of Judo by Mifune and look through it for ideas on some of judo's techniques

How about this... as he is standing in the doorway she jumps at him and scissors his hips with her legs and pulls down on his head, because she is so light he easily regains his posture, but that was what she had counted on, because he began backing toward the stairs and one of her legs slipped down behind one of his legs and picked it up off the ground. As he fell back she put the heels of her hand under his chin. Once his head hit the stairs the weight of her body forced his head back, and with a deafening snap the weight of his body rolled his head back under his body...
Sean

 

[Touch Of Death]

oops wrong quote

 

[bignick]

oh, and here I thought someone wanted to talk to me....

oh well..


I think you hit on something there though...for questions like this, Scribe, you could go into the situation in detail and then we could try to come up with ways to work through them. There are an innumerable number of combinations and techniques to use, and there's never one surefire way to get out of a sticky situation. Plus, it would be kinda fun for us to use our imaginations on your scenarios.

In that situation, I'd try to determine which of the two was the "leader". Take off the head and...well you get the picture. However, if someone's sole intent were to kill me. There probably won't be a lot of preamble and unless someone is extremely on guard, they'd more than likely get caught by suprise. Multiple attackers like that need to be dealt with extremely quickly and even though judo incorporates a lot of ground fighting , stay off the ground at all costs. It only ties you up to let the other person get free shots at you. Some extremely fast techniques include a lot of the leg reaps and sweeps, she could throw one of the attackers by hooking his leg and slamming him into the ground (kosoto gari). Remember that for people that aren't trained to fall, these types of moves present a serious hazard, especially of hitting your head against the ground, causing serious injury. Having one momentarily stunned, by falling down stairs, etc would allow you to "divide and conquer" and deal with other. If one were knocked unconscious from a hitting their head on the ground from a quick throw it would allow her to deal with the other attacker in a more "controlled" manner and she could even just restrain him until that helped arrived.

 

[bignick]

By the way, I hope the Japanese terminology I use doesn't throw you off, I provide it as reference to specific techniques. The shoulder throw mentioned by Ceicei is called seoi nage. There are two major variations of it, ippon seoi nage (one handed or one armed) and morote seoi nage (two handed). If you go to the website I gave earlier, it has videos of all of judo's main throwing techniques. It is also a wealth of info on history, terminology, and includes videos of some of the kata's as well. You might find the Goshin Jutsu(self defense) kata of particular interest, since it offers ideas on how to defend yourself and escape different situations.

 

[Touch Of Death]

By the way, I hope the Japanese terminology I use doesn't throw you off, I provide it as reference to specific techniques. The shoulder throw mentioned by Ceicei is called seoi nage. There are two major variations of it, ippon seoi nage (one handed or one armed) and morote seoi nage (two handed). If you go to the website I gave earlier, it has videos of all of judo's main throwing techniques. It is also a wealth of info on history, terminology, and includes videos of some of the kata's as well. You might find the Goshin Jutsu(self defense) kata of particular interest, since it offers ideas on how to defend yourself and escape different situations.

Sorry about that. Anyways Judo is death when you add environmental dynamics. A take down in such cases doesn't always mean a tie up.
Sean

 

[Scribe]

Firstly, I don't mind the Japanese terms, I will occasionally use them when she's talking. Not too much because that will be off putting to the reader but enough to show that she knows what she's talking about.

Before I tell you more about the scene, I wanted to say thank you for helping me. Even the stuff that isn't possible for this scene gives me ideas for future scenes.

Unfortunately, she can't use any form of kick because she isn't dressed conveniently. So, I think she needs to elbow attacker 1 in the stomach/solar plexus area and he falls down the stairs because he's standing on the edge of the top step. He's not injured (bruising, at worst) but he will meet a man with a sword who will keep him busy for a while (yes, he'll end up dead).

Meanwhile, the girl is rushed by attacker 2 (from the side probably). Can she do an over the shoulder throw from there? She'll tear her dress but she won't care (the rotten thing is way too uncomfortable anyway). Will he land on his stomach or his back?

She'll hear fighting down the stairs, so she'll jump over attacker 2 and try to run in the opposite direction. Attacker 2 will get to his feet and grab her arm...what will be the instinctive thing to do at this point (remember, no kicks are possible)?

 

[bignick]

rushed from the side...

yeah...the shoulder throw (ippon seoi nage) could come in handy. If he rushed her and had her in a bear hug from the side uki goshi (type of hip throw, click for video) also comes to mind with that situation.

You'll find that basically every throw in judo, in their "standard version" has the person being thrown end up on their back. That's the quickest way to win a judo match. Throw your opponent solidly on his back while maintaining your balance and posture.

As for the arm grab, check out the goshin jutsu kata, here, for a nice defense, it does contain a kick, but it's very low and you should be able to do it in a dress. Otherwise, if you want to finish the guy instead of just restraining him something like a ko uchi makikomi comes to mind. As he pulled on her arm she could go with the force and run her shoulder into his chest and then hook his leg with hers as the picture shows. The final result of this throw is to either roll over your opponent, or land directly on top of him when you roll. Landing on top of him would most likely put him out of commision for a good period of time.

 

[Blindside]

Why solar plexus?

Why not an elbow backward to the opponents nose/face. If she rocks the head back (and hopefully breaks the nose) bad guy 1 could be off balance going backward. Solar plexus shots tend to make the person sink vertically or go forward, hard to imagine someone going dramatically backward from that.

So this leaves your heroine dangerously close to said stairs and being charged by bad guy 2. I would suggest:

BG2 reaches out with right hand to grab heroine
Heroine steps toward and to the right (her right), Heroine uses left hand to deflect opponents grabbing hand outward and uses right hand to strike the attackers face.
She twists to the left now facing a similar direction to the attacker, her right hand grabbing hold of the hair on the back of his head, her right leg sweeping backward against the opponents left thigh and between his legs. Her right hand pushes down on the opponents head. This results in a throw, preferably his head winds up bouncing off something solid. (The leg action on this reaping throw may rip the dress depending on how tight it is.)

The way this is set up, BG2 is between the heroine and the stairs now, if she turns to run he can grab her leg. To get away she can stomp backwards with the other leg to either the head or ribs depending on which leg is grabbed.

Hey, this action choreography stuff is fun.

Lamont

 

[Yari]

Just read through this thread.

What comes to mind is, which proficincy(sp?) level is she on compared to the attackers.

If the your main character is a master-master, and the attackers come running from far, a minor side step with a little bit of help, will propell the first attacker in any direction. The second attacker will see this, and if his not intoxicated he'll not make a 100% attack. As I understand the main character is probaly standing ontop of some stairs. Since she side stepped the first guy, she should either diretly enter the guy, or go under.Both should take him off gaurd. This guy shouldn't be thrown away, but shoudl be held an used as a sheild (the noise of others comming). When they are on there way up the stairs, throw the second guy down the stairs.

/Yari