JimConway
Instructor
"18 Aug 10
Fighting in motion, from eminent martial-artist, and my friend, Richard L Wigginton
"John Wesley Hardin never thought about being injured, nor killed. If nothing else, he was absolutely fearless. His full focus was always on
killing his opponent, even when his opponent's iron was already in hand. He
rarely failed!
He is credited with, among other things, inventing the shoulder-holster.
Hardin was a master of "tai-sabaki," Japanese for "body-displacement"
(although I'm sure Hardin never heard of the term). He was able to draw and aim while simultaneously moving laterally.
The technique served him well through multiple gunfights. In fact, his ability to gracefully fight with a handgun from virtually any position, always using motion to his advantage, enabled him to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat more than once.
Hardin was murdered in August of 1895, shot in the back of the head, much as "Wild Bill" Hickok had been, nineteen years earlier, and also Jesse James, thirteen years earlier.
Hardin's killer (John Selman) correctly considered him far too dangerous to confront head-on, much had been the case with both Hickok's and James'
killers!
When he died, Hardin was fifty-eight, and in poor health. Hickok was thirty-nine, but, owing to his poor health, looked much older. James was only thirty-five."
Comment: Back in the 1980s, I was first introduced to tai-sabaki by another renowned martial-artist, Bob Duggan. To my discredit, I failed to
straightaway recognize its inherent advantages when fighting with guns. Duggan
patiently worked with me anyway. Later, I saw my error and embraced the technique, and have been refining and advocating my version ever since.
Until recently, I was unaware that it was Hardin who predated us both!
Duggan may have been, but never mentioned it.
Skip Gochenour and his ATSA have been well aware of it for some time, and it was Skip who coined the expression, "Get off the line of force!" and "
Get off the 'X!'" My contribution: "Get your feet out of cement!" is far less elegant!
A heavy price, in blood, pain, trauma, and mental illness, has been paid, in full, for virtually every fighting technique we teach today, and which many of us take for granted.
In our generation, we do our best to continue to advance our Art, but only because we're able to take advantage of countless lessons from the past, provided by the likes of Hardin, Hickok, James, and innumerable others.
Hardly saints, but neither frauds nor pretenders either, these were straight-up guys, and, during their colorful, but short, lives, they assured their place in history.
Few of us will be able to say the same!
/John
Fighting in motion, from eminent martial-artist, and my friend, Richard L Wigginton
"John Wesley Hardin never thought about being injured, nor killed. If nothing else, he was absolutely fearless. His full focus was always on
killing his opponent, even when his opponent's iron was already in hand. He
rarely failed!
He is credited with, among other things, inventing the shoulder-holster.
Hardin was a master of "tai-sabaki," Japanese for "body-displacement"
(although I'm sure Hardin never heard of the term). He was able to draw and aim while simultaneously moving laterally.
The technique served him well through multiple gunfights. In fact, his ability to gracefully fight with a handgun from virtually any position, always using motion to his advantage, enabled him to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat more than once.
Hardin was murdered in August of 1895, shot in the back of the head, much as "Wild Bill" Hickok had been, nineteen years earlier, and also Jesse James, thirteen years earlier.
Hardin's killer (John Selman) correctly considered him far too dangerous to confront head-on, much had been the case with both Hickok's and James'
killers!
When he died, Hardin was fifty-eight, and in poor health. Hickok was thirty-nine, but, owing to his poor health, looked much older. James was only thirty-five."
Comment: Back in the 1980s, I was first introduced to tai-sabaki by another renowned martial-artist, Bob Duggan. To my discredit, I failed to
straightaway recognize its inherent advantages when fighting with guns. Duggan
patiently worked with me anyway. Later, I saw my error and embraced the technique, and have been refining and advocating my version ever since.
Until recently, I was unaware that it was Hardin who predated us both!
Duggan may have been, but never mentioned it.
Skip Gochenour and his ATSA have been well aware of it for some time, and it was Skip who coined the expression, "Get off the line of force!" and "
Get off the 'X!'" My contribution: "Get your feet out of cement!" is far less elegant!
A heavy price, in blood, pain, trauma, and mental illness, has been paid, in full, for virtually every fighting technique we teach today, and which many of us take for granted.
In our generation, we do our best to continue to advance our Art, but only because we're able to take advantage of countless lessons from the past, provided by the likes of Hardin, Hickok, James, and innumerable others.
Hardly saints, but neither frauds nor pretenders either, these were straight-up guys, and, during their colorful, but short, lives, they assured their place in history.
Few of us will be able to say the same!
/John
