Weapons of Jiu Jitsu: Bottles

The bottle is usually the first weapon a jitsuka will come across in a training session. A bottle is one of the simplest bludgeoning weapons, but it is a bit special in that it can be quickly turned into a more offensive sharp weapon. Bottle training begins with the use of plastic bottles, and moves on to include cut down plastic 'broken' bottles, and finally to using whole and broken glass bottles at the more senior grades.

Attacking

Attacking consists of simple swinging attacks with a full bottle or thrusts with a broken bottle.

A full bottle is typically swung at the head since it's size and weight would have little effect on any other area of the body. The nature of the weapon means that the most common attack is a blow down to the top or front of the head. Another common attack is a back hand swing to the side of the head or directly into someone's face.

An arm lock puts the attacker in pain and controls the weapon

A broken bottle's shape means it can be used to slash with, but more often it is thrust as a piercing weapon - the targets normally being the face and the stomach.

Defending

Always disarm an attacker - an arm lock again works well with a bottle

Defending against a bottle attack is one of those things that a confident jitsuka can easily cope with. The variety of attacks with a bottle are fairly restrictive, and if the bottle is whoke there is really just one target.

With a full bottle, we can safely employ throwing techniques such as ktomo seoi nage which can utilise an arm lock since the weapon cannot easily damage the defender in such a position. Broken bottles however can cut the defender if not controlled properly, and so the weapon should be controlled by the defender taking control of the hand that the bottle is in. This inevitably involves a wrist lock of some type.

Disarming a full bottle may be achieved in several ways. The quickest way from an arm bar for example is to squeeze the attackers arm under your shoulder and strike the defender's shoulder with your free arm. At the same time twist your torso into the strike, drawing the pinning arm down the attacker's arm. As the neck of the bottle is reached, the defender will be able to draw the bottle out of the attacker's hand. Of course that only suffices for bottles with large necks. For broken bottles trying such a technique would cause damage to the arteries in the arm pit, and so treating it like a knife would be far more appropriate.

Last Modified: