The Pekiti-Tirsia system is best known for its Daga, or knife...not just in the realm of Filipino martial arts but all martial arts. The teaching methodology behind the tactical use of and defense against the knife is what puts Pekiti-Tirsia apart from the rest. It approaches all training as if a blade is involved. If the opponent is not wielding a knife in his hand, the practitoner assumes that it hasn't been pulled out yet.
The knife is among the oldest weapons and tools used by mankind, and it is still widely used today...even after the advent of firearms. Some of the enduring legacy of the knife comes from its availability, its simplicity. A knife never has to be reloaded and does not jam. All that is needed is a willing individual. Tactical folders and field-grade knives are commonplace, but even more so are everyday items such as pens, pencils, utility knives, and the like. The real danger to the law-abding citizen is intent. A pen is not normally a threat to anyone, but in the hands of an individual who is intent on hurting someone, that same pen is now a weapon of opportunity. That very same danger is amplified if a knife is involved. Pekiti-Tirsia aims to heighten edged-weapon awareness through responsible training in tried and true methodologies.
Pekiti-Tirsia knife theory is generally based on the assumption that the practitioner is wielding a small knife...with blade lengths of three to four and half inches, which are the sizes for the most common pocket knives. Larger knives tend to fall into Solo Baston-techniques which rely on hacking, due to the added power from the additional weight and length of the blade. Larger knives are not as common a carry item as small knives, thus practitioners practice with the size knife that they may probably carry. Small knives tend not to be able to do the kind of damage that larger knives can do, thus not having the "stopping power" required to defend against determined attackers. With this in mind, the Pekiti-Tirsia system tends to teach the practitioner as if the practitioner is at some sort of disadvantage: if the opponent has a sword, the practitoner has a knife; if the opponent has a large knife, the practitioner has a smaller knife; if the opponent has two knives (or more), the practitioner has one; if the opponent has only one knife, then the practitioner has nothing.
Although there are many ways to hold and deploy a knife, there are two basic grips in Pekiti-Tirsia: sak-sak (or hammer-grip) and pakal (ice-pick grip).
Adecedario De Sak-Sak:
This set teaches the basic body mechanics and footwork to use the particularities of knife in hammer grip against specific targets.
Abecedario De Pakal:
This set teaches the basic body mechanics and footwork to use the particularities of knife in ice-pick grip against specific targets.
-Basic Empty Hand Versus Knife-
Basic Knife Tapping:
This drill teaches the practitioner how to attempt to engage and control the opponent's knife held in sak-sak. Although knife tapping by itself is not fighting, it becomes the cohesion between techniques and thus becomes invaluable when linked with strikes, takedowns, locks and escapes. It is from this foundation that the footwork becomes inseparable from the given techniques. It is helpful to think of knife tapping as a sort of "broth" and the striking and disabling techniques as your "ingredients".
Third Hand Principle:
According to Pekiti-Tirsia theory, in a knife confrontation, there are two hands involved: the practitioner's and the opponent's. Therefore, each combatant has a "third hand" to add to the equation. It is this "third hand" of the practitioner which delivers the strikes to stun or disable the opponent so further control of the opponent's weapon hand can be established. The third hand is used in conjunction with knife tapping in order to accomplish this.
Knife Reversals:
After sucessfully engaging and controlling the opponent's sak-sak knife, this series of techniques teaches the practitioner how to use the opponent's sak-sak knife against himself. This is taught along with strikes and throws to set up the reversals, and "back-up" techniques if the opponent changes the conditions of the initial technique.
-Advanced Hand Versus Knife-
Advanced Knife Tapping:
This is similar to Basic Knife Tapping but adjustments are made because now the tapping is against a pakal grip. Primary, secondary, tertiary and quadrary tapping are all explored with the idea of controlling the opponent's knife while countering.
Third Hand Principle:
This section follows the concepts of hitting while controlling the opponent's pakal knife hand, and leading into takedowns and/or breaks.
-Knife Level One (Sak-Sak Versus Sak-Sak)-
The Passing Drill:
This drill teaches the practitioner how to parry the ooponent's knife while delivering counterthrusts of his own.
The Locking Drill:
This drill shows the practitoner how to evade and control the opponent's knife arm and respond with a lock (in particular, the inside wristlock, the outside wristlock, the straight armbar, or the bet armbar).
The Scissoring Drill:
This drill teaches the practitioner how to engage the opponent's weapon arm and deliver countercuts while monitoring with the alive hand.
The "Extras" Drill:
This set demonstrates some of the techniques that do not quite fit into the other sets but are very valuable nonetheless, such as the quick thrusts, "touches" (quick disarms in multiple-opponent scenarios), and "snatches" (striking disarms).
-Knife Level Two (Pakal Versus Sak-Sak)-
The Passing Drill:
This drill begins to demonstrate the differences in application between sak-sak and pakal orientations. This drill closely resembles the drill of the same name in level one, but there are a few adaptations since the practitioner now wields the knife in pakal. Because of this, there is a close range, hooking and ripping aspect to the knife's use.
The Locking Drill:
Once again, this drill closely resembles its level one counterpart, but show how to attain numerous locks (e.g. inside wristlock, outside wristlock, straight armbar, and bent armbar) using the pakal grip.
The Scissoring Drill:
This drill demonstrates how to get countercuts on the opponent's weapon arm, but the effects can be much more damaging than previously seen in level one. The pakal grip provides a much more powerful body dynamic to cut and rip than with a sak-sak grip.
The "Extras" Drill:
This contains other tangential techniques to be used while using the pakal grip, such as quick thrusts, "touches", and "snatches".
-Knife Level Three (Pakal Versus Pakal)-
The Passing Drill:
Because the opponent is also now in pakal, the parrying in this set is done differently than in the previous sets, due to the threat of being hooked. This set essentially echoes the techniques seen in Advanced Hand Versus Knife.
The Locking Drill:
Using the peculiarities of the pakal grip, the practitioner again learns how to establish one of the basic locks (e.g. inside wristlock, outside wristlock, bent armbar or straight armbar) on the opponent.
The Scissoring Drill:
As in Knife Level Two, the "scissoring" in pakal grip is more akin to ripping the opponent's weapon arm.
The "Extras" Drill:
This section of the curriculum contains quick thrusts off of knife-to-knife engagements, as well as takedowns.
-Doble Daga-
Double knife is broken down into five categories depending on the practitioner's knife grips relative to the grips of the opponent. Generally, double knife resembles either the Solo Daga curriculum or the Espada Y Daga curriculum, with adjustments made because of the second knife hand.
Doble Daga Level One:
This is where the practitioner has both knives in sak-sak grips and so does the opponent. This section closely resembles Knife Level One but with some minute details dealing with clipping and zoning. There are also some techniques that are influenced by the European "Main Gauche" (a long parrying dagger). Because of the possible long-range aspect afforded by the sak-sak grip, parts of this section resembles the long range jabs as seen in boxing.
Doble Daga Level Two:
The practitioner now has a mixed grip--one knife in pakal and the other held in sak-sak--while the opponent is in double sak-sak. This section most closely resembles Espada Y Daga Level One, consisting of attacks, contradas and recontras.
Doble Daga Level Three:
In this section, both the practitioner and the opponent have mixed grips--pakal and sak-sak. The techniques in this set are extrapolated from different parts of the system, and contains a contradas set.
Doble Daga Level Four:
The practitioner has a double pakal grip while the opponent has a double sak-sak grip. The game plan of the practioner is to close the distance while the opponent's tries to maintain distance. This is is similar to Espada Y Daga Level Two, containing attack, disarms, contradas and recontras.
Doble Daga Level Five:
Both practitioner and opponent have double pakal grips. Because of the hooking involved, neither participant wants to be inside the other's guard. Think of two praying mantis fighting one another, using their sharp appendages to hook and rip at one another. Due to this concern, there are many techniques which look like the practitioner is slipping to the outside of the opponent's guard, like one might see in boxing. This section most resembles the techniques found in Espada Y Daga Level Three, containing contradas and recontras.
Knife Finishers:
Technically, this is the end of the system...the last part any practitioner will be taught before it can be said that one has "completed" the system. It teaches the use and retention of the practitioner's knife while the opponent is empty-handed. Although this seems immoral on the surface, it is taught as if there is a great disparity of force between the two combatants in the opponent's favor, as a smaller woman might have against a much larger male opponent. It can also be regarded as the opponent has been disarmed of his weapon but continues an aggressive salvo of attacks against the practitioner. It also contains counters against those who have experience in knife tapping and knife reversals. As such, it is a highly regarded secret even among those in Pekiti-Tirsia, and an enigma to those who are not.
Other Applications:
Many knife techniques can be successfully translated to other areas, such as pocketstick, handcuffing and empty hands. In fact, knife skills often train the empty hand skills to improve, most notably in footwork/zoning and striking power. There is even training for underwater knife technique! If that was not enough, many of Pekiti-Tirsia's handgun techniques are extracted in one form or another from the knife curriculum. The Pekiti-Tirsia knife curriculum by itself has so many nuances that a practitioner could spend their entire training in just knife (although the Pekiti-tirsia knife training becomes more enriched with the understanding in the other sections of the system).