Master of the Blade by Richard Ryan

Master of the Blade contains a lot of informative, thought-provoking material that will be of interest to anyone interested in martial arts, self-defense and the use of the knife. Unfortunately, to access this information, the reader has to overcome a significant flaw and barrier to that information. In the case of Master of the Blade by Richard Ryan, that flaw is Richard Ryan.

Let me say in the beginning this book has a lot to offer. There is a lot of great information and even the material I don’t like is presented in a way that is thought-provoking and ultimately beneficial. Still, there is a problem with the book and everyone I’ve loaned the book to identified the same flaw – the author. I want to cover that aspect early in the discussion, and then the review can move into the real informative material in the book.

It’s popular for some authors to provide a short quote that helps define the philosophy and perspective of the next chapter – Ryan likes to quote himself in his chapter headings. More than half of the chapter heads have Ryan quoting himself (8 of 15) and they tend to be very general, even clichéd, quotes common to martial arts, like comparisons to fighting as physical chess and resistance separating martial fantasy from martial reality. Inside those chapters, the reader will find lots of stories of Ryan’s greatness and lots of insults for traditional martial arts, including a cartoon that lambasts a portly caricature of a martial arts master. Even the quality, technical material tends to be heavily slanted toward Ryan’s ideas and bent to the purpose of promoting his own superior technique, the Dynamic Combat Method.

Overall, it leaves an impression of arrogance and self-aggrandizing. Despite all that, the information is mostly good and useful.

The text is 158 pages with text descriptions, some drawings and black-and-white photography. Overall, the presentation is good and the illustrations tend to bend useful, descriptive and topical.

The first four chapters outline a lot of Ryan’s martial philosophy and his views on knife fighting. Some of the philosophies are solid but there was some I didn’t agree with. Experienced martial artists will likely have come across all the ideas covered in these early chapters and formed their own thoughts and opinions.

Chapter five is where the real material starts. This chapter is an overview of blade and knives. It’s a good introduction into carry knives and modern tactical folders. In Chapter, Ryan builds on concepts like stance and position, arriving at the crouched, modified military stance promoted by DCM.

Chapter seven is a great example of Ryan at his best. The discussion of grips is a highlight, providing lots of detail on the advantages and disadvantages of each grip. He also goes into detail about cutting, cutting targets and advanced cuts that I haven’t seen discussed in another instructional (thought I have been taught them in personal instruction from some people skilled in Kali). Ryan explains the concept of aligning the knife with the opponent’s sight to hide the length of the weapon. It’s a great advanced skill that I’ve usually seen with longer weapons in Jyodo or Iaido training (Japanese staff and sword drawing).

The next chapter is on defense and counter-attack. It details some pretty common ideas of evading and blocking with the knife. Later in the chapter, Ryan starts to delve into tactical ideas that carry over into blade tactics and blade strategies. Most of the stuff here is good, but the real quality material comes in the description of different kinds of knife fighters (charger, slugger, blocker and runner) and strategies to defeat them. These strategies may or may not be effective, but they’re based on sound logic and consistent with Ryan’s martial worldview, so it’s easy to break down the material and decide how it fits into your game.

Ryan includes a chapter he calls “The Deadly Mind.” It explores a lot of the psychological issues that someone hoping to defend themselves with a knife will face. I have to give him credit, because this is a subject that often isn’t explored in near enough depth. The fact is, if you’re going to train for self defense, there’s a lot of mental, emotional and spiritual homework you need to do before hand.  

The book ends with a chapter on concealment, common mistakes and realistic training. Theses end chapters are short and often repeat ideas that Ryan has already espoused in earlier chapters. He includes a glossary with some of the terms he uses.

Overall, the book is filled with good information – it will either inform you or provide a counter-point for evaluating your own philosophies. The author comes off as arrogant, but that doesn’t mean the text isn’t good. I’d defiantly recommend it to anyone interested in knife defense, although I think it’s better in the hands of an experienced martial artist than a novice.