Personally, i'm a fan of the nunchaku but im also pretty good with the bo staff and escrima sticks. I've also started training with the three sectioned staff, man that thing is fun!!
really? they are actually tools for flailing rice the use in MA is wide and varied but, although the ancient practitioners of ninjutsu would use anything appropriate as a weapon, I am not aware of them as being 'a ninjutsu weapon' and i've been training in the art for nearly 11 years (although i'm sure some dojo's do incorporate them in training, they are not mentioned in any of the the dozen or so books i have on the art) surely their popularisation has more to do with the image of Bruce Lee using them than from any other source.
What we now all call nunchaku are rice flails, fire sentries (fire is very scary if denslypacked houses have lots of wood and oiled paper in their making) in Tokyo and other urban areas in the Edo period caried two square lengths of wood joined with a cord to beat out a warning if fire was spotted, they called these "nunchaku" and the name came to mean rice flails as well, which allready of course existed. And no I can't post links to this info as I am at work and restricted as to where I can browse just now.
Helmet Hello (new guy reading the threads) my reason for posting is to reiterate the helmet issue on training with a three section. I could not agree more. Also I would recommend elbow pads for training with a Tonfa. Never had any real problem with the bo or staff though.. Except when I poke the bo thru the ceiling sometimes when I’m messing around in the basement and forget where I’m at! As for the Nunchaku (I single key typed it.. so as not to make a mistake!) start with foam ones. It will get you confident and train your hand movements. I slid dimes into the handle to add weight. At the point the dimes were getting heavy I switched to wood chucks (Ha! Wood chucks!!) After a while I used a heavier pair of nunchaku. I tend to be real careful when I utilize a bladed instrument for training. Movements are slowed down and I try to concentrate on the technique rather than speed. As with any technique I believe that speed comes with repetition of the movement. Power comes with speed. In competition one of the things I have noticed is that some competitors focus on the weapon itself too much. While dropping a weapon is a taboo no one wants to go through in competition, it is also important to focus on where you are striking showing the use of the weapon as an extension of your self. One of the most unusual weapon forms I have seen is the bench. A lower belt student from a local Kung fu school performed it. It was a very interesting use of an instrument and re-enforced the idea that anything can be used as a weapon. (Just a note here: the form was much too long and not even half way thru it the student was out of breath and fatigued, finishing the form very poorly.) I agree that a student wishing to learn a weapon is better suited to a bo or staff which is easier to begin with and can become a extremely elegant weapon to use. In developing weapons forms I feel (and this is just my opinion nothing more) that traditional kicks should be left out. The form should be an example of the use of the weapon and I fell that if you add even one kick than you should have several. Of course, the form then because less of a weapons form so no kicks at all is better. Again, that was just my opinion. Oh sorry I meant to just agree on the helmet thing. I laughed when I remembered using a helmet while practicing with the three section staff. (I’m glad to know I wasn’t alone in what must have looked rather peculiar to a non practitioner of martial arts. I.e. my neighbors! LOL!) I Didn’t mean to ramble on. I spent some time here today reading the threads. Great stuff, Hope I get some time in the future for another visit.
My soul weapon My weapon of choice is the Sai, though I appreciate most weapons used in MA. Everyone looks for that one weapon that defines them. For me its the Sai. There is nothing like the feeling of finding a weapon that at first scares you, but then when you pick it up later you realise just how empty your hands feel without it. It fits your grip perfectly and you can feel its potential just as you can sense the potential energy of a contracted muscle. It completes you. Everyone has one for me its the Sai. That said, I also like the Katana, WC Butterfly knives, Shukko (Ninja Claws), shuriken, and who cant admire the grace of the Tai Chi Sword.
Well I own a pair of Sai and a Bo (not tapered though) and I know a Kama form. I know bit of a Bo form and Sensei Brandon and I made up a Sai form which I have since forgotten. We don't actually learn weapons in our club, but maybe get to use them to do forms a couple times a month.
OK just a little bit of reality. ALL weapons are used in martial arts or rather all weapons have a martial art. So you mean you apreaicat all weapons or just the ones that are asociated with eastern martial arts?
Back in the day when i did karate my sensei also had a swordsmanship class, so i was trained in the spear for a little while then we moved onto the katana, which is my weapon of choice.
If I were to take one to a death match, Katana. I however, I train in Dao, and Nunchaku and am somewhat proficient in each yet not at the level of my Kenjutsu.
Um, I've picked up a few more things since I last posted here. I now train in Escrima, Chinese Broadsword, the Chen Tai Chi straight sword, and WC Butterfly swords.
I like the staff if you had to you could pick up a broom or some kind of stick and would no how to use it .
I've always preferred a pocket 9mm, myself. Most guys get in just as much trouble carrying a "non firearm' weapon as carrying a gun, so why be helpless against a gun (as you surely are beyond about 6 ft, with anything but another gun)? The gun makes guys with knives and clubs back off, without any risk to anyone, so it's preferable, by far, to any contact weapon.
Remember there are more reasons for training with a weapon than self defence. Some countries have somthing called police that handle violent situations
There are several threads covering allmost the same topic theese days; what weapon do you use, what's your favourite weapon, what's the most efficiant weapon, whats the most efficiant legal weapon, etc. I've allready granted that a firearm is somewhat more efficient than -say a longsword on another thread. But there are several other reasons for using a weapon than self defence and efficiansy. Having to use earprotection or loose your hearing is one of them! Estetics is another, body coordination, self esteem historical interests, cultural background, etc. So starting to discuss what weapon is the most efficiant on this thread is "off the mark"
My apologies for nor being clear. I appreciate weapons asociated with eastern martial arts. I collect them.
Ive got about 1/4 million rds fired. Are you too lazy to put on a set of ear plugs, or what's your problem with it? There's also something called a sound suppressor, if you are handy with tools. Believe me, there's a LOT more to learn about gunfighting (efficiently) than there is about hand to hand or contact weapons. YOu don't have to deal with innocents beyond your reach, for instance. I do. You don't have to worry about overpenetration, I do. YOu don't have to worry about the legal ramifications of the use of "lethal" force (with hand to hand, anyway) I do. I know dozens of people who have been attacked, and NONE of them had the cops help them a bit. I've been attacked many times myself, for doing nothing more than walking around. Several other times, I would have been attacked, had I not been 6ft and 180 lbs of black belt, armed, etc. Wolves don't attack grizzly bears, even if they've never seen a bear in their lives. They KNOW it would not turn out well. They can pick up on such "vibes", instantly.
