Today's view of martial arts is very different than what it was just a few years ago. The vision that most likely pops in to most people's minds is either MMA, grappling, or little kids breaking pine boards with their feet. But traditional martial arts has much more to offer than winning trophies and cutting down on the world's tree poplulation.
Remember that "martial" means military, though the majority of marital forms have been exploited and fallen into the catagory of sport leaving much of the rich history and applicability of unique close-quarter combat overshadowed by simple pugilism. For example, a lot pople don't realize that older styles of karate (the art of the empty hand) have a completely seperate aspect of weapons training known as kobudo, that includes such instruments as the six-foot staff, nunchaku, sai, and others. In my opinion, you can't begin to understand how and why a given system works unless you consistently train with the weapons used by the individuals who formed and mastered those arts.
Let's take aikido, for example. Aikido emphasizes two basic weapons, the short staff, or jo, and the wooden sword, or boken. Having studied aikido for over 25 years, I can attest to the fact that frequent training with the jo and boken are essential to understanding the basic movements and footwork of the art. The concept of aiki, or "blending" rather than "clashing" with an attacker makes a whole lot more sense when you understand basic sword movements. The founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, had many years of intense sword training under his belt, along with a thorough knowledge of a form of jujutsu known as aikijutsu.
Of course, the samurai are known for their use of the Japanese sword, the katana, as well as other weapons. They were masters of battlefield tactics and close-quarter combat. Samurai warriors would often attend schools that taught the sword and other weapons techniques along with empty hand forms, such as jujutsu and atemi, or striking. Older forms of Japanese jujutsu were not flashy, rarely invovled ground grappling, and the majority of techniques centered around the katana. That's why "old school" jujutsu and aikido have simple wrist locks, many of which could be performed with a sheathed sword or a small staff.
But today, YouTube aficionados view many of these techniques as being a part of a sorry group of martial arts catagorized by the unfortunate name, "Bullshido." Most of us have heard the overused rationale that if something doesn't work in the street or in the cage, it's probably a bunch of crap. Clearly, none of these folks have ever been hit with a boken or the bamboo sword, shinai. Weapons training can help any martial arts student find a deeper meaning and appreciation for the arts they practice. Footwork, timing, body position and mental clarity are all part of the training and easily translate to empty hand skills if one takes the time to train.
Weapons training is an intregral part of our cirriculum here at the dojo. It is just as necessary as sparring and practical application. If you want to dig deeper into the martial art that you study, take the time to resarch how weaons played a part in it's development.
Dave Magliano
Tatsu Dojo
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho
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