Andrew_Patton

I don't box, I train in karate, so I'm prepping myself for an 'in case' and I'm not gonna have time to whip out my 180 inch wraps and brace up my wrists. I train for my purpose, not for boxing, so no gloves for me

Just push past the pain and give your best throughout your training session. After a while you'll progress so working out at your former level will be nothing, then when you're their just turn things up a notch, and keep repeating the process infinitely. It's just like weight training set goals, work in your goals and mentally note how you feel, and what kind of limits you have in that time frame. In time what you're doing now will result in little to no discomfort.

Don't fight in a line, move out of the way, stay out of their way (sidestep). if you don't need to don't waste time blocking. And Never, never stop moving, you don't weigh as much you should be able to run circles around them.

I'm going to agree with 'looking everywhere, and looking nowhere' You have to remember when sparring you have to compete with hands and feet, you're not boxing. I tend to teach people to look somewhere between the opponent's chin and their chest, and to NOT look into their eyes, which can lead to many problems. A good idea is to see how where you look affects your sparring, what you can see and what you can't see, how fast you can catch a movement and your reaction time to it.

Shodan? Nidan? we start kama training at Sandan... Definately stick with dull kamas, I'm not going to endorse using razor sharp kama for kata. Dumbest weapon purchase I ever made was a pair of hardware store kama for kobudo... Something along the lines of what previous stories have stated, just with less blood. I highly recomend the Murasaki Kobudo kama, good quality, better IMO than shureido's kama, and no edge to be warry of. They also work quite well for kumi waza. As I tell every student I have before they start with any blade, live or not, stratches heal, cuts leave scars, but body parts never grow back... I have seen an adult lose a finger at a tournament from sharp kama, good stances, good form, just IMHO a slight mistake cost him a finger. In either case, any weapon can kill, people around you or yourself. Be careful

(talking about weapons for defensive purposes) Every instructor I have ever had has taught that any priciples used in our kobudo training can extend to readily available instruments, and we usually take some time after some weapons training and use more 'real-life' implements to get used to the idea that what we're learning is not the weapon, but use of a weapon. If you're in martial arts for self-preservation/defense do you seriously think that a series of events will happen as you've gone over it many times before in the dojo? Of course real life isn't as predictable as a paired defense. you're not learning exactly everything you need to know, you're learning the principles. That's why, in my dojo at least, we go over many defenses, then we'll do circle drills, and other practice where many people are around a single person and attack any way they can, and the 'center-man's' job is to defend him self using the principles we have taught them. A weapon is a weapon, that's pretty much all, anything can be a replacement for your precious shureido weapons, or any weapon for that matter can be replaced. Martial arts weapons training pertains to the weapons that the people of old had at their time. If you want to complain that using nunchaku, tinbe or sai isn't practical, take five minutes and think about adapting to today. Anything that doesn't adapt dies out, that's how nature works, learn to adapt weapons to be anything you can use to defend yourself, anything will work for that purpose, it doens't need to look good, or be flashy, no need for a $100 graphite bo with holographic tape on it when a good ole' stick will do the job. The one thing I'm trying to say is adapt, that's the key to any martial arts adaptation.

(yes, I know topic's over a year old but...) As far as I can tell there's only two places online you can get tinbe/rochin... one is the turtle shell style, with a spear, the other is the round shield with a sword style Turtle shell style http://www.reimondo.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ Round shield style http://www.karate.org.yu/shop/kobudo.htm (I wonder if the original poster is even around anymore)

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://nunchaku.tv try here, not sure if there's much of the videos or anything left there, try a page around half way through 2003. Should help some, but to really get a feel for a weapon you're going to need to get some hands on time.

Foam nunchaku are nowhere near the same weight, speed, balance or feel of real wooden weapons. And I strongly feel that using anything that is nowhere the same feel of a real weapon is only going to give you ability in the most basic of movements. I have had several students who 'played' around with foam nunchaku just to be amazed at how much harder it is to use wooden nunchaku. Wood nunchaku aren't harder per se, it's more of the fact that using foam nunchaku leads to bad habits that when you first use actual nunchaku are amplified many times.

I agree with shorin ryu in the fact that e-teaching isn't all that great of an idea. Primarily for beginners and anyone that doesn't have a grasp of the basics of a weapon. Weapon training isn't something to be fooled around with, I've seen many injuries with kama in the past that were from adult blackbelts, and I'm not talking new black belts, yondan and above are what I'm talking about, the moment you start getting over confident is when things get the most dangerous

word of advice? don't hit your head... But seriously, In Yamashita/Matayoshi Kobudo we have something similar it is called, okinawan single kama, and is only taught to the highest ranks of the system, some things are usually fudged around (lower than brown working sai, yellow belts with nunchaku) but not when dealing with anything kama related, or blade related for that matter, I'd probably replace that wooden kama with a wood kama that has a rubber blade, and train safely. If you have anymore questions PM me, I may be able to help out a bit more

Seems to me like it'd work, probably could try reshaping it a bit to fit the profile a bit more. I might have to give that one a try, thanks for the link BTW. Edit: found this on one of the sites I checked earlier http://www.hidatool.com/gardenpage/hoes.html

This is the style of Kuwa that we are supposed to use in matayoshi kobudo. http://www.bushikan.com/Kobudo/Weapons%20Page/Kuwa-Jutsu/Kuwajutsu.htm

Not as far as I know, from what I've been taught (in matayoshi kobudo, may vary style to style) is that a kuwa is pretty much what is shown at, http://www.burlingtonkarateandkobudo.ca/kobudo/kobudo.htm (number 4) the only problem with searching for these pictures on the net is I only can find ones from the side. but I believe the last link I posted is pretty much one of them. (the picture with to garden hoes)

found what's pretty much a kuwa, the only problem is I don't know what kind of size the head of it is... http://www.garden-gear.com/html/hand_tools.html

Whew, the weapons I have bought, well I mainly loan them out for dojo use, but they are mine so; 16 pair of nunchaku 3 pair of sai (one shureido) 4 pair of kama (one shureido, various no-names) 3 tonfa (various no-name brands) 12 bo 4 wood kama 2 ueku 3 katana (all no-names) several bokken and shinai

Okay, some help there, I'm gonna check one of those out, the only thing I have found so far are two sites for decent looking kamas http://www.oescoinc.com/shop/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=371&category_id=25575efd2af41cde206fc1b9a7e30986&ps_session=ff19030bd3ea678cce9cf417a10d94ba http://www.hidatool.com/gardenpage/sickles.html I'll keep looking in the meantime, really hard to find decent kobudo kuwa. Andrew Patton

Anyone know of a place where it's possible to purchase a kuwa from, possibly wooden for paired practice?

A pair of shureido sais will cost you around 140 dollars US. that's if you buy them in the United States, if you buy them from japan and ship them to wherever you are, the price goes up much more. I have a pair of shureido sai, and I have to say they are the nicest ones I have ever owned, they are well made, and balanced much better than the century ones I have had in the past. As for learning Sai, your best bet would to be getting instruction from someone who is certified to train others in the use of the weapon.