It has been a hard road for me to study this weapon (or weapon-type). In all my years, i only encountered one 'knowledgeable' instructor for the manriki-gusari. I don't suppose anyone else has had this difficulty?

I can throw one rather well. I've never seen a "quality" one, just ninja catalog stuff... not that I'd tell the difference when someone whacked me in the head with one!

 

Amante Marinas talks about these briefly in his book on pananandata. His book "Pananandata Rope Fighting" is pretty much the bible of flexible weaponry. Good luck finding such an out-of-print book though, since Paladin Press doesn't seem interested in re-leasing it.

 

I could teach a bit of thug-fu with it, but I'm not versed in the traditional aspects of the weapon.

The old ‘weighted chain of death’ I have only seen one person demonstrate this device after an Wing Chun seminar in Melbourne. Apparently this person studied several forms of Chinese martial arts before taking up and mastering Wing Chun. I was most impressed with the skill required to wield such an instrument Good luck with your search for an instructor.

Well, i've already received training in it, but really wanted to delve further... and pretty much only found thugfu practitioners of it since my initial instruction.

 

/me smacks tommarker

If you're looking for traditional methods, I'd guess the Bujinkan would be the way to go.

 

I imagine it's actual use was a lot more like thug-fu, though.

 

I *really* like that term

I *really* like that term

I noticed

 

Bujinkan... i suppose i'll have to research that on the net.