Me with nunchaku

[Kicks]

if you want flashy impractical stuff...look up Daredevil

 

Been there, done that. Not impressed. Looked unrealistic, what of it I could see. It was too dark and too 'flashy'. I'm not looking for Hollywood. I'd like to know techniques that develope good eye-hand coordination and that coukld be put in to a demostration at my school's belt test. [at each belt test the black belts are asked to get up and demostrait either a form, a break, or free style sparring]. Since we don't emphises weapons (we only use them in Hapkido) I'd like to do something different and do a sai demostration other than 'block bo, strike neck'.

[Shorin Ryuu]

In that case...python probably wouldn't be the person to ask for help then...

[Spin]

Python,

 

pretty cool. Do you also use the sai? I'm been looking for sai videos on the web and have only found a couple with sai katas. I'd like to find a video that shows you how to do that that flashy flipping stuff.

 

I'd love to see the sai kata vidz, where did you find them??

[Kicks]

Spin wrote:

I'd love to see the sai kata vidz, where did you find them??

 

I only found one, and you can view it on this webpage:

 

http://www.uechi-ryu.com/videos/tc_videos.html

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Just a comment here. No other weapon is as severely abused and misused as the nunchauku is. Tonfa, kama, sai, bo, etc are much easier to use, and more difficult to "misuse" than the nunchauku are. Yes, you can do bad technique with all of the other weapons as well, but it's not nearly as drastic (and more easily correctable) as the misuse of the nunchauku.

[Kicks]

Shorinryu Sensei,

 

I don't quite understand you last comment. Can you explain with an example? Thanks!

[Sauzin]

I think what he is saying is that you could do a kata holding the sai on the wrong end and still find more practical use for them then a nunchaku that is spun around like the video shown earlier. A sai is pretty straight forward. You have a handle, a long pointy thing, and some prongs. While it is possible to use incorrectly (see daredevil), unless you are throwing them up into the air and spinning them around on your fingertips chances are you can find a practical use for them. It's kind of like a knife. Pointy end goes in the opponent. Nunchaku aren't quite so intuitive. When using them it is easy to be distracted by the fact they can spin around real fast thus loosing sight of their martial application.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Shorinryu Sensei,

 

I don't quite understand you last comment. Can you explain with an example? Thanks!

 

Sure. The bo, sai, tonfa and kama can only really be held certain ways, which are "normally" correct. Not all of the time of course, but that is the norm. For example, if you wrap your fingers through the "tongs" of the sai so that they are touching the blade, they will get hurt while you block a weapon. I've seen it done. The bo can be held with your hands to close together which allows for faster, flashier technique, but it is easily "untaught" and corrected. TRhe correct way to hold a bo is with the hands positioned so that 1/3 of the weapon is outside of each hand, and 1/3 is between your hands. Yes, there are techniques where the hands might be closer, but not as a general rule. The tonfa can really only be held one way normally, although there are actually more than one way to hold. They are most often held by the handle, and the most common mistakes people make with them are not running the "blade" of the tonfa (same issue with the sai actually) along the outside bone of the arm. The sameboen you would use to block with "normally. Again, there are exceptions to this depending on the technique you are using, or the attack you are blocking.

 

On the other hand, the nunchaku is most often, as mentioned previously, misused/mistaught and is held close to the rope/chain...just like the creater of this thread is doing in his videos. This is poor technique used by people that have been taught improperly, are "self-taught", or by people more interested in "flash" than effectiveness.

 

I hope that helps explain it a bit. I get pretty "surly" sometimes while watching people, especially qualified black belts, that use lousy techniques while in class or at tournaments. If someone wants to just pick them up and start waving them around, that's fine...as long as they don't start trying to pass themselves off as being competent..or God forbid...EXPERTS of the weapon, and teach others their bad techniques. That really burns my butt when they do that!

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I think what he is saying is that you could do a kata holding the sai on the wrong end and still find more practical use for them then a nunchaku that is spun around like the video shown earlier. A sai is pretty straight forward. You have a handle, a long pointy thing, and some prongs. While it is possible to use incorrectly (see daredevil), unless you are throwing them up into the air and spinning them around on your fingertips chances are you can find a practical use for them. It's kind of like a knife. Pointy end goes in the opponent. Nunchaku aren't quite so intuitive. When using them it is easy to be distracted by the fact they can spin around real fast thus loosing sight of their martial application.

 

Correct. The biggest mistake I see with the sai are in the manipulation of them going from the closed position to the open position. If you're not actually blocking something while you do this, you can do it with a fast "flip" because there will be no resistance to the movment (such as an incoming weapon you are trying to deflect). However, many people also use that same quick flip to try to defect a weaon, and it will cause the sai, if used in a real application, to get knocked out of your hand. The weapon needs to be withdrawn back towards the opposite shoulder and the outward "flip" comes as the weapon is being advanced towards the incoming weapon. It's easier to demonstrate than to explain. I hope that's clear? Watching black belts (or any belt for that matter) in a tournament doing a kata for me as a judge, I see these simple flicks all the time where they are supposed to be blocking an incoming weapon. Realistically, which kata's are supposed to be representing, that won't work.

 

Also, I've seen many times where the competitor, or the instructor in a dojo, will be wrapping his/her fingers inside the tongs of the weapon and doing a high block against an imaginary weapon coming at them. The would crush/break or lose their fingers that way, and it's not easy holding a sai with no fingers to hold it with!

 

Also (getting long winded here today...sorry), I've seen blocks done that are supposed to be deflecting a weapon, such as a sword/katana, and they don't have the blade positioned along their arm where it would actually come into contact with the incoming sword/katana. Basically, they just got their arm cut off if they did that for real, so what use was the sai to them?

[Kicks]

Thanks guys, that cleared it up.