Kuwa

[Andrew_Patton]

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

[SaiFightsMS]

I did a seach but came up with no sites.

[Sauzin]

OK I thought this would be a challenge, and it was. After an ungodly amount of searching I came up with this:

 

http://www.lovson.com/agricultural.html

 

Take a look at the bottom of the page, middle picture. That's about the closest thing to a koa I could find. Attach that to a good sized maybe 2 1/2 - 3 ft hickory handle and you've got yourself a mighty fine koa.

[krzychicano]

Man I searched all over and came up with zip on purchasing..but found some decent pics..sorry I couldn't help.

[Andrew_Patton]

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

[Andrew_Patton]

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

[Sauzin]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong here. But a koa is generally a 3 prong forked hoe. It's a two handed weapon and the metal prongs meet up with the end of the handle at about a 70 - 80 degree angle.

 

Assuming this is what you know as a koa, then the link you provided doesn't contain anything even similar. The only thing with 3 prongs and a handle is way too small. Correct me if we are not talking about the same thing.

[Andrew_Patton]

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)

[Sauzin]

Yea that's a koa, can't quite tell if it is forked or not from the picture though and the handle is a little longer then I am used to. You might ask your sensie if they should be pronged because the two different ones I've worked with were. You know I doubt it would really matter though.

 

Still the last link you posted didn't have anything even close. The "small garden hoe" and the "potting hoe" will not work and the "nurigama", "garden trenching hoe", and "Planting hoe" are all too short. Not even 2ft in lenght. And the blades are all too small. Seriously the link I posted is the only thing I think that is out there. I would love to be proven wrong though.

[Andrew_Patton]

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