Kamas

[mattys]

A word to the wise:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/tearsandhugs/P6200150.jpg

Take a look at that and then you'll know why you should put duct tape over the blades of your kamas.

[kiba no chi]

wow dude, thats gonna be a good scar >.< u steralised and wraped it with some gause right?

[ProjectJanus]

Ouch dude, thats gotta sting!

[parkerlineage]

Nice...how'd you manage that?

[mattys]

Yeah, I cleaned it up alright. What I did was I was in the middle of a transition from the defense to offence position with the kama, and I accadentally let go when all the momentum was pushing it towards my shin. The real funny thing is that I actually had the blades duct taped, but that cut right there was only the POINT of the blade, nothing more.

[Sauzin]

Actually I don't duck tape my blades. Of course we don't teach kama untill shodan or nidan. And even then we start slow, very slow. I cut myself once. A little nick on the sid of my arm and afterwards haven't made that mistake since. I think sharp blades keeps you aware and forces you to practice safties. If you practice with duck tape then you may become overconfident and develop speed too quickly. My suggestion would be to slow down and always be aware of where the blade is. Make the hand transitions clean and controlled. And always practice the safties.

[mattys]

While that is an excelent point, the reason why my sensei had me tape my blades was not for my own safety (actually he told me that if he could he would not have me tape them), but for the safety of the kids in the class before me. I teach at the kids class, therefore my weapons are easily accessable to the kids. I would like to trust their integrety, but unfortunatly we do have some less-disciplined kids in our class.

[Sauzin]

I don't know if I would even trust duck taped kama's in a kids class. In my opinion you should have to be at least 20 to work with this weapon. Maybe 18 on an exception basis. Just my opinion, but kids have a difficult time distinguishing between toys and weapons.

For example I had a kid come to class with a pair of foam nunchaku. I took him asside and spoke to him and his parents. I told them that while outside the dojo toys are toys. But the dojo is no place for toys and even more importantly, in the dojo there can be no confusion between toys and weapons. This means toy replica's are entirely inapropriate. They understood. While my experiance teaching kids is limited, the one thing I have tried very hard to teach is that weapons must be respected from day 1. While the kids don't have immediate access to any bladed weapons, they know that every weapon in the dojo is dangerous. They also know that they cannot touch another person's weapons without first asking their permission. So far there have been a couple slip ups but for the most part everyone understands that weapons demand respect.

Moral of the story. Teach respect for all weapons but don't let kids touch any kama's (how do they know if they're sharp or not) untill they are adults. That's my suggestion anyway.

[Shorin Ryuu]

Me and Sauzin had this conversation before (and we disagree).

I have nothing to prove by doing kata with sharp kama. I have a set of kata kama (Murasaki Kobudo) that are dull and a pair of sharp hardware store kama for cutting practice. It is far too easy to cause yourself debilitating hand injury from a slight mistake with a pair of sharp kama. I honestly do not see the point. Sure, it may help you "focus" and "increase blade awareness", but I think a competent person could have focus and awareness regardless of the sharpness of the blade in their hands. Accidents happen, even to the best.

[Menjo]

ouch, ive been lucky with only a few minor injuries so far...