Empty hand arts and weapons, what do you do?

[wagnerk]

Hi All,

I was wondering about how many of us practice empty hand arts (eg karate, TSD, TKD, etc) and practice weapons as well (I'm not saying that we have to be masters with weapons) or vice versa (practice a martial art that is specifically "weaponized" like kendo, kenjutsu, etc do you get taught how to kick, punch, throw, etc)...

In Shotokan:

One association augmented training with 2 x Bo training courses and 2 x Sai training courses a year (while no specific forms, we used the Heian katas).

Another shotokan association augmented training with kendo once in a blue moon (the instructor studied kendo as well as Shotokan).

In TSD:

Currently we use the Bo, short stick and knife (we have forms for them).

What do you guys do?

-Ken

[judoespecialist]

Well I never think upon it. Let me ask this to my team members also and I will reply it.

[tallgeese]

Go out side to study those things.

That's been the history with my circle of arts anyway. It's hard to wrap your head around the concepts of an art that is radically different than yours and has vastly different concerns. For that reason, some time spent by someone at your karate school in a weapon specific art will filter back to you much quicker with much better results.

It's not impossible to reinvent the wheel, but why would you want to when there are are arts out there that have been doing it forever. I'm not saying that this needs to be a formal arrangement for years, it can be on a private basis and maybe just until you've achieved a level of augmentation that gives you a base to work from.

A great example is Chuck Norris' students being mandated to attain a blue belt in BJJ prior to reaching black belt (by now this might have changed.)

[Harkon72]

I'm a traditional Karateka, I use Nunchaku and Sai as I was taught by a Shorin Ryu Sensei. I practice the Pinan Kata with the Sai; I find concentrating with the weapons helps to relax the Kata and these can show improvement when the forms are done with empty hands.

[sensei8]

Shindokan is Karate-do and Kobudo!!

[Zaine]

Shorin Ryu teaches empty hand and weapons and also I do a Western Martial Arts which, unlike the Eastern Martial Arts that I have taken, focus on weapons and not so much on empty hand.

[devil dog]

I teach Shorin Ryu and Kobudo. The weapons I have studied are as follows; Rokushaku Bo, Kama, Nunchaku, Sai, Nunti, Timbei and Rochin, Tuifa, Kiwa, Eku, and Suruchin.

I can only say I am proficient with three of these weapons. (Rokushaku Bo, Kama and Sai)

I have never seen the Pinan katas used for sai but can see the practical application. We practice Kusanku with the sai. All other kata are seperate from our empty hand forms.

[Zaine]

We practice Kusanku with the sai.

We practice Anunku for the sai for the system that I learned.

[ninjanurse]

We use bo, kali stick, knife, kama formally. Informally we use improvised weapons, i.e., hat pins, sticks, rocks, cans, trash bags, etc.

[sensei8]

We use bo, kali stick, knife, kama formally. Informally we use improvised weapons, i.e., hat pins, sticks, rocks, cans, trash bags, etc.

To the bold type above...

A trash bag or the rolled up trash bags?

I have to say that I don't think I've ever heard trash bag as an improvised weapon before, but, I don't know everything and this is quite interesting to me.