Improvised Weapons

[aurik]

Back in the 80's/90's, I remember reading a Black Belt magazine article that centered around this concept.  A few options that were mentioned were a set of car keys and a car antenna.  Of course, in this day and age it's not uncommon to have a key fob without any physical keys on it.  And at least on my truck, I don't have a proper antenna on it -- I had to replace it with a stubby antenna so it would fit in my workplace parking garage.

[Montana]

On 4/20/2025 at 10:02 PM, KarateKen said:

I prefer the Sharpie, but maybe it is time to check out those BIC markers. 

Well, with a Sharpie, you at least |SEE where you hit them (that'll leave a mark!) to identify the attacker later. But the point is to soft IMO. ABIC is much more solid and also will "leave a mark".

[KarateKen]

12 hours ago, Montana said:

Well, with a Sharpie, you at least |SEE where you hit them (that'll leave a mark!) to identify the attacker later. But the point is to soft IMO. ABIC is much more solid and also will "leave a mark".

Just make sure it's not the yellow Sharpie; the color is so light you won't even see the mark.  

[ryanryu]

On 4/30/2022 at 3:25 AM, BoothJ9 said:

I remembered hearing somewhere isn't one of the ideas behind using kobudo weapons modern day isn't to learn to defend with those weapons but to adapt the techniques and concepts to be able to use almost anything around you in the same fashion as a traditional kobudo weapon?

I was thinking a lot about this part when deciding how to structure my kobudo curriculum because I see a lot of truth to what Booth says here. 

You start with the bo, which is generally the "simplest" weapon to get introduced to and acts as a proxy for all sorts of things - sticks, pipes, whatever.

You next learn sai, which isn't a great analogue for anything I can think of, but it gets the range much closer, gets you to strike with specific parts of the weapon, and gets you used to manipulating the tool into different configurations. I think tonfa also builds on this. So this broadens the improvised weapons a lot - a glass bottle, a vase, a textbook, I'd expect someone trained in the complicated Okinawan short weapons to be able adapt most of these effectively.

I'd put eiku, the oar, next. Obviously an oar may show up depending on where you are, but it's really a proxy for any long weapon that's heavier on one end. A shovel. A rake. A vacuum cleaner. (I don't train with the kuwa (hoe), but it seems like the same sort of thing, a mid-length weapon that's much heavier on one end.)

Nunchaku gets into flexible weapons, so a variety of chains, ropes, maybe towels, etc could work here, but also other flail-like items like a belt with a heavy buckle, or a bag filled with small heavy items.

The kama (sickle) introduces a cutting edge, but also serves as a proxy for anything short and heavy on one end - so hammer, hatchet, ladle? spatula? 

So yea, I think training in the traditional weapons both opens your eyes to the fighting possibilities of objects around you while also giving you some capability to handle those objects effectively.