weapon forms

[IAMA_chick]

i just got a bo staff, it's my baby, and am a colored belt and i don't have to do a form with it yet so i was wondering what techniques would be cool and interesting to do in a form b/c i have to make my own up. also, explain how to do it if you can please. thanks..and have any of you ever made up your own weapons form, or reg. form? just curious.

[SaiFightsMS]

It is an interesting challange to do some of your empty hand forms with a weapon.

[tommarker]

low block, high block, thrust, reverse strike

 

throw in a front kick and side kick, and you got yourself a form.

[Sauzin]

*sigh* (shaking head)

 

Find an instructor. Don't hurt yourself.

[tommarker]

with a bo staff?

 

i think it's more likely just to end up making a really crappy form than any sort of real injury.

[SaiFightsMS]

And please remember that it is a bo or a staff - not both words together as they mean the same thing.

[Sauzin]

with a bo staff?

 

i think it's more likely just to end up making a really crappy form than any sort of real injury.

 

Yes with a "bo staff". A bo is a serious weapon. Sure as kids we all play with sticks, but you start swinging a 6ft oak bo around and you'll find some additional dangers. First the length of the stick causes any vertical swing to come very close to your knees. In a wide stance it is very possible to end your days as a martial artist by nailing your knee with the other end of an over head strike. Secondly if you don't know how to do a side strike it is very possible to injure your ribs, fracture your arm, or bruise the side of your hip bone. Then there's the given potential for injury to others if a proper grip and control is not maintained. People like to swing the thing around "In one hand then out the, wait were is that other hand?" kind of situation. Next thing you know someone is missing an eye and the brain that it was connected to ain’t doing so good either (worst case scenario but certainly possible).

 

Weapons can hurt people. A bo is a weapon, like a sai, a kama, or a gun. Don't just pick it up and expect to swing it around and figure it out. Someone will most likely get hurt. Usually it's not the bad guy.

 

It may be that injuries are less common with bo’s then say kamas, but it only takes one. I would prefer that people without weapon instructors not chance it. If they feel that they must then I would highly suggest that they go at it with a rattan and they keep the movements slow. However I fail to see the point. I personally do not believe it possible to learn a bo technique with a degree of proficiency that will actually be of benefit without qualified instruction, especially at a beginning level.

 

-Paul Holsinger

[tommarker]

Paul,

 

Kids (and adults for that matter) are going to do it out of natural curiousity regardless of whether it is right or wrong. Some lessons can be learned from out of class exploration. At first? Perhaps not, but why try to douse a student's natural curiousity by using blanket statements like "you'll shoot your eye out."

 

I haven't seen someone manage to fracture their arm with their own staff. Whack themselves good? Sure. Then you can say something like "see? that's why you should be careful when you try things beyond your abilities."

 

My point is that a bo staff (ha!) is, on the scale of relative danger, not as dangerous as say the sword.

[searcher]

Sauzin is right in that the Bo or Kon is a very dangerous weapon and I see the point that the sword or kama, with their bladed edges are also very dangerous. The idea that one is more dangerous thatn the other is like comparing a landmine to a grenade, both are lethal and can be dangerous to the user. As to address the question of moves for the Bo I would say that you do need an instructor if you have no experience, but if insist on learning it yourself look up Ota Eihachi, Matayoshi Shinpo, Taira Shinken, etc. for traditional kata or Casey Marks, Gary Waugh, or Wayne Dalglish for a more flashy approach ie. open weapons. They are all really good and have very good instructional videos.

[IAMA_chick]

my instructor is there as well as blackbelts helping me but she wants me to make my own form up