Practical Martial Arts Association

There is a lot to be said for assessing the items which you have to have with you all the time in terms of their use as a weapon.  In the final section of the Lähitaistelu film, we see fighting with and against the small shovel.  It is important because it is something everyone in these circumstances had on them, so you can use it if you have to and someone may use it against you. If you gave me a choice I wouldn't select a fake metal fan to fight with, however, if it was all I was allowed to carry when I went to many cultural events then I would try to make the best of it as a weapon. Against the rifle, we see a common thread of short weapons - when the opponent armed with a longer weapon inevitably gets the first shot at you, deflect it and move in. You wouldn't equip a soldier with a baton (or a jutte) however there is a congruence with weapons of a certain size be it a small shovel, baton or the kama on a kusarigama. This is why weapons don't really become outdat...

I am going to try and make December 2017 Kusarigama month - or Kusarigamarama.   To that end I will be posting as much of my Kusarigama back catalogue as time allows, starting with the basics of typology. Examples of European flails are actually somewhat limited.  There are many examples of the spear in European and Japanese artwork as it was a common weapon even though the surviving information on codified techniques of the spear is much less than many other weapons in both cultures. Whilst the varying types of flail and chain weapons are uncommon in surviving information on codified techniques in both cultures, they are also underrepresented in artwork.  The logical conclusion is that they were simply not popular weapons at the time.  Certainly, as weapons of war they have their limitations. In his book Old School   Ellis Amdur describes that ' the thought of a squad of kusarigama fighters is more an image of comedy than valour' .  For the most part I ag...