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...

This is the last of 42 posts this month relating to Kusarigama - who knew there would be so much to say on the subject?  To close, I would like to make an observation on the training weapons commonly used that has a broad application across any art. In the photo above you can see one of my rudimentary training weapons - I like to construct the right training weapon for the right job - they enable the practice of skills that you otherwise can't practice - however you have to be careful. You will notice that this weapon has a chain - I use this to practice casting.  (If you are interested I use 2.5mm curb chain 16mm x 10mm, with the blade part of the Type 3 being a hardware store wall bracket so it is properly reinforced). On practicing with the rope, I found I could do quite a lot with it.  I began to focus on the recovery of the rope so I could continuously cast and recast.  This became easy with the rope - I could stand with my left leg forward, cast the rope straig...