Category Archives: Kobudo

Benefits of Weapons Training

Benefits of Weapons Training for Karate Practitioners
By Bob Davis
Published in the NL Shotokan Newsletter Vol 1, Issue 2, Fall 2013

There are many benefits to Kobujutsu (weapons training). Regular training will improve both your health and your karate.

Kobujutsu and karate have many things in common. Both arts are broken down into kihon (basics), kata (forms), and kumite (fighting). They both share blocking and striking movements such as soto uke (outside block), uchi uke (inside block), uchi (strikes), and zuki (punches). As well, they share some of the same stances, zenkutsu dachi (front stance) and neko ashi dachi (cat stance). Principles such as ma-ai (distance and timing), kime (focus), tai sabaki (body shifting), atemi waza (vital striking points), and mushin (calm mind) are all principles that both weapons and karate training share.

Like karate training, weapons practice is demanding and will improve your endurance. Weapons like bo, sai, tonfa, and kama all weigh a pound or more. Regular practice with them will help develop muscle strength and coordination. Kobujutsu and karate use a lot of the same muscles; the warm-ups and callisthenics are the same. Both weapons and karate classes begin with push-ups, sit-ups, stretching, and core exercises.

Weapons training will improve your reaction skills and bring balance to your techniques.   Mistakes in weapons can be dangerous and therefore safety is very important. Like karate, “getting out of the way” is always the first order of business. Kumite in Kobujutsu, always has a designated attacker and defender. There is always a natural tendency to have a “good side” in karate. To improve the weak side, you may have heard the phrase “twice on the left and once on the right”. Practice with the bo is done on both the right side and left side. As well, after mastering the bo, you will move to the study of sai and tonfa. These weapons are used in pairs, one in each hand.

Learning Kobujutsu kata will introduce karate students to new stances, as well as offer greater understanding of Shotokan Kata you have already been practicing. Stances like Neko ashi dachi (cat stance), Shiko dachi (square stance), and Kosa dachi (crossing stance) are used regularly in Kobu. Some of these are also found in Shotokan but in higher-level katas. Neko ashi dachi (cat stance) shows up in katas such as Gojushiho – Dai, Unsu, and Hangetsu.   Katas such as Jitte, Enpi, and Meikyo have elements of bo in them. One of the first things that I was asked to do in Kobujutsu, was to take a kata from Shotokan that I knew and perform it with sai. I chose Hein Shodan. It was amazing how easy sai fit into the kata!

Training in weapons can also be fun and exciting! It can give a karate student that has gotten bored, a renewed interest in training. Kobujutsu has its own grading and belt rank system. Starting as a white belt can let an advanced karate practitioner become a beginner again.

Weapons Practice

Weapons Practice
By Dan Blackmore
07 April 2014

I have been training with weapons since 2009.  Training began with the bo: learning the basic stances and blocking and striking techniques.  Next came learning the movements of kata.  There is no free sparring in the system, but a set of prearranged attacks and defences is drilled; like a kata performed with two people.  This process is repeated with the sai, tonfa, nunchaku, kama, and tekko.  I’ve noticed how as one rises in rank, the weapons get shorter and so the distance to the opponent reduces.  This follows the history of the evolution of martial arts into karate.  The use of weapons became illegal in occupied territories, so people started using concealable weapons.  To compensate for using weapons with decreased mass, the practitioner had to exert more internal energy to incorporate power into the technique.  The skilled weapons practitioner soon discovered that he could defend against an armed opponent without a weapon of his own.

Generally, the weapons practitioner has three choices when it comes to defence: escape outside of the attacker’s weapon range, shift or step to the side to evade the attack, or rush towards the opponent to interrupt the attack.  The tactic chosen depends on the situation – against a group, hesitation could mean your life and so you must close distance and strike out with lethal force.  On the other hand, perhaps subduing a lone attacker does not require lethal force – targeting a wrist, knee, foot, collarbone, or groin may be more appropriate in lieu of attacking the head or heart.  In any case, those who plant themselves and block are taking a risk.

When matched head-to-head, the heavier weapon always delivers more force.  The lesson in this is that one must not take the brunt of the heavy weapon head-on.  Blocking can be effective, but it should only be used when out of other options.  Let me put it like this: imagine your opponent has a sword that can cut through your own weapon.  No matter how skilled you are, or how quick your reaction time, if you plant yourself and expect your weapon to keep you safe, all it takes is to be wrong once, and you’re dead.  It is naïve to think that you can withstand a strike of a weapon or sacrifice dealing with an attack to deliver your own.  With weapons, think of a tie as both parties killing each other.  To survive the encounter, the primary concern must be to get out of the offending weapon’s path of attack.  Footwork, distancing, and body positioning are crucial in out-manoeuvring an opponent wielding the heavier weapon.  The defender must know the strengths and weaknesses of his weapon as well as those of his opponent’s weapon.

The big take-away from weapons training is that above all, one must learn how to get out of the way while maintaining an advantageous position.  A martial artist would do well to add weapons to his training regimen to gain the perspective that strong attacking and blocking techniques alone do not guarantee success in a bout or real-life encounter.  The use of proper footwork and distancing and being able to quickly switch from offensive and defensive positions must also be incorporated for success/survival.