to weapon or not to weapon
- Thread starter terryl965
- Start date
When you reach brown belt in my school, our instructor starts working on the use of Arnis sticks and some of the basic forms. I've only just really started with him on it and we're doing the basic form---starting in a fighting stance, and moving forward to strike successively to shoulders, elbows, solar plexus, knees, temple and top of head.
matt.m
Senior Master
I have worked a little escrima after the formal adult class. I am with Exile on this, it absolutlely has to be an upper ranking belt. I am a brown first formally in Judo so I met the requirement. We, the adults, were told that a sword, tonfa, escrima, knife, etc is nothing but and extension of your hand. So the fact the strikes like knife and ridge hand strikes were the optimal.
In hapkido cane is part of the blue belt cirriculum.
In hapkido cane is part of the blue belt cirriculum.
zDom
Senior Master
The MSK hapkido cane techniques employ the cane (a straight walking-stick version, roughly 40 inches long) as a lever to enhance wrist locks.
I practice, on my own, strikes using the same cane, but they are not part of the formal curriculum, at least not at my ranking.
Matt's TKD instructor, GM Charles Hildebrand, has some very nice techniques for using the crook of a standard cane he showed us during a convention. Very nice stuff.
I think I prefer a straight cane though.
My favorite weapon, again, something I practice on my own outside of class, are the escrima sticks.
I am also beginning to like the bokken very much (which ended up being Musashi's favorite weapon in his latter years
)
TraditionalTKD
Blue Belt
Nope. Tae Kwon Do has traditionally been a bare hands/bare feet style. We do learn weapons defense though, either incorporating poomsae technique or as self defense training.
The exception has been the fact that our Grandmaster studied kendo while in Korea and has taught sword technique to the very senior students. He does not incorporate that into the general TKD curriculum however.
The exception has been the fact that our Grandmaster studied kendo while in Korea and has taught sword technique to the very senior students. He does not incorporate that into the general TKD curriculum however.
We do bo (two self-stylized forms), escrima sticks (two self-stylized forms), nunchucka (one self-stylized form) and three kung-fu broad sword forms (one is based on yo-guk - single sword, two others are self-stylized - one is single sword and the other is double sword).
We have a black belt weapons class once a week, but usually several students get together after class two or three times a week to practice the forms.
Brad Dunne
Brown Belt
Since I'm an opinionated cuss, I've always had heartburn (for lack of a better discription), with training to use a weapon, for two reasons. 1). In many states, if not all, you can't carry any of the weapons folks train with in the arts, so if it's not available in a situation on the street, then honestly - what good is it? OK, I realize that lots of things can be made into an available weapon, but this brings me to number two.......2) If you use a weapon in an altercation, you will be subject to incarceration. Folks will offer that it was used in self defense and that may lend itself to a certain amount of justification, but only if the attacker was also armed. If you use a weapon against an unarmed threat, especially if you took it away from the attacker, you will find yourself behind bars. So again, I offer, what good is it? Train against weapons, that's great, that should mandatory for any art, but train to use a weapon, in combat (military/police excluded) your only asking for a world of trouble to befall you. Use that training time for better applications of your unarmed defense's.
TraditionalTKD
Blue Belt
A point my Instructor repeatedly emphasized. If you carry a weapon or use one, you're going to jail. If there is trouble, you can't very well ask for a minute to run home or to your car to fetch your nuchucks or sword or staff now can you? But your hands and feet you always have with you, and they're not illegal.
searcher
Senior Master
I will if they really have a deep desire to learn them as a stand alone. It si fairly rare that I will let someone. If they do want to learn weapons alone I prefer that they have some type of training from somewhere. If they do not it makes it take a little longer.
Weapons are supposed to be an extension of one's body. If they don't know how to use their own body how can they use an extension of it?
Maybe in WTF TKD but not in traditional original TKD.
This is not true for instance you can carry and use an expandable baton in any juridiction in the USA.
zDom
Senior Master
But not legal to carry on commercial airlines.
Snoop Dog recently learned this the hard way:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1772302.htm
