Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
I just got inspired to start a thread to discuss the reasoning behind needing proper instruction particularly when it comes to learning weaponry.
We often see posters here in MT, people with assumed good intentions who want to learn a particular weapon, and are asking for web sites or instructional videos, or books, or advice to help them get started. Whenever I see those posts, I inevitably make the suggestion: GET A GOOD TEACHER! That is, unless someone else has already beaten me to that punch.
Why is it so important to get a good teacher? Let's look at a sword, for example. It could be any sword: katana, dao, southern dao, jian, Scottish claymore, German Longsword, whatever. It's long, has a sharp point, and a sharp edge, with a handle on the end. Kind of intuitive: pick it up by the handle and stick the bad guy with the pointy end. Or swing it in an arc to cut him with the edge. How hard can that be? Why do I need a good teacher?
How about some of the more exotic weapons, like sai, nunchaku, tonfa, three-section staff, gwan dao, nine-section whip, rope dart, meteor hammer, etc. Once again, you could probably pick these up and be hazardous to your enemy, but some of these weapons are so strange, it can be hard to even imagine how to use them.
The most obvious reason to seek out instruction is so that you can train under an experienced eye. Your instructor will correct your technique to make it as strong as possible. This is not the same as simply being "hazardous" with the weapon. You can instead, be deliberately and precisely deadly. But you need that instructor to make corrections as you progress. Without his guidance, your technique will not develop and grow, because you will not be able to identify the mistakes you are making.
Your instructor will also make sure you are practicing in a way that is safe, and minimizes the chance of doing injury to yourself while training. While a wild swing with the nunchaku might leave you seeing stars, a careless mishap with a sharp sword could leave you or your training partner, or your spouse, or your dog or your cat, bleeding to death. Sometimes a beginner doesn't grasp just how dangerous these weapons can be, even accidentally.
The other big reason is that you need guidance to even understand the capabilities of these weapons. The versatility of a sword or a spear can be a mystery to a beginner. When dealing with the more exotic weapons listed above, you just have no idea how to even use it. So maybe you can pick these up, open a book and figure out a few things. But you will never understand the weapon's full potential, and that is why you need an instructor. Without a good instructor, your understanding of the weapon will simply remain stunted. The way some of these weapons are used is simply not intuitive, and you will probably give up in frustration or boredom in short order.
Some people want to adapt a weapon onto a foundation for which it was never designed. Maybe they've had some training with the dao, and they think a katana should be used the same way. Or that some skill with the nunchaku will translate well for the three-sectional staff. Or they can take a flashy XMA performance/gymnastic kata and work up some flash with a featherweight bo staff, and that shows skill. Well I've got news for ya folks, these notions are all mistakes. A katana does not work like a dao (altho Jeff Falcon made it work pretty well in Six String Samurai, but that's a different story). The Three-sectional staff is not just a nunchaku with one more segment. And a flashy nonsense kata with a weapon in your hand is not skill with a weapon.
Each weapon has a body of techniques designed for its optimal use. Best to stick with that, if you really want to understand the weapon. Otherwise, you are either fooling yourself, or you are just playing games.
So get a good teacher. If that is not possible, then my advice is to do something else. Learn from whomever is available to teach you. Don't try to force something when proper instruction is not available.
That's the end of my monologue. Comments and additions are welcome, of course.
We often see posters here in MT, people with assumed good intentions who want to learn a particular weapon, and are asking for web sites or instructional videos, or books, or advice to help them get started. Whenever I see those posts, I inevitably make the suggestion: GET A GOOD TEACHER! That is, unless someone else has already beaten me to that punch.
Why is it so important to get a good teacher? Let's look at a sword, for example. It could be any sword: katana, dao, southern dao, jian, Scottish claymore, German Longsword, whatever. It's long, has a sharp point, and a sharp edge, with a handle on the end. Kind of intuitive: pick it up by the handle and stick the bad guy with the pointy end. Or swing it in an arc to cut him with the edge. How hard can that be? Why do I need a good teacher?
How about some of the more exotic weapons, like sai, nunchaku, tonfa, three-section staff, gwan dao, nine-section whip, rope dart, meteor hammer, etc. Once again, you could probably pick these up and be hazardous to your enemy, but some of these weapons are so strange, it can be hard to even imagine how to use them.
The most obvious reason to seek out instruction is so that you can train under an experienced eye. Your instructor will correct your technique to make it as strong as possible. This is not the same as simply being "hazardous" with the weapon. You can instead, be deliberately and precisely deadly. But you need that instructor to make corrections as you progress. Without his guidance, your technique will not develop and grow, because you will not be able to identify the mistakes you are making.
Your instructor will also make sure you are practicing in a way that is safe, and minimizes the chance of doing injury to yourself while training. While a wild swing with the nunchaku might leave you seeing stars, a careless mishap with a sharp sword could leave you or your training partner, or your spouse, or your dog or your cat, bleeding to death. Sometimes a beginner doesn't grasp just how dangerous these weapons can be, even accidentally.
The other big reason is that you need guidance to even understand the capabilities of these weapons. The versatility of a sword or a spear can be a mystery to a beginner. When dealing with the more exotic weapons listed above, you just have no idea how to even use it. So maybe you can pick these up, open a book and figure out a few things. But you will never understand the weapon's full potential, and that is why you need an instructor. Without a good instructor, your understanding of the weapon will simply remain stunted. The way some of these weapons are used is simply not intuitive, and you will probably give up in frustration or boredom in short order.
Some people want to adapt a weapon onto a foundation for which it was never designed. Maybe they've had some training with the dao, and they think a katana should be used the same way. Or that some skill with the nunchaku will translate well for the three-sectional staff. Or they can take a flashy XMA performance/gymnastic kata and work up some flash with a featherweight bo staff, and that shows skill. Well I've got news for ya folks, these notions are all mistakes. A katana does not work like a dao (altho Jeff Falcon made it work pretty well in Six String Samurai, but that's a different story). The Three-sectional staff is not just a nunchaku with one more segment. And a flashy nonsense kata with a weapon in your hand is not skill with a weapon.
Each weapon has a body of techniques designed for its optimal use. Best to stick with that, if you really want to understand the weapon. Otherwise, you are either fooling yourself, or you are just playing games.
So get a good teacher. If that is not possible, then my advice is to do something else. Learn from whomever is available to teach you. Don't try to force something when proper instruction is not available.
That's the end of my monologue. Comments and additions are welcome, of course.