weapons???

[Manny]

In the three dojangs I've been no one teachs weapons like some japanese dojos, so I never learned the use of weapons like the sai,bo,hanbo,even the nunchaku however I had one or two when I was a teen, so basically don't know how to use any of the martial arts weapons.

When I got inside kenpo I bought a pair of philipino sticks but we rarely use them in class.

How comon is in TKD dojangs the teaching of weapons?

I will like to learn the use of the sticks because I think is the most comon weapon we can use in the street if need it, here in my country carrying nunchakus is against the law for example, so basically carrying something larger than a swiss army pocket knive also is a fellony.

Manny

 

[jthomas1600]

Manny, at our school we start with nunchucks (the padded ones at first) almost right away. Other weapons are added later and somewhat according to the students preference, but nunchucks are a semi regular part of class.

Not sure what the law stipulates about the length of the blade where you live. I've heard that in many areas of the US anything over 3.5 is considered a weapon. That doesn't necessarily make them illegal, but it's a legal distinction. Anyway, the knife I carry is 3.5 inches, quick action open, and sharp as heck. It would be an absolute last resort, but it would be enough to end most fights if needed.

 

[harlan]

From what I've been told, there isn't a 'history' of weapons training in TKD, so it's up to the individual teacher. Most of the TKD dojos around here are in a sorry state...in that they resort to DVDs and don't understand the difference between tournament/XMA and traditional use.

The TKD dojo we co-train with, however, studied Matayoshi kobudo via a karate school. As it sounds like your TKD teacher is somewhat hardline about introducing new teachers into your dojo for supplementary training, I'd suggest you look up a karate school, check out their kobudo lineage, and train weapons independant from TKD.

How comon is in TKD dojangs the teaching of weapons?

 

[dancingalone]

Manny, TKD generally doesn't have a weapons curriculum for historical reasons. The Shotokan karate people didn't take on the practice of kobudo from the Okinawans whether because of a lack of time or interest or because they had their own native weapons practice in the form of kendo. So the Koreans who trained in Japanese karate never had the opportunity as a group to learn kobudo from the Japanese.

If you delve in the archives, you can see that our local ITF experts have confirmed that General Choi did not include weapons practice when he put together his original conception of tae kwon do. This makes sense since he was a military man and if he had wanted to include it, the weapons would have been something like bayonets instead of Okinawan farming tools. (Interestingly, member Robert McClain whose instructor dates back to the kwan era has mentioned training some bayonet forms that his teacher created.) The groups that came after General Choi like the KKW probably followed his lead, discounting the place of weapons practice in tae kwon do.

I learned some basic staff work and nunchaku when I studied tae kwon do as a teenager. It was just something our instructor picked up and he passed it along. It was not considered to be core TKD material.

Later as I migrated to Okinawan karate where kobudo is taught hand-in-hand with the unarmed material, I discovered what great synergy there is when you practice both simultaneously. The weapons improves your understanding of empty hand and vice versa.

We are on a bit of a hiatus right now, but I do teach a kobudo class at my friend's tae kwon do school to his students. Taira lineage. I start people with staff first generally then tonfa, sai, kama, and eku. This is a relatively common practice I have noticed as many more independent TKD schools want to fill the void in weapons training.

I think stick training is something you can readily get into. Look for a teacher in arnis or one of its off-shoots. Some of the drills and patterns use a H-pattern as the founder of arnis studied Shotokan karate for a while.

 

[Gorilla]

Manny, TKD generally doesn't have a weapons curriculum for historical reasons. The Shotokan karate people didn't take on the practice of kobudo from the Okinawans whether because of a lack of time or interest or because they had their own native weapons practice in the form of kendo. So the Koreans who trained in Japanese karate never had the opportunity as a group to learn kobudo from the Japanese.

If you delve in the archives, you can see that our local ITF experts have confirmed that General Choi did not include weapons practice when he put together his original conception of tae kwon do. This makes sense since he was a military man and if he had wanted to include it, the weapons would have been something like bayonets instead of Okinawan farming tools. (Interestingly, member Robert McClain whose instructor dates back to the kwan era has mentioned training some bayonet forms that his teacher created.) The groups that came after General Choi like the KKW probably followed his lead, discounting the place of weapons practice in tae kwon do.

I learned some basic staff work and nunchaku when I studied tae kwon do as a teenager. It was just something our instructor picked up and he passed it along. It was not considered to be core TKD material.

Later as I migrated to Okinawan karate where kobudo is taught hand-in-hand with the unarmed material, I discovered what great synergy there is when you practice both simultaneously. The weapons improves your understanding of empty hand and vice versa.

We are on a bit of a hiatus right now, but I do teach a kobudo class at my friend's tae kwon do school to his students. Taira lineage. I start people with staff first generally then tonfa, sai, kama, and eku. This is a relatively common practice I have noticed as many more independent TKD schools want to fill the void in weapons training.

I think stick training is something you can readily get into. Look for a teacher in arnis or one of its off-shoots. Some of the drills and patterns use a H-pattern as the founder of arnis studied Shotokan karate for a while.

I did allot of Bayonet work in the Army along hand to hand combat. When my kids started to become involved in the Martial Arts I was able to see allot of the influences of Asian Martial Arts in western military combat training. Allot of Wing Chun, Judo and TKD. They taught us a front snap kick and a side kick that was trained just like my kids were trained in TKD. The Judo throws are obvious" they told us it was JUDO". Allot of bayonet theory is very similar to Wing Chun... I was in the Army before they started their formal Martial Arts Curriculum. I would have loved it

 

[terryl965]

Ok call me the dumbass here but Tae Kwon Do has always had weapons?
Since the conception of these Korean art, back when it was not called TKD, back before we had a Korea. Why all of a sudden we have no weapons. I know you are sitting on the edge of your chair waiting for me to make sense so here it come's it is just about here remember anticipation is the vitue of everything good. We have hands, elbows, feet, knee's, fingers and teeth, these have been the very foundation that TKD has come from.

 

[Manny]

Ok call me the dumbass here but Tae Kwon Do has always had weapons?
Since the conception of these Korean art, back when it was not called TKD, back before we had a Korea. Why all of a sudden we have no weapons. I know you are sitting on the edge of your chair waiting for me to make sense so here it come's it is just about here remember anticipation is the vitue of everything good. We have hands, elbows, feet, knee's, fingers and teeth, these have been the very foundation that TKD has come from.

One TKD master I had in the past once told me: Why weapons? be proficient with your own weapons (fists,kicks,trows,etc.) and then you may realice we don't need any external weapon. Wise guy don't you think? However it's not bad to know how to use a club or stick eficienlty or even a knive becuase carrying a pair os saais the waist or a ninja to in the back is something we can't do in our cities.

Manny

 

[rlobrecht]

We do nunchuks starting at yellow or green(I can't remember which.). Then at red we start a single escrima stick. Along the way we may do Bo staffs or swords, but they don't become part of the curriculum until 2nd Dan.

 

[dancingalone]

One TKD master I had in the past once told me: Why weapons? be proficient with your own weapons (fists,kicks,trows,etc.) and then you may realice we don't need any external weapon. Wise guy don't you think? However it's not bad to know how to use a club or stick eficienlty or even a knive becuase carrying a pair os saais the waist or a ninja to in the back is something we can't do in our cities.

Manny

I understand his point about mastering the unarmed aspects of fighting, but I do think it's a mistake to not do any weapons training at all. Even a simple stick is a huge force multiplier, and that's something you have to consider if you train for the possibility of encountering multiple opponents.

Skills acquired with 'archaic' weapons like sai are still applicable to tools used today. You can adapt the movements from sai to a trowel for example. Once we have acquired a certain level of competence with weapons, possibilities for improvisation becomes more apparent.

 

[harlan]

As to weapons, why not? It's not just TKD - even karate schools can exhibit a bias to 'empty-hand' and find all kinds of 'reasons' not to explore kobudo. I recently trained at a well known Goju school that doesn't train in weapons. I asked about it, and was told that 'it would detract from empty-hand study.'

 

[jthomas1600]

I guess I can understand not including weapons because they're not historically part of the art. I have heard a few things about weapons training over the years though that leads me to believe it to be of value to martial artists. Maybe some of the more knowledgeable and experienced members can correct or expound on these ideas.

I've heard that the speed of weapons helps the mind to learn to process things faster. Even just working with nunchucks in a non sparring way... tracking what the weapon is doing takes more mental speed than say tracking an incoming side kick while sparring. So when your mind becomes accustomed to tracking the weapons, tracking an incoming side kick seems slower.

I've also heard that training with nunchucks requires the use of more fine motor skills than punches and kicks which is also good. Helps you progress towards being more ambidexterity among other things.

Also, when you've progressed to the wooden chucks there's a price to pay for being sloppy or imprecise. So they will help you learn to be more aware and stay under control.

I've also heard they help with developing peripheral vision.

Anyone heard any of these things? They make sense? Or I've bought a pack of lies?

 

[Nomad]

Why train weapons?

Because you might end up facing them (knives, sticks, guns, etc). If you train in their use, you get a much better respect for what the weapon does, and your disarms naturally become better than if you only train empty hand.

 

[Balrog]

One TKD master I had in the past once told me: Why weapons? be proficient with your own weapons (fists,kicks,trows,etc.) and then you may realice we don't need any external weapon. Wise guy don't you think? However it's not bad to know how to use a club or stick eficienlty or even a knive becuase carrying a pair os saais the waist or a ninja to in the back is something we can't do in our cities.

I agree with the concept that we are always armed and we should concentrate on our natural weapons. But the bad guy may be armed with something more, and it behooves us to learn what can be done with the weapon so that we can better learn to effectively defend against it.

We teach weapons in our school, and I tell everyone to think of it like college. TKD is our major. The weapons training is like elective course that we take to support our major and make us more well-rounded martial artists.

 

[Fing Fang Foom]

I've also heard that training with nunchucks requires the use of more fine motor skills than punches and kicks which is also good. Helps you progress towards being more ambidexterity among other things.

Also, when you've progressed to the wooden chucks there's a price to pay for being sloppy or imprecise. So they will help you learn to be more aware and stay under control.

I've also heard they help with developing peripheral vision.

Anyone heard any of these things? They make sense? Or I've bought a pack of lies?

FFF is a nunchuck freak! And after years of practicing with them I must say I am like a "Mongoose ready to strike" :lol: