Weapons? What's best?

[David Jamieson]

So they're mostly afraid that I may hurt myself? None of the practice swords are sharp though right? And they wouldn't let me spar right away even with blunt swords.

Like if I were to take a fencing class, they wouldn't make me go through a lot of hand to hand fighting basics. I think this KF school that I'm at doesn't focus too much on weapons while leaning more towards MMA. There were only about 5 weapons in the dressing room. Other KF schools I've seen, have them out and nicely displayed.

seriously, you will develop a great understanding of sword work by taking up fencing.

make an effort to try all three principle shapes 4 sided blade, 3 sided and 2 sided.
You can transfer that onto pretty much and almost any other blade configured in a similar manner and you most certainly will get refined stuff as well in teh learning of foil, epee and sabre.

societies for hoplology and creative anachronism may not satisfy you. Often, this can be hard core larping more or less and you can get frustrated banging guys with dulled claymores while wearing 45 lbs of chainmail and armor on yoru saturday morning...

it is the driving principles of a weapon, dictated by it's shape and intended function that are more important than any form you could be taught.

...and tgy is right, there is attachment to a point of view in kung fu that you may not find sensible at all in order to learn a weapon and sadly, more often than not there is not many who are highly proficient with the dang things but can do great forms. lol that's just the truth of it.

...and don't count on not hurting yourself if you don't ahve someone show you a few things. that in fact really does matter. everything requires basic training and there are "rules" for every weapon and it's use.

[gunbeatskroty]

Join the Marines.

-jo

haha, there are plenty of Marines, Army Rangers, regular Army, etc. in our dojo and when they first start out, they tap out just like any other garden variety white belts on the BJJ mat. in boxing & Muay Thai, it's worse b/c now they get hit in head.

one of our MT instructor is ex-marines, and he's a very good fighter, but it wasn't the Marines that taught him how to fight. i would image that the Marines doesn't teach, uh, swords nor that much detail with a big knife neither....b/c they have freakin' M16's and a radio to call in air strikes and shiznit.

[gunbeatskroty]

here's the "dirty little secret" about TCMA weapons - back in the "old days",

Thanks, this is very interesting stuff and it makes sense.

[gunbeatskroty]

Most people don't spend (waste) time teaching classical weapons applications because it's just not applicable today. They teach forms, maybe show you once the applications so you do the movements in the forms right and leave it at that.

There are some schools that are part of Chinese fencing leagues through.

world jianshu league

See if one of the teams is in your area. There is another league but I don't remeber what it's called.

I think this is the case with this Wu Shu school. There are only like 5 weapons and they're clumsily bunched into a corner of the dressing room. Other schools, I've seen them nicely displayed in stands throughout the main workout area.

[gunbeatskroty]

- Get a 4 road Maio Dao DVD.
- Find a training partner.
- Get 2 bamboo swords.
- Put some ski goggles and ski gloves on.
- train your 2 men drills.

The tough part is finding a partner. I'm gonna check on this DVD. Thanks.

[gunbeatskroty]

Wudang Sword - Tai Yi Daoist Form and Applications (YMAA) 武當劍

This is really cool. this brings me back to when I was a kid watching Run Run Shaw KF movies in 35mm at the theatres. Too much MMA in everything makes me appreciate this even more, thanks.

[gunbeatskroty]

If you're looking in kung fu, the best at applying spear I've seen were from hsing yi, though I suspect some schools are better than others.

Either case, you need a school that is not basing training on just knowing a form, but actual usage.

First I was thinking that I only want to learn the actual usage aspect of sword fighting, but after watching some of the videos, I think I want to also learn the artsy forms now.

[gunbeatskroty]

Does it have to be TCMA ??

David's suggesting of DVD is not a bad one.
Weapons are all about the feel and an instructor can give you some pointers to cut the learning curve, but if you do test cutting you'll find that out quick enough too.
In the end, unless you are looking for something practical, it's all in fun anyways.

Seems now, I think I'd like to try to learn the artistic forms too and not just the block/slash, block/slash techniques only.

The Japanese style is more suited for fast, no nonsense, kill techniques right?

I think I want to stay with TCMA for the artistic forms. Having good control of the blade through forms should transition well enough into a duel right?

[gunbeatskroty]

seriously, you will develop a great understanding of sword work by taking up fencing.

Looks like fencing or another KF school may be my route. Seems like this Wu Shu school wants me to go through their entire WS curriculum. I like to watch KF do their forms and such but right now, I don't want to detract from my Muay Thai training for an upcoming MT fight. I do like sparring with these WS guys though.

[Lokhopkuen]

[Reyth]

LOL. The best weapon.

[Scott R. Brown]

here's the "dirty little secret" about TCMA weapons - back in the "old days", if you were a serious, professional fighter (e.g. - bodyguard, mercenary, bandit), you used weapons - in fact, you used whatever weapon was the most efficacious and advantageous one you could find; empty-hand combat was NEVER preferable, especially against armed opponents in groups;

so, if you as a mercenary decide that you don't want to fight to the death for your supper every day, another way to make $$$ was to teach kung-fu; now, you can do it one of two ways - open a school teaching the weapon you specialize in, train people quickly and effectively, and send them on their merry way to teach others your hard-won "secrets", and possibly even come back and kill you; or, you can teach empty hand first for 10 years, then teach less lethal weapons like staff, and then, only after a few decades, how the good stuff to the people who have been around long enough that you can trust them;

over time, this whole myth about needing years of empty-hand training to "prepare" you to use a weapon took on a life of its own; but it's ridiculous - look at Japanese and European sword schools - it's sword from day one - not standing in horse stance for years before you are even allowed to smell weapons - I mean, honestly, if you were really training people to be effective fighters, you'd teach them the good weapon stuff first, and then all the other stuff later on, if at all;

so the current convention is basically a vestigial remnant of a legitimate approach from 100 years ago, but which now has no intrinsic merit

Now I'm gonna have to kill you!

[goju]

Take up fencing or kendo for the sword and live in the jungles of the amazon with some igenious tribe to learn how to use the spear

[tiaji1983]

My favorite weapon is the Fan. If you carry a bamboo fan, it is completely legal, and it is good for confusing your opponent and disarming, and it can be used to strike vital points and stings if your slapped with it. The bamboo fan is the only weapon I know of thats legal to be taken on an airplane.

[David Jamieson]

Your style is the bomb, THE BOMB! The bang, The bang, Diggy Diggy!