so what kind of weapons training is everybody doing

[Nick Lowry]

so what kind of weapons training is everybody doing? i am a shindo muso ryu jyodo guy myself from the shimizu, miyake, geis lineage but i did crazy SCA heavy weapons work for years before that -- nick

[Nathan Teodoro]

Hi Nick. I have to admit that I haven't done any true kobudo in years. I joined the group out of curiosity. I've been doing stick, knife, and some gun (airsoft, disarms, etc.). I do think tahat you SCA guys are crazy, though!

[BudoNoah]

I worked the bo, the sai, some nunchacku, and some tonfa while in kobudo, and I also studied Shinkage-Ryu iaijutsu. I did a little Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo, but it just didn't feel right to me to keep it up.

[Christopher Littlefair]

Hi Nick!

Good question regarding weapons: for me training with bong (or bo-staff) crept in on my Tang Soo Do syllabus and I love it. Working with a staff is elegant and rewarding: I get a good feeling of moving meditation with Bong forms and free form work. I would love to be as sharp as this guy: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9iFoeac8wLI

I also started working with the Korean straight sword in a one handed and two handed cutting form and was inspired enough to take up muso shinden ryu iaido. Excellent for technical study of movements, meditation and awareness (I feel). Dan gum (or tanto work) is really satisfying too. I find it sharpens up some techniques if you're working with a partner who's wielding a pointy stick :-)

Please tell us more about SCA work. I googled it and it seems like Mediaeval European weaponry. Is this right? Found this website... Am particularly interested in the learning process for this: it seems to me that Asian martial arts have had a fairly continuous oral tradition for teaching techniques, but has SCA had to be revived? If so was it pioneered by someone in particular or are there books and treatises that are well known?

Cheers.

[Nick Lowry]

Yes emphasis on the mediaval -- less so on european-- as to training --sorry not much to offer for the SCA-- when i did it in my teenage years it was almost completely ad hoc -- a few of the ole timers passed on thier random wisdom and you just went out an beat on each other to test it all out-- a brutal form of evolution in training -- fights all determined on the honor system (honor got kinda shaky in the final rounds sometimes) -- a few basic no nos to keep from really killin each other -- some basic minmum armor standards and beyond that pretty much full contact hammering-- all in all a violent and brutal bit of youthful fun when i wasnt taking it too seriously