Kobudo Korner

In search of Chi

2012-03-02T12:34:00.000Z

Another post from guest blogger Gary Morris...

Since commencing karate training at an early age I have continued to be intrigued by the degree to which we in the West are able to truly embrace the real essence of the martial arts.

These come predominantly from the Far East - from a time and culture which remain distant from us and which are only glimpsed at in historical texts or films. It raises the question as to whether we can truly become ‘authentic’ martial artists or if it is something we are to some degree ‘just playing at’. We are after all extracting and focusing primarily upon the practice elements, a mere fragment of what the arts are all about.

In order to explore this theme we need to consider the contextual issues implicit within the development of many of the martial arts. These were created within feudal times, as a means of actively waging warfare or as a means of protection and defence. If we take for example the Japanese and Okinawan martial arts we can reflect upon a culture that has endured many centuries of almost perpetual civil war. The martial arts practised at this time can be regarded as distinctly different from the approach taken at the cessation of conflict where learning and development adopted more of an internal and spiritual pursuit. This approach forged a closer association between the martial arts and Zen Buddhism.

We can only speculate what it must have been like living in Japan through the centuries. This was a country torn apart through continued civil war, in a place known locally as “the land of tears” on account of the perpetual presence of suffering from battles, earthquakes and other natural disasters. The existential views and contextual perspective was very different from anything we can easily conceive. Life was regarded as transient and fleeting and a commonly accepted philosophy was that “I might die today”. This was regarded as Karma, something to be simply accepted.

It highlights the meditative and introspective quality which was sought as a means of coping with all the sadness and misery so often encountered. Here was an escape from the brutalities of life with appreciation and enjoyment of the beauty inherent within nature or artistic expression. This is where the sunrise, a Haiku reading, the blossoming trees or an exquisite piece of calligraphic writing could captivate the imagination and stimulate all of the senses. We can also consider the perfection sought within a Chado (tea ceremony) or the careful contemplation of Ikebana (flower arranging) as highlighting the extent to which inner enlightenment and spiritual development was sought.

Across all of these pursuits we can observe a fine attention to detail, a sense of careful reflection, a rich degree of expressiveness and the development of a sense of inner contemplation. These same elements can be viewed within Myamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings. In this text, the famed swordsman offers many philosophical lessons including the messages:

“If you practice diligently from morning till night, the way of strategy I teach, your mind will spontaneously broaden.”

“You should examine this point well.”

These extol the virtues of careful and tireless endeavour as a means of working towards self enlightenment.

My attraction to the martial arts began way back in the 1970’s and included some of these wider aspects. Like most other kids of that era, I found the explosive and graceful power of Bruce Lee captivating. Enter the Dragon provided a role model that many of us could dream of emulating yet knowing instinctively that this would be an unrequited dream. For me though an even more appealing and engaging example came from the TV series Kung Fu starring David Carradine as a wandering Monk (a concept actually conceived by Bruce Lee). Watching this show today it can feel contrived and all a little implausible yet still containing some intriguing concepts. Here was something far deeper than a mere external process of showy techniques and hinted at the hard to discern and quantify element of chi.

Chi can be regarded as a number of concepts dependent upon which context or culture it is being viewed from and includes qualities such as inner strength, calmness, self-discipline and respect. In Japanese arts it can be encapsulated in Zanshin, a term which embraces various states of awareness.

A recent TV series Mind Body and Kick Ass Moves showcased some truly amazing and inspiring exponents. Watching these examples it is hard to know what is genuine and what isn’t. We are well used to magicians baffling us with their tricks yet aware on another level that these are just illusions. How are we therefore to understand and accept these Eastern “tricks” as authentic without really experiencing or understanding them? I have only had fleeting and brief experiences with some of these from various exponents on courses across the country but am convinced that it is worth exploring.

One of my longest and dearest ambitions is to one day visit Japan and start to gain a much wider appreciation for the arts I am involved with. This is borne out from conversations with other martial artists who have visited the countries their style comes from (i.e. Japan, China or Korea) and who report a deeper sense and feeling about their arts. I am sure that our learning and understanding cannot penetrate further than a surface level although maybe we can attain a deeper appreciation for what it is all about.

I remain committed to learning and teaching more about chi even though most students appear unconcerned about the inner qualities, instead more desirous of developing their practical techniques. Even simple aspects such as starting and finishing a class in Seiza with students given time for quiet meditative contemplation are important. This enables them to slow their thoughts down, control their breathing and detach themselves from some of that day’s issues. It offers one of the interpretations of Kara (“empty”) which when combined with Te gives the unarmed combat interpretation. Here though, another view is offered - “empty” of fear and aggression. It is only a start and something which could be taken to infinite lengths - yet is a journey I feel worth pursuing.

You can find out more about David's kobudo instruction by visiting: http://www.bukido.yolasite.com
E-mail David at: macca23@sky.com

Motivation and learning in the martial Arts

2012-02-01T10:49:00.000Z

This month I have invited guest blogger, Gary Morris, to write a post. Here's Gary's profile:

My martial arts training commenced in 1978 with karate as my chosen art. After moving to London from Oxford I attended a variety of different classes training in shukokai, wado ryu, shotokan and kyokushinkai styles. The move up North brought me into contact with my “true” senseis - Nisar Smiler, Dave Macintyre and David Macintyre. I am a member of David Macintyre’s Bukido Kobudo weapons club where my passion for learning is continually stimulated through the expert tuition received and the wide variety of weapons practiced with. I currently run my own Wado Ryu / Shukokai karate class (Sonkei Karate) with a particular emphasis upon the traditional Japanese / Okinawan values of respect and self discipline.

Motivation and learning in the martial Arts

As a martial arts instructor I have long been fascinated by the vast difference in how students apply themselves and the very individual learning styles they bring. One question in particular intrigues me and this relates to motivation. Firstly, we can consider the attractions for any given art and secondly (and perhaps more significantly) what holds and engages students with it. Having decided we want to learn a martial art we are greeted by a bewildering array of styles and arts to choose from. It feels like visiting a market place with clubs and instructors touting for business, advertising their wares through a myriad of routes including posters, leaflets, demonstrations, internet sites or even personal doorstep visits!

The choice of club to join might also be influenced by geographic location, media influences or some other pertinent factor. Most senior martial artists I know have sampled many different clubs and styles before finding the one that best suits them. For myself, the martial art that first lured me was karate although it took over 10 classes and 4 different styles at locations across the country to finally find the instructors I wanted to train under.

In my experience the drop-out rates for those learning karate is significantly high with most leaving after only a handful of lessons. Talking to students about this I learnt that it “just wasn’t for them” or “not what they expected”. What is maybe more surprising concerns those students who appeared to be enjoying their training and then leave after persuading their parents to buy a gi and other expensive training gear. What did they expect though?

Many come to the dojo inspired by watching Jackie Chan, the Ninja Turtles or Kung Fu Panda, having witnessed explosive and dynamic techniques, flying kicks and shattering strikes. They might also have played video games, where after a relatively short space of time they find themselves embroiled in combat, warding off multiple attackers. Coming to the dojo there is the hope of emulating their screen heroes and that these skills will be quickly mastered and realised. What they find instead is that learning is slow and that instant gratification is not to be attained.

What is it though that facilitates moving beyond this point and setting more realistic achievements for oneself? A starting place might be with the motivational theorists such as Abraham Maslow although it is the point about gratification which is worth exploring further i.e. “What return do I get for all of the time and energy invested”. This is especially salient when the initial enthusiasm and energy start to dwindle and progress seems slow. It is also not helped by the advent of winter nights, a particularly gripping storyline in Eastenders or Champions League football.

Anyway, it is worth considering the various internal and external drivers which help to maintain enthusiasm and engagement with continued learning. There may be a process of trial and error with some students or even offering a broad enough “menu” to satisfy the learning styles of the wider group be they reflectors, activists, theorists etc. For some, sparring and pairs work gives a feel of instant application and a testing out of one’s abilities, whilst others prefer to focus upon their techniques through applications such as kata.

It is interesting to consider the grading system which awards belts for continued progress and attainment of skills - this is mainly a Western concept/need. I am sure other instructors have witnessed the renewed interest and passion for learning amongst students when a grading is approaching and the enticement of a new coloured belt (especially black) proves motivation enough. Take away the grading system and the number of students remaining would most likely plummet. Ask a number of students what their primary goal is and they will indicate the attainment of a black belt – as if this was the pinnacle, the Holy Grail which would enable a process of self actualisation to occur.

I always remember a fable told by an old sensei about two students who were asked why they wanted to join his class. Student A stated that he wanted to get his black belt. He was given a black belt and told he had fulfilled his goal and could now go home. Student B announced that his intention was to learn karate. He was beckoned into the dojo and asked to join training. The lure of the black belt is a powerful motivator although has a major drawback in that having achieved it, the passion for continued learning for a number of students diminishes. Having achieved this notable status symbol the drive to keep working hard and focus upon the minutiae of techniques is simply not there. The problem here is that the main motivating factor lay in an external source and not from within.

It is a shame as it is hoped that martial artists appreciate the responsibility that is inherent within the Dan grade of putting something back into the art, namely by helping others learn. This is vital, especially if we want our arts to stay alive – there a number of styles and techniques which have reached the end of their lineage and simply died out, at best preserved in part through writing or diagrams. For me the primary motivational drivers were internal.

The award of 1^st Dan was merely an occasion to move from the top of one ladder to the bottom of another. The more I learn the more I realise I still have to learn and after 30 years training my appetite remains undiminished. The joints and bones might be creaking a bit now and I can see the kicks getting lower but nonetheless I have a lot more to achieve and pass on. For this reason, it is the core of “switched on” students who I have most time for within my class. I would rather have a smaller class of these students than a large number of ambivalent and unfocused ones. It is the small core group who will after all pass on the learning that we give to them.

You can find out more about David's kobudo instruction by visiting: http://www.bukido.yolasite.com
E-mail David at: macca23@sky.com

Doki Doki Festival, Manchester 2011

2011-12-20T17:38:00.000Z

Guest post by John David...

After receiving a welcoming invite to attend and demonstrate at the Manchester Japanese Doki Doki Festival, martial artists from the Bukido Dojo and other martial arts dojos were about to embark upon something that is different from a traditional demonstration.

The Manchester Doki Doki Festival is a celebration of all things Japanese, from traditional Taiko drumming to modern day Manga and Cosplay, food from Sweet Octopus and lessons on Origami; there really was something for everyone. The Bukido dojo was invited to exhibit the philosophies and teachings of traditional Okinawan weaponry alongside other dojo’s to show many different martial arts.

Warming the audience up with an example of empty hand katas were students from the Shōsha dojo, with a sharp and precise routine they presented the crowd with a more traditional style of karate. Following on from this, other weapons kata was performed by Bukido students showing how the farming tools can be adapted to be used as weapons.

Now captivated, onlookers were treated to displays between students from the Shōsha dojo and Bukido dojo, in which the bo, hanbo, naginata, katana, tanto, nunchaku, sai and kama were used. Members of the Nippon dojo also showed there unarmed battlefield ju-jitsu combat skills with free flowing drills

The Bujikan Senki dojo followed on with a demonstration of Ninjitsu skills with many attacks from armed and unarmed attackers, whilst showing many different weapons that would have been used by the Ninja.

Away from the martial arts displays, it was hard for anyone not notice Japan’s love for Manga and Anime, with hundreds of guests sporting Cosplay; this is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Alongside Cosplay there was also a fashion show and competition for Lolita Fashion; a fashion subculture that originated in Japan and is based on Victorian-era clothing as well as other costumes.

Keeping the rhythm flowing were the Kayobi Taiko, a community group who practice the Japanese art of Taiko Drumming, they performed a piece thought to be thousands of years old, once used to ‘welcome’ the Gods.

Other stalls were also present, some translating and selling Kanji, others drawing your very own Anime portrait, face painters, Manga stalls selling comics and clothing and stalls with a vast array of art works on sale, it was hard not to be pulled in by the Japanese culture. This being the first event of its kind in Manchester it proved a sure fire hit for everyone involved. Both educational and fun, I’m sure Manchester will be pleased to welcome back Doki Doki.

You can find out more about David's kobudo instruction by visiting: http://www.bukido.yolasite.com
E-mail David at: macca23@sky.com

Fundraising for an old Master

2011-11-15T18:48:00.000Z

Cheque presentation to Aspergillus Centre

October is a busy month for me, and my family. Not because of Halloween or the build up to Bonfire Night and Christmas; it’s a month when we fund-raise for my late father’s charity: The National Aspergillus Centre in Wythenshawe, Manchester.

I personally ask for all the people that I train with for a donation of £1 and this is supported by many of my friends and family in and out of the arts. I try to train as many times as I can and also try to train with a new dojo, to keep the arts alive for future generations. I teach 3 lessons a week on a normal week in which my pupils also support me in my month of training.

I started the month on Saturday 1st October, training with the Satori Kan Kenjutsu dojo in Sunderland and with a good friend of mine, Sensei John Barrass. We were taught in an extended 4-hour class and were taken through many mutto waza of unarmed battlefield techniques.

The first Thursday of each month the Aspergillus Centre hosts a patients/carers support group in which people get a chance to get together and share ideas and stories but also hear how things are progressing in the treatment and prevention of the disease. This Thursday, 6^th October, I made people aware of my intentions and everyone was supportive.

Before my father died he was studying at the Open University and unfortunately never found out his results from finishing his diploma. My mother and I made the trip to collect his certificates in his memory the day after the meeting which was Friday 7^th.

Sunday 9th I made the trip up to one of my father’s old friends in the arts, to the Shosha dojo headed by Sensei Adrian Ward to train together in Kobudo. There were members from other dojos as well who joined in and we worked on bo and sai.

On Saturday 15th I trained with the E.S.D.C.S dojo in Warrington where they ran a 6 hour street combat and dan grade course. A great but punishing day was had and I wished I’d had a day off from training after this session, but it was back to the dojo in the morning.

Sunday 16th I was teaching bo at the Ryu Do, Warrington where we practiced contact partner work, going through a short kata and bunkai.

Wednesday 19th was the anniversary and at class we lit a candle and held a moment’s silence in which we were supported by members of the Manchester Martial Arts Academy. We had a very productive class running through Iaido Setei kata and some kama.

Sunday 23rd I was back in Warrington to discuss with other interested members about keeping the old ‘Ippon, Wazari’ style of refereeing, something I remember fighting under in my days of Shukokai Karate.

My final training session was with the TYGA dojo in Garstang with Sensei Mike Dickinson. We had an hour’s ‘introduction’ to Japanese and Okinawan Kobudo before a 2-hour training session on the jo and sai, again a very productive session for keeping the arts alive and another future dojo I shall be keeping in contact with in the future.

I managed to present a cheque at the next Aspergillus patients / carers meeting for £225, not the biggest but I’m sure it will go to good use. I want to thank everyone who helped me in my fundraising and for also supporting me in my martial arts training, the arts have so much to offer many types of people and I know I would not be the person I am today without them.

You can find out more about David's kobudo instruction by visiting: http://www.bukido.yolasite.com
E-mail David at: macca23@sky.com

Open Minded

2011-09-12T12:47:00.000+01:00

I started my martial arts training at the age of 5. Like most children who train my father took me down to the local club near home. It could have been any art really: Ju-Jitsu, Boxing, Judo, Aikido, the list is endless. It wasn’t the art that was important at the time, it was more to introduce me to some form of training, but the art was karate.

I continued to train and then started to enjoy the weapons that were sometimes taught in class. I was never interested in the history or where the art came from when I was younger; like most kids all I wanted to do was kumite and throw nunchaku around like a ninja turtle! Other people used to say why you don’t try another art? But I always had this closed mind that said: no, I’m a karate man, no other art will be able to offer me anything. How wrong I was.

Its only once you get older and start to read about the history and where the arts come from, especially the Japanese arts for me; that you realise they are all linked together. Kobudo training for when you have weapons or tools, Ju-Jitsu for throwing and joint locking on the battlefield and karate for the kicks and strikes of the farmers.

Unfortunately some people who have studied one art for many years seem to become close minded and hate the thought of standing in line, learning rather than teaching, kind of scared that they might be starting again. I’m a great believer in having a go at something else to help understand what other arts are available and what they have to offer. Don’t dismiss an art until you have at least tried it and can say it’s not for you. To try something helps you to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your own art and helps you to grow as a martial artist.

Everybody is different in size, shape and fitness level and there is too much information to learn everything from all the different systems combined. This would be impossible, but to at least have a go and try something, even if it’s just on a course or a few classes, opens the mind to new ideas.

I recently taught on a course with two other instructors. There were many different people training from all different arts. I was the youngest and least experienced of the instructors and I started by explaining to everyone what the day meant to me and that it was to be ‘open minded’ day: for people to try the different arts being taught and take from them what they wished. If they didn’t like them that’s fine, but at least they’d have given it a go.

So what am I trying to say is: be careful not to get ’stuck in a rut’. Teaching is not learning. Yes we learn from our pupils but there is no replacement for standing in line and learning yourself. It helps your own training and knowledge but also opens your mind to what other people do in their dojos. You never know, you might even enjoy it!

You can find out more about David's club by clicking: http://www.clubbz.com/club/19432/salford/fudoshin-bukido-kobudo-tradional-weapons-club

Spare any change?

2011-09-05T14:22:00.001+01:00

We all know that were living in tough times. Unemployment is high, were supposed to be out of the worst of this recession but I‘m not too sure we are. Everywhere we look prices are rising, food and fuel, and the cost of living is going through the roof. Work is also hard, myself I’m feeling the pinch being self-employed and the amount of money left in people’s pocket at the end of the week / month after paying all the bills is decreasing.

How does this effect the regular martial artist trying to run a club? Some clubs ask for direct debits, high training / grading / membership fee’s, and it really is starting to be a luxury to be able to train, but should it be like this?

I know some people have to made a living from teaching but most clubs are happy to break even and when you start seeing numbers dropping from your class due to the amount it costs to train what should you do? I personally have had to give up one of my weekly training sessions, and the only reason is because I cannot afford to go. The class was excellent but Its not just the training fee, there was fuel to get there, the evening I miss from work, licence fees, grading fee’s ect ect.. so there must be others in the same situation.

Have the boom days of the 80’s and 90’s gone when dojo’s where full to the rafters, 4 classes a night with 50 pupils in each! I was speaking to a old friend about this and he said ‘in the 70’s martial arts were only for the die hard, people who wanted to train no matter what, then in the 80’s and 90’s every street corner had a karate class. This was the Karate Kid or Bruce Lee era but now were going back to how it used to be, just the hardcore martial artists who will train come rain or shine. Is this a good thing?

I’m a great believer in share and share alike. I teach not for the money but the sheer buzz of sharing an art which was around hundreds of years ago and keeping the arts alive. It’s the same reason I stand in line and learn with others who have the same passion. I believe this is what people in the past would have wanted from all the traditional styles. I have been learning and teaching with some very close friends recently and we’ve all been sharing information and I’ve loved every minute but what about if it is your occupation? If numbers are down in your lessons, what should you do? I personally would like to teach a class of 3 or 4 pupils who want to be there and learn rather than a class of 20 who don’t but I do know that its not my profession. I have had pupils in the past who are keen to train but been going through a bad time, just lost there job and I tell them not to worry about the money, just come and train. I don’t know many businesses on the high street can afford to do that!

I’m a martial artist full stop. Is it my profession? No. Is it my hobby? No. Its part of me. Its my passion and my life. If I cannot afford to train, I train at home. If I‘m injured I still visit the dojo if possible or read about the history of the arts. I visit other peoples dojo’s to keep in touch and support others. I look online at websites, look at clubs in different countries. Every day I’m either teaching, training or studying, and why do I do this? Because the arts are part of me but I am worried about how financial difficulties will effect us all. I know we’ll all get through this but its something to think about.

You can find out more about David's club by clicking: http://www.clubbz.com/club/19432/salford/fudoshin-bukido-kobudo-tradional-weapons-club

Now that's a knife!

2011-09-05T14:19:00.001+01:00

I remember looking in the martial arts shops, or the weird gift shops on holidays and in town and seeing the famous 'Samurai Sword set - £49.99' with free stand!

I'm sure we all have seen them, or gone into some ones house and seen it balanced on the fire place, or on a window ledge, normally with the BT bill wedged behind it!

One thing we never give any thought about is to how they were made originally. How they were made in the times of the samurai. Why is a katana so special? Why do we not have 'medieval swords' on the wall? Why do we always think about a katana being the true king of all swords?

There are many reasons why katanas are seemed to by 'mystique' and the best sword available but some facts speak for themselves. They are the only sword to have removable fittings and have not changed design in the last 1000 years. The wealthy samurai would buy different colour fittings for different occasions, going round town, into battle, different seasons. The katana became his shadow, his best friend. Whenever a blade was made it was signed by the maker, the polisher, the clan printed on, the town, and the date so the history could be traced back in years to come. Can't remember Little John having a Bo to the same quality!

So how is a blade made? Well we start our journey with a piece of steel. Steel is full of carbon which makes a cutting edge very sharp on a blade, but is brittle from side impact. If we was to remove all the carbon from the steel then it would make the steel more flexible so there was less chance of it snapping on impact, but the edge would dull and chip over time… so the makers came up with a system of making a inside core of steel with very little carbon to make the blade flexible but a cutting edge made of steel with the carbon in to keep a sharp cutting edge (like a kind of bi-metal blade) Not bad for 1000 years ago!

They first started welding the two pieces together but later started rolling the two types together, so there were no joints. The sword maker started with a block of steel and heated it in a 'tatara' furnace, once heated they would hammer the molten into a block twice the size, then fold it over and weld the side together, cleaning the joints with steam on the anvil and quenching in water to avoid contamination. Standard steel has a carbon content of around 2.5% but once it is heated, hammered, folded and quenched it loses 0.2% of this. The process is then repeated till the piece of steel is left with roughly 0.5% of carbon left. This piece of steel will form the inner core of the blade.

The outer cutting edge the blade is then formed from a separate piece of steel but without the carbon being removed, the two are then folded and hammered together so it looks similar to a sausage roll! The whole blade is then ready to be shaped and hardened. The blade would be straight at this point and would look nothing like the curved blade we recognise today. The blade would then be coated with thin layer of sticky clay and left to dry, once dry a thicker layer of clay would be applied to just the back half of the blade to create a layered effect of different thickness clay, it would then would be heated back in the furnace. Once hot the blade is quenched to harden the steel and this is when the blade takes its curved shape as different parts of the steel cool at different levels due to the clay and thickness of the steel.

The layers of the clay once removed leave a distinctive mark on the blade called the 'hamon'. This is where the blade has been at different temperatures. Sometimes you will see little bubbly, wiggly marks on the hamon called 'choji', this was a sign that bubbles had risen up the blade in the quenching period. This was a sign that the blade had been 'rushed' due to high demand during the times of war, it's not a defect of the blade though, just shows a different pattern. If you looked carefully at the rest of the blade you should be able to see the grain of the steel, it looks similar to the grain of wood running up and down the blade from the folds in the steel. The sword maker would also apply slight breaks in the cutting edge, these are called 'ashi' which would be designed like a fuse in a plug, a weak point to stop any cracks that might appear due to battling from travelling the full length of the cutting edge and destroying the blade.

Once the blade was complete it would then be sent to a polisher whose job was to make this lump of steel look like a katana. He started by hunching himself over a wooden water barrel and setting the lines in the blade with a course piece of stone, this took many hours of rubbing and washing the excess steel away. Once this was completed he then has to remove the scratches he has made with a finer stone, and would finish with tiny slithers of stone, glued onto pieces of paper to fine polish the blade. This process would take around two weeks of solid work to polish one katana.

The stone used was taken from Kyoto in

Japan

and is limestone, the quarry what is used is running out fast and is charging upwards of £1000 for a stone today! Cheap polishes made are around £1000 a blade a polish from Mr Mujishiro, one of the top polisher’s charges around £5000. No wonder they are all riddled with arthritis at an early age! The fittings would then be added to a blade and it was then complete, ready for the samurai to take to the battlefield.

There were 5 main time periods and areas for making blades, all making different styles and designs:

Gokaden (blades made up to 1600's)

Yamato / Yamashiro (Made near Kyoto - made blades for noblemen)

Bizen (70% blades made before 1600's - curved near the tang)

Soshu (Wide and thin blades made near the Shoguns Court)

Mino (Average blades with even curves and hard edges)

Not also did the Samurai wear a katana, but up to the 1500's they worn a 'tachi' as well which was longer and worn upside down for use on horseback, the katana was easier to use when on foot so was saved for combat, a 'no-dachi' (shoulder sword) was sometimes used without a saya (scabbard) on the battlefield and the samurai would sometimes employ a peasant to carry this for him. A ‘Wakizashi’ (short sword) would be worn sometimes around town to show authority and was a samurai's way of saying ‘look at me‘. Wakizashi were often made from old 'Naginata' (spear) blades that had there wooden shaft broken, so not to waste the blade.

Sword Smiths prided themselves on the quality of there work and the blade spoke for themselves on the battlefield but when there was no wars being fought they had to be tested another way. They were often tested for sharpness on human corpses or prisoners. This is called 'Tameshigiri' (test cutting) If a prisoner got an idea that they would be used for this purpose they would swallow stones the night before so it would chip the blades if they were to be cut!

As you can see there is a lot of work, time, effort and history into making a blade and the ones I have described don't sound like the £49 set! These were proper traditional blades designed to be used and took months to make, all by hand, not the cheap ones from Spain everyone has now and that makes me think about an old saying from the words of Crocodile Dundee 'now that’s a knife!'

EDITOR'S NOTE - the cheap ornamental blades such as those costing £49 highlighted in this article are now illegal in the UK. Anyone caught with such a blade faces six months in prison and a fine of up to £5000.

However, legitimate historical katana are not banned, and neither are new katanas as long as they are made in the traditional methods by craftsmen. To import these weapons requires an importation licence from HM Customs and Excise. Only legitimate historical collectors - such as the Royal Armouries - and those practicing arts such as Iaido and Kenjutsu are permitted to import such blades and they must belong to a bonafide club and be properly licenced. These blades must be kept covered and out of reach at any time they are transported in public.

You can find out more about David's club by clicking: http://www.clubbz.com/club/19432/salford/fudoshin-bukido-kobudo-tradional-weapons-club

History - a big part in training

2011-09-05T14:17:00.001+01:00

History…ZZZzzz… I hope I have not lost you yet! History is something that as a child most people take no interest in. I remember when I was a child turning up to class and the Sensei wanting to tell us about the farmers in Okinawa, the Samurai and how people lived and all I wanted to do was either fight or throw brightly sparkled Nunchaku around!

As you get older, rounder and greyer you start to realise there is more to any martial art than beating each other up to a pulp and getting up the next morning! Your bodies can't withstand the type of punishment that they used to, so you are left with a gap in your training. This is when history becomes a big part in my training.

My late father used to spend hours looking at websites, reading books, speaking to people and I never used to understand why as a child but now I truly do understand the interesting part that it plays. I like most people started my training in one of the empty hand styles and as you progress through the system your hunger to learn something new and interesting grows so I turned my hand to Kobudo. Because I had learned my empty hand training in Karate, it made sense to follow my training down the same path, and I decided to learn how to use the tools that farmers would have used to also defend themselves with.

Again at first the only interest I had was learning new katas, learning how to fight with the weapons and when the next grade was but as a child you are blinded and don’t understand why sometimes you are doing something. Since then I have gone back and started to find out why the farmers ended up using the tools that they did for weapons, and why they never had weapons in the first place. My training took a turn from all physical to lots of theory and it is something I try to pass on to others in my classes and courses I teach.

So what is Kobudo? To find out now anyone can punch it into there computer search engine and find a list as long as your arm full of people's explanations but back in the day when I was watching cartoons and looking forward to PE in school we could only find out from asking other people or reading books.

What I was taught is Kobudo was an art that the farmers of Okinawa studied which incorporated their tools to protect themselves, as the Satsuma Samurai clan banned any weapons to be carried, the roots were similar to that of Karate so the strikes are similar. I'm of an open mind so before everyone emails in with theIr stories of how it came from China, or a wandering Ninja Turtle I like to say that there could be many different places this could have originated, just like other styles history is sometimes clouded, but this is what as a student I was taught. The weapons used again would have all been tools. The Bo being a water carrying device, Nunchaku being a horses muzzle etc… but I will go through these in more details.

Are the people who taught us always right? No I think is the answer but what is important is as martial artists is that we are willing to change the way we train and if that means being open minded and wiling to do some research into what we were told as students then it can only make us better and more knowledgeable martial artists and in turn pass on the correct information to future students.

Questions are the best way to learn, ask questions but make sure the answers you get are correct, understandable and have a reason behind them. This is all about walking down a new path of training; this path does not need any gloves or swords, just a pen and paper, and an open mind.

You can find out more about David's club by clicking: http://www.clubbz.com/club/19432/salford/fudoshin-bukido-kobudo-tradional-weapons-club