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I do find these very interesting, despite having almost zero knowledge of Kobudo. I’d be interested to know what the response has been to these videos? Positive? Accusations of martial “heresy”? Has the re-examination of the empty hand forms made people more receptive to re-examining the weapon forms? Or is there is a schism in approach between emptyhanded and weapon forms?
You’re something of a trailblazer on this topic and I think your experience will be quite illuminating.
The respones I have gotten so far have been mixed but mostly positive. There are those who think that looking into practical kobudo applications are a bit of a heresy and that "No one in their right mind would attack a person with a bo if they didn't have a weapon themselves." My argument is that Law enforcement officers today deal with aggressive people who are just crazy enough to try and do something stupid even though officers carry a side arm. Looking at the historical use of Bo and Sai as Domestic Security and law enforcement tools in okinawa post 1600 leads me to believe that this was exactly the kind of situations these pechin were dealing with.
I was reading a book by Andreas Quast recently where he covered an instance where a Pechin ( I don't recall who it was at the moment) was ordered to go and settle a small riot that had broken out in a market. He grabbed his bo and went and took care of it. I like to think that this person was faced with aggressors thatt weren't all necessarily armed with bo or were equally as skilled as he was. Just as karate kata are not battlefield techniques, but civilian defense techniques, I believe the same can be said for many of the kobudo kata.
Time will tell if I get anywhere with this. As I'm sure you can recall, there was a time when it was heresy to think that Heian Shodan was intended be done as if you were surrounded by enemies all stepping in with perfect Oi-tsuki. We know now that is probably not the case.
I do find these very interesting, despite having almost zero knowledge of Kobudo. I’d be interested to know what the response has been to these videos? Positive? Accusations of martial “heresy”? Has the re-examination of the empty hand forms made people more receptive to re-examining the weapon forms? Or is there is a schism in approach between emptyhanded and weapon forms?
You’re something of a trailblazer on this topic and I think your experience will be quite illuminating.
All the best,
Iain
Hi Iain,
The respones I have gotten so far have been mixed but mostly positive. There are those who think that looking into practical kobudo applications are a bit of a heresy and that "No one in their right mind would attack a person with a bo if they didn't have a weapon themselves." My argument is that Law enforcement officers today deal with aggressive people who are just crazy enough to try and do something stupid even though officers carry a side arm. Looking at the historical use of Bo and Sai as Domestic Security and law enforcement tools in okinawa post 1600 leads me to believe that this was exactly the kind of situations these pechin were dealing with.
I was reading a book by Andreas Quast recently where he covered an instance where a Pechin ( I don't recall who it was at the moment) was ordered to go and settle a small riot that had broken out in a market. He grabbed his bo and went and took care of it. I like to think that this person was faced with aggressors thatt weren't all necessarily armed with bo or were equally as skilled as he was. Just as karate kata are not battlefield techniques, but civilian defense techniques, I believe the same can be said for many of the kobudo kata.
Time will tell if I get anywhere with this. As I'm sure you can recall, there was a time when it was heresy to think that Heian Shodan was intended be done as if you were surrounded by enemies all stepping in with perfect Oi-tsuki. We know now that is probably not the case.
Thanks for your support!
Sal