ninja weapons?

Enson

3rd Black Belt
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in your schools do you practice traditional ninja weapons? if so which ones?
i.e. shuriken, caltrops, metsubishi (would that be a weapon?) naginata... etc.
what other weapons are used in your school besides the traditional weapons?
which kind of sword is used? katana or ninja to?
 
katana,tanto,sai,kama and Bo's, Kyoketsu-Shogei,Kusari-Fundo,Kusari-Gama, Shuko and Shuriken. The shinogi-zukuri standard style katana is favoured by most students but the Ninja-To (shinobi gatana) is used by a few. Our Shihan also uses both.
 
Genin Andrew said:
katana,tanto,sai,kama and Bo's, Kyoketsu-Shogei,Kusari-Fundo,Kusari-Gama, Shuko and Shuriken. The shinogi-zukuri standard style katana is favoured by most students but the Ninja-To (shinobi gatana) is used by a few. Our Shihan also uses both.
in rtms all of these are used but some others as well. we do practice with the escrima stick and even nunchuku. we are taught that these are not traditional ninja weapons... but, ninja weapons would be something that the ninja have learned to use. (does that make sense?) anyway like i said these 2 and many others are taught but we all realize that they are not traditional at all. the thing is we like to feel well rounded in the ma. learn all weapons, and have fun with our martial training. naturally one understand that he won't have a pair of nunchuku with him in a fight but why not learn them all? anyway thats one of our schools theories on weapons.
 
And thats a good theory for a school to have. After all the ninja fighting styles are based on adapting to a situation and becoming efficient with all it has to offer.When referring to weapons you may not always have your 'bo' handy however there are many things that resemble a bo_Or for Nunchaku (although not traditional ninja) you could use alligator clips for one example.

Its basically the idea of you will never predict your fighting situation,time,place,opponent/s so you need to focus on spontaneity and how to quickly react to the combat situation,immediately merging your techniques and training to the heat of the moment.

And the only way you can be efficient in that is by training to relate to as many possible scenarios as possible and learning to make use of as many objects/weapons as possible.

much respect
-andrew
 
Genin Andrew said:
And the only way you can be efficient in that is by training to relate to as many possible scenarios as possible and learning to make use of as many objects/weapons as possible.

much respect
-andrew
good point!
 
Enson, at Tew-Ryu do you guys practice in the use of 'Sai'? Although some consider it to be 'non-traditional' in a ninjutsu sense,it was an Okinawan karate weapon/ancient farming tool so i would be a fool to say that the Ninja "never" used Sai.

But politics aside, what are you're views on the weapon and what do your techniques and forms look like? Personally i think the Sai are a great pair of weapons (if you use them as a pair) and they look beautiful in proper movement.Very cool...

If you remember the 'ninja attack' in the Last Samurai during one of the last stand-offs between Katsumoto/Algren and the ninja there was One ninja in a low stance holding two Sai in reverse grip,i absolutely love that,although only about 3 seconds (my favourite scene in the movie) whenever i think os Sai now that Image is fixated into my head lol,that was a little of the subject but thought i would add it.
 
we do practice the sai. they are great weapons and are very effective against others.(swords, bo) forms are hard to explain on a forum so i will see if i can find a demonstration for you to watch for yourself.

my thoughts are that ninja had to use what was availible to them at the time. it just stands to reason that they would have adapted this weapon in their repitiore (sp) of weapons. i have no proof of that in a document, but like i said it stands to reason or imo.

i love to see the sai in action. so much can be done with such a smaller weapon.
 
Genin Andrew said:
If you remember the 'ninja attack' in the Last Samurai during one of the last stand-offs between Katsumoto/Algren and the ninja there was One ninja in a low stance holding two Sai in reverse grip,i absolutely love that,although only about 3 seconds (my favourite scene in the movie) whenever i think os Sai now that Image is fixated into my head lol,that was a little of the subject but thought i would add it.

I too use that slow-mo button a lot on scene 19. Wanted to see more of the chain weapon. I'd think personally, you should train with as many different weapons as possible. It will take years of training but to defend against them, it would be helpfull to know them. Some schools just call a stick, a stick which is ok with me. I'd train with a sword in my left hand, learn to fence (sp.l) but become an expert with firearms - the ultimate battlefield weapon. if my school didn't teach them, I'd buy a book. Good to know. Good posts guys.
 
The Tekagi/Shuko being secret weapons of the Togakure-Ryu Ninjutsu tradition?
Well someone like Don Roley who is more familiar with the Togakure history will be able to answer that better than i can.

However the Togakure Ryu isnt exactly secret anymore is it? Its quite public and well known to MA and ninjutsu historians.The Shuko can be seen displayed in many books with brief descriptions of its uses so any random joe can have a read and think they have mastered the shuko! As well as that you can buy a pair from almost any martial arts supplier under the sun! so its not secret today.

As far as Ninjukai goes, we do train with it,although not often. I personally have never trained with Shuko and have only seen it in practice twice.The shuko apart from being used to climb trees and such is also a good defence against swords and bladed weapons providing you are good with basic defensive techniques.It can be used with attack techniques but hey if you swing your hand around in slashing motions with a strap around your hand with nasty spikes potruding from it your gonna do some damage.The Shuko is a tool that can be used in many ways and applied to many combat scenarios.

Hopefully Don or another Bujinkan member can elaborate/correct me...

much respect
-andrew
 
Genin Andrew said:
The Tekagi/Shuko being secret weapons of the Togakure-Ryu Ninjutsu tradition?

much respect
-andrew
that was said by skhayes in "the secret fighting arts" or something like that. i can imagine what was used on one side of the mountains was probably used on the other. anyway... since we are a modern art we can pretty much pick and choose what weapons we plan to use. i mean god forbid that i don't have a pair of shuko around and now i don't know how to fight! :xtrmshock: the shuko were probably very effective in their time but now we only use them for the "art" part of our training.
peace
 
Genin Andrew said:
The Tekagi/Shuko being secret weapons of the Togakure-Ryu Ninjutsu tradition?
Well someone like Don Roley who is more familiar with the Togakure history will be able to answer that better than i can.

Hopefully Don or another Bujinkan member can elaborate/correct me...

much respect
-andrew

As far as I know, that is an accurate statement. www.mbdojo.com states:

San-po Hiden: The three secret treasures of Togakure Ryu

Senban Shuriken- the four pointed throwing star. This resembled a tool used by carpenters to remove nails, called a kugi-nuki. It was a weapon to harass the enemy to assist in escape.
Shuko- commonly known as climbing claws, they were frequently used on both the hands and feet for combat as well, capable of delivering very serious injuries. They were made of metal bands around the hand and wrist with a strap of leather connecting them. Also called Tegaki.
Shindake- a bamboo tube around 4 feet long, used as an underwater breathing tube and a blowgun.

(Sanpo wo uyamae: respect of the three treasures)
 
"that was said by skhayes in "the secret fighting arts" or something like that."

correct Enson,that was stated by SKH in 'Ninja: and their secret fighting art'.

"i can imagine what was used on one side of the mountains was probably used on the other."

I agree with that Enson. Its obviously a very debatable point but its a valid one.
Thanks for that post techno,very informative.cheers.

Sadly though because of the modern commercialization of anything ninja anyone can get their hands on shuko and throwing stars, its a shame that the Togakure-Ryu treasures arent really treasured as much these days nor are they secret. But the upside is that the true methods and techniques remain predominantly within the Bujinkan, Genbukan and Jinenkan.And i'm sure Hatsumi sensei keeps a few secrets to himself:idunno:
 
In my school we try to use everything, it is a very open class, though we do more with more commonly found weapons then we do with the less common weapons like Sais and others. We do a lot of sword and Bo and Jo techniques and also some nunchuku tackdown and strike techniques but sometimes just to fun we will bring in something random from our houses like a fire poker or a towel and compare what we can come up with with them to other weapons, like with a towl you can do a lot of rope based tech. and so on
 
AnimEdge said:
In my school we try to use everything, it is a very open class, though we do more with more commonly found weapons then we do with the less common weapons like Sais and others. We do a lot of sword and Bo and Jo techniques and also some nunchuku tackdown and strike techniques but sometimes just to fun we will bring in something random from our houses like a fire poker or a towel and compare what we can come up with with them to other weapons, like with a towl you can do a lot of rope based tech. and so on
I'm starting to like your school more and more. Every weapon is a "Ninjitsu weapon" including an F-17 (which really isn't supposed to be in the "F" Class. And yes, I do know of a school that includes this in its curriculum. If it exist, study it and use it. Tomorrow, something new might come along for us or we may discover something way back in time that we missed.
 
I like my class it lacks like organization that im sure most of you have in your classes but it well makes up for it in its openess in everything, but yep there view on weapons is everything is one its a requirment for one of the belts to find a object around the house and actually come up with unique strikes and techniqes and take downs with them
 
AnimEdge said:
I like my class it lacks like organization that im sure most of you have in your classes but it well makes up for it in its openess in everything, but yep there view on weapons is everything is one its a requirment for one of the belts to find a object around the house and actually come up with unique strikes and techniqes and take downs with them
Very, Very, Interesting. So, can you tell us what was the most unique "weapon" you've seen someone come up with so far during your years in this school. Sounds fun. Maybe your teacher has told you of a fun incident from one of the students during their test.
 
"its a requirment for one of the belts to find a object around the house and actually come up with unique strikes and techniqes and take downs with them"

AnimEdge, that is very cool, i like that idea alot. However i'm someone who like a little organizing ;) but thats just me. But that idea sounds great and has so many good values. Go and shake your instructors hand for me:supcool:

much respect
-andrew
 
Its enough organized to where it doesnt bother me it seams like a very adabtable group to where if needed they could quite easy come up with a schedual of what to do what day type call but sence this is generaly a volenteer setting its nice to see its so free flowing the as in like the instructor might have planed to do like grough tech but when he comes in and for whatever reason everyone brought there shinai or bokken and so then he decided to use that and do sword tech instead

I have only been in the class for about 6months so the most interesting weapon i have seen was like a fire poker with a moose head on one end it was quite interesting to watch him use it :p

I personaly would like to bring a guitar when its my turn so i can wail on it like a ninja then flip out and kill people lol :p
 
Genin Andrew said:
Sadly though because of the modern commercialization of anything ninja anyone can get their hands on shuko and throwing stars, its a shame that the Togakure-Ryu treasures arent really treasured as much these days nor are they secret. But the upside is that the true methods and techniques remain predominantly within the Bujinkan, Genbukan and Jinenkan.And i'm sure Hatsumi sensei keeps a few secrets to himself:idunno:

I dont *think* shuriken themselves were a secret avilible only to the Togakure, I think it was the particular style of shuriken that resembled a carpentry tool. I could be wrong about this, that was just my understanding of what I had been told by my instructor, and then read on the MBDOJO site...

Ninja F-17's eh? Where's my Ninja M1 Abrahms?
 
AnimEdge said:
I have only been in the class for about 6months so the most interesting weapon i have seen was like a fire poker with a moose head on one end it was quite interesting to watch him use it

Thats a Joke, I hope. Moose Head?
 
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