Search

Posts

Archive

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

Calendar

Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar

Subscribe

Kenjutsu / Jedi Club

Kenjutsu & Jedi Club

Interesting articles about Martial Arts!

The Shinai - a training weapon in Japan

The Shinai is a bamboo sports equipment simulating a sword. It is used for training in kendo and other martial arts. Usually imitates the Japanese katana sword. In kendo, both the "cutting" part of the shinai and its tip are used for striking. When used for practice, the shinai minimizes the danger of killing and injuring oneself or an opponent, compared to a sword.

Shinai consists of four specially profiled bamboo strips, made up of a square or vertical rectangle and fastened with two pieces of leather, as well as ropes, a handle and a tie, a protective device and its rubber or leather fastener. The bamboo strips are held together on both sides by leather handles and a tip, which in turn are secured with a rope. A tie is used to mark the striking part of the shinai and to ensure a good tension on the rope. Nowadays, variants of carbon fiber are also used instead of bamboo.

Shinai

Continue reading
201 Hits
0 Comments

Shuriken - blade hidden in the hand

Shuriken is the common name for Japanese concealed weapons designed for throwing. The word shuriken, consisting of the signs "Shu", "Ri" and "Ken", literally translates as "blade hidden in the hand".

There are two main types of shurikens, which are: bo shuriken - long, thin cylindrical rods of various shapes and thicknesses, and shaken - made of flat metal discs.

Undoubtedly, the shuriken is best known as a weapon used by the ninja. Unlike the samurai, throwing weapons were a major arsenal for the ninja, perhaps because the ability to kill the enemy at a distance was entirely in their best interests.

Some of the types of shuriken they wore were:
Wedge-shaped, which they hid in their sleeves and in the saya (Ninja's scabbard) and often smeared with poison or paralyzing substances.
Star-shaped, pyramidal and rectangular, which were often thrown into the ground while escaping to slow down the enemy.

Usually masked killers wore 9 shurikens because they thought that number brought them luck. Smoke or gunpowder firecrackers were often attached to large terra shurikens, using them to cause panic when attacking.

shuriken

Continue reading
220 Hits
0 Comments

Sai - a weapon from the Ninja's arsenal

Sai is the name of one of the traditional weapons in Eastern martial arts. Due to the specifics of the time, Chinese peasants were forbidden to carry weapons and they were forced to learn to defend themselves with the permitted agricultural implements. Sai, originally used as an agricultural tool for collecting and moving rice straw and hay, later became one of the few permitted agricultural implements suitable for dual use and as a weapon. It is about 50 cm long trident with a significantly longer middle tooth and usually curved outward lateral teeth. The traditional sai has no cutting blades, only pointed tips.

In the Middle Ages, copying from China and the creation of new techniques for fighting sai began on the island of Okinawa. The masters usually carried three sais, one of which was used as a throwing weapon and the other two for fencing. Like most weapons in Kobudo, the sai is used in pairs in each hand. Contrary to popular belief, the usual sai fighting technique is not similar to the knife technique. Sai is often held back to the base of one of the lateral teeth and is used to protect the forearm against sword blows and the lateral teeth as hooks for gripping it. The strokes are mostly poked with the handle, but there are also twists and blocks, very rarely grabbing the handle. Sai katas and punches are very similar to traditional karate. Sai is considered an integral part of the arsenal of most karate styles.

sai

Continue reading
421 Hits
0 Comments

Kunai - the Ninja's main tool

Kunai is a Japanese weapon originally meant for agriculture in the Tensho Era of Japan. Two well-known varieties of kunai are the short kunai and the large kunai.

Although the kunai is the main tool in the hands of a martial arts expert, it can be used as a multi-purpose weapon, popular until the introduction of firearms. Kunai is usually associated with ninjas who used it to make holes in walls. By attaching the rope to the ring, the user could easily climb walls or trees, which required great accuracy when throwing. The kunai blade was unsharpened from soft iron and was used for digging, forging and breaking wood, plaster and the like, which could probably destroy a tool that had been sharpened or heat-treated.

The kunai used by farmers were slightly smaller than the developed kunai used by ninjas. The kunai was smaller, and there was a small handle with a hole at the top. The farmers inserted their index finger into the hole and grabbed the small handle with their other fingers. The kunai that the ninja used had a larger handle, which allowed them to hold the kunai more effectively. The hole on the kunai was mainly used to tie a rope or rope so that the ninja could hang it by the belt.

kunai

Continue reading
320 Hits
0 Comments

The Kusarigama

Kusarigama is a traditional Japanese weapon that consists of a Kama - a type of Japanese sickle attached to a metal chain (Manriki) with a weight at the end. It is one of the weapons used by the Ninja.

The length of the chain is from about 2.5 to 3 meters. The chain can be attached both to the handle and to the side of the sickle. The handle of the sickle at Kusarigama is usually longer than that of the ordinary Kama. 

Most techniques for using Kusarigama are found in Budo and Ninjutsu schools. The weapon is held with both hands, with one gripping the sickle and the other the chain. It (the chain) is thrown at the enemy in order to stun or entangle him with his weapon, after which he immediately attacks with a sickle. The greatest subtlety is the Maki technique (accurate throwing of the chain). The art of using Kusarigama is called Kusarigama-Jutsu.

kusarigama image

Continue reading
94 Hits
0 Comments

Most Popular Post

publisher
20 June 2020
To the people of the Empire of Japan, the sword has a significance so profound as to be almost incomprehensible to people of other lands. Part of the Imperial Regalia (sanshu no jingi) the possesion o...
publisher
17 December 2019
Амитабх Вардхан, главен изпълнителен директор на Cine Grand, е мечтател, а киното е негова страст. Той е прекарал повече от 17 години в изграждането на мултиплекси и предоставя на зрителите уникално и...
publisher
15 August 2020
Shomen Giri  Shomen Giri targets the skull at first. There is a potential for such a cut to glance off the rounded structure of the skull. It is primarily used to finish off the opontent. Kotê&nb...
publisher
18 August 2020
Masutatsu Oyama was born in Korea in 1923 and is the founder of Japan's most famous and widespread karate style in the world. At the age of 9, Mas Oyama learned Chinese kenpo in Manchuria and practice...