Before long in any internet discussion on kobudo the discussion often turns to which style of study is best, who’s doing the ‘real’ kobudo, and the flip side what’s wrong with system ‘A’ and frequently ‘All Other Sytems’.
There’s a simple answer, whatever you study is best! Then the burden on you is to prove it.
There are very big differences between different methods of weapons study. I’m sure each became what they are because each instructor did their best to train their students and/or themselves. Can we step aside from our personal loyalty to find an answer?
I’m going to refine this topic for the sake of discussion to Okinawan Bo. So who has he BEST Okinawan Bo.
Looking at this logically, first we must understand all weapon study is that of using the weapon and the body as a force multiplier.
The Bo hit’s harder than our hand can.
The Bo strikes further than our leg.
The Bo can strike through a focal point where our body will pull short because of pain.The Bo combined with the bodies knee release and twisting motions and alignment principles (among others) has increasing potentials.
But we cannot forget the original purpose of the Bo. It wasn’t to strike other Bo hard.
Bo was crafted to break fingers and toes, smash feet, break arms and legs, demolish the solar plexus, spear into the armpit or eye, split open the head and all sorts of other singular and compounding mayhem.
From it’s origins, the best Bo must be the most compelling application of viscous response in defense and or the best destructive technique in offense.
Of course today most of the Okinawan (and other) weapon studies are antiquated. The chance that you’re going to be attacked anywhere by a Bo wielding attacker, and you happen to have your own Best Bo on hand are infinitesimal at best, leaving such attacks only to our imagination.
I think when we think of efficiency and/or best in a system most of us have set those destructive potentials aside, for the better I’m sure.
But using the Bo as a force multiplier opens interesting question about best. Best isn’t necessarily the fastest, or the most powerful strike, unless you’re only looking at such issues.
If attacked best must surely include, how you shift either away from an attack, or shift to enter the attack. Whether you respond as an automation, just using what you’ve drilled, or whether you can shift, target appropriately and respond in fashion.
With the force multiplication of a weapon, the truth is the best answer may be the least powerful attack, one that strikes the precise point to end the conflict without further escalation. Is it better to strike so hard as to break their arm, or to strike so precise as to fracture their fingers?
In weapons study I think too often we’re so divorced from what the weapon was designed to actually do, we forget that just kata execution is only a part of weapon reality. Isn't it a most curious discussion to determine which system of study is the msot destructive in it's potential?
How a weapon, the Bo, is applied is a layered study. At one level there are two person drills such as Bo vs. Bo.
One example - Ryukyu Kobujutsu – bo versus bo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQnBytJi0uo
or even when the bo is the bad guy - Ryukyu Kobujutsu – bo versus sai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7l614fJMNY
I see their value is learning to enter the space of an attack, abet focusing not on the attacker but the other weapon for safety.
Another layer of Bo versus Bo is Bo Kumite –Nakamoto Masahiro – Taria Shinken lineage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4G7MBjEW00
Here I see the angles of entry and technique completion as the focus.
Interesting how the parallels can be seen to Seikichi Uehara - Kobudo Entry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2lPb1UtQyc
A far different Bo application comes from the late Sherman Harrill. One of his students, Mark Radunz has recently shared several application concepts on the use of Isshinryu Bo technique. Isshinryu Bo Bunkai – Mark Radunz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQi20lSP0lg
Harrill Sensei covered some of the same material in the late 1990’s at a clinic in our school, but I never had the chance to study Bo with him in a more formal setting. I have seen enough to realize what his students continue to this day.
I must admit, the scope of my program rarely allows us to use many these studies (both Isshinryu and others) beyond kata training. That depends on the students of the season, where their training needs lie, more than my own interests.
I truly believe in my own studies because of those instructors who shaped each lesson into my training. More so discovering the long term benefit to all of my Isshinryu practice from hard weapons practice for years.
But my own belief doesn’t take anything away from being able to appreciate the skill from others.
I hope all of us never need to find out who is best, and can use our training to increase the total value of our studies.
Here is a brief selection of Okinawan Bo to consider.
Chogi Kishaba –Yamane Ryu Bo Principles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktyco4BeZ-M
Shirotaro No Kon – Oshiro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12gbydZApHk
Tsuken No Kon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFPrj7TuQT8
Tokumine no Kun – Shimabuku Tatsuo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuvesOocah4
Shi Shi No Kon No Dai – Shimabuku Tatsuo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KODC5LhDAJc
Kina Masanobu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0HGOl94RpU
Ufugusuku no Bo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSIUcOvp0Sc
Yamanaka – Chantanyara no Kun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N2OLGWXmTU
Tara Shinken (not exactly Bo, but…. Taking what there is)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2f8vB-9O54
Nakama Haruka Bojutsu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0el0Hx1FZsE
Chinenshikiyanaka no kon – Yoshimura-McKenna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grv6t-JKM-I
Nakamoto Mashahiro – Tsukensunakake no Kon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZTcsBo939U
Taira – Sakugawa no Kon Sho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZQwhRLH9HM
Yoshimura Hiroshi – Oshiro No Kon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJWVab4GNA
Shimabukuro Zempo – Tokumine No Kon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwjq9F8zBYQ
Which is better, why mine of course……
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