Surujin of Okinawa

From "Kama, Tekko, Tinbe and Surujin – Ancient Martial Arts of Ryukyu" by Inoue Motokatsu. This is the 2^nd book in the series (the first was Bo, Sai and Tonfa) an English précis of Kobudo from the Japanese 3 volume set.

Sometimes I have no idea how much I've accumulated over the years, or what value I find in a good book. On the average it takes about 5 years before I can see and think about what is in a good book. It doesn't take me 5 years to read it, but value takes time to establish.

I find the introduction of each weapon in the series takes a small group of previous ideas and adds to them. You might find Inoue's comments of interest. From the last section on Surujin.

As the Surujin is rarely discusse I think you will find this interesting. It does parrallel flexible weapons found in Chinese Arts.

Be Careful about the following points in studying this book.

1. Dodge the opponent not by power but by your body and place yourself in the best position.
2. Continue to practice constantly through all your life.
3. Karate and Ryukyu Martial Arts are quite the same originally.
4. Study the spirit which comprises Rei, Zanshin, etc. in the process of studying Bujutsu.
5. You must be able to use weapons, but never depend on them.
6. To teach Bujutsu is easy, but there is nothing except your effort and practice to study it completely.
7. The technique of Bo is a synthetic one. The technique of Sai is one of the Shuto system. The technique of Tonfa is one of Uraken and Elbow strike systems.
8. Nunchaku belongs to the class of Bo and is so called "Portable Bo".
9. Kama is the technique of Kakate and Kurite if Karate. Each weapon of ryukyu Martial Arts is very useful for the way of studying the basic techniques of Karate.
10. Tekko jutsu is all the same as Karate jutsu except the special use of this weapon
11. Tinbe jutsu is the one that defend with "Tinbe" (Shield) and attack with "Rochin" (Short spear) and can be seen everywhere in the world.
12. Surujin is the best weapon for hiding the opponents eyes but it can't be used without the right how to use and enough training.

13. The above said weapons are called `Jyoteiken' which the length and the form is fixed, we usually practice with them, but the final most important purpose is that we can get to the ability which can use "Ranteiken" which is the length and the form is not fixed.