In many cases, mastering a martial arts weapon is a martial art of its own. From the simple farm tools of a villager to the elegant swords of a warrior, martial arts weapons come from as diverse origins as their complementary hand-to-hand martial arts styles.
Kobudo Weapons
Many of the martial arts weapons in use today originated in the Okinawa Island before it became part of the Japan during the Sanzan, or Three Kingdoms, period. As recorded by the Okinawa Prefectural Government, a ban of carrying weapons and swords for both the warrior class and general public led to Okinawans becoming creative in how to use farm tools, fishing equipment and other objects as weapons for self-defense. Among the weapons created at that time were the sai, kama and tonfa. Sai looks like a three-pronged dagger. Kama are sickle weapons, and tonfa are short, thick sticks or batons with a perpendicular handle.
Nunchaku
Nunchaku, commonly called nunchucks in English, consists of two sticks of equal size held together by a string. The weapon can be used one at a time or two at a time. Nunchaku also originated on the Island of Okinawa and developed as part of the Kobudo martial art weapons training, as documented by the World Nunchaku Association. In popular culture, Bruce Lee and the orange-bandana-wearing Michelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are perhaps the most well-known users of Nunchaku.
Staff
The staff has many names and can be made of varying materials. In Chinese martial arts, the staff is most often referred to by the Chinese word “gun.” Traditionally, Japanese staffs are made from bamboo and are called “bo.” In Japan, the martial art of training in the bo staff developed into Bojutsu, but the weapon also originated in Okinawa as one of the Kobudo weapons. The staff can be used as both a mid-range and long-range weapon.
Swords
Learning to wield a sword is a martial art all its own. In Japanese martial arts, just learning to draw and cut with the blade of the sword is its own martial art called Iaido. Perhaps the most famous of Japanese swords is the long, single-edge, curved sword called a katana. It is the sword most often associated with the Samurai. Other well-known Japanese swords include the short sword known as a kodachi and the median-length sword called a wakizashi. In the Chinese martial arts, the double-edged sword known as jian and the single-edged broad sword called dao are commonly used swords.
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