Weapons in Martial Arts

Weapons’ training has been an integral part of Aikido it was first developed by the founder Morihei Ueshiba in the early 1900’s and has remained so ever since. The three main weapons in which we train are the Bokken (wooden sword). The Jo staff (wooden Pole of around 4ft in length) and the Tanto (wooden knife).

I started my training in Aikido 2 years ago and purchased my first Bokken a few months later. Being proud of my new training sword I showed it to family and friends (or any captive audience) and was met with the same response “In this modern age why would I bother training with a weapon people don’t use anymore, people don’t walk around with razor sharp Katana” while this is true there are a few good reasons why we continue to train with them.

The use of weapons has never gone away. People still use pool cue’s, base ball bats, knives, glass bottles, lumps of wood or anything else they can get their hands on. Imagine being attacked in the street by a would be attacker intent on causing you serious damage with a base ball bat. In this situation you cannot say “Oh I’ve only trained against unarmed attack, could you please put the bat down and just punch me instead” There are no rules outside the Dojo. An attacker can and will use any means available.
Training with weapons takes away some of the fear factor associated with such an attack. Although no Martial Artist can predict what will happen in an attack, surely it is better to have some idea of the possibilities.
Aikido was developed through Japanese sword culture. Every technique can be an unarmed or armed attack. Training with weapons helps to develop a greater understanding of the movements and techniques used in Aikido.
Unlike many of the traditional Martial Arts that have lost roots and have become more or less a sport, weapons training has helped to keep Aikido what it was intended to be, a real working form of self defence that is concerned with protection of yourself and others and not competition.

This is the main reason I was attracted to Aikido in the first place and after 2 years of training I feel that in the unfortunate event I do become a victim of attack I am much more prepared and able to defend myself and family. It is not we who set the rules but the person who carrying out the act of violence and we need the ability to not think or freeze but react purely on instinct. Without weapons training I feel this would be very difficult to do.

Andrew Smith