Karate

Been a while since I talked about karate.

I started working on the tonfa, a side handled baton descended from a grain grinding implement. It is believed to have been first “weaponized” by the okinawans, and bears a strong resemblance to the riot batons carried by police.

There are lots of fun ways to use a tonfa. You can poke with the ends, block with the long arm paralleling your forearm, pivot it out in a sweeping motion, and even flip it around and grab the long end for use as a club. I find that it flows very naturally as an extension of what I’m already trying to do. It makes my arms just a bit stronger and exends my reach a few inches, but the motions are otherwise quite similar to the unarmed motions of shaolin kenpo.

It also hurts like stink when you clip your knee or other boney part with it. My body is, once again, covered in small bruises.

I like the tonfa a lot. Honestly, it’s the first of the weapons I’ve studied that I would actually like to have with me, were I to get into a fight. The staff can be foiled by someone getting in too close (though a good staff practitioner would be able to prevent that in most cases), and the escrima sticks are fun, but they’re just sticks. Nunchucks and kamas? Forget it.

There is also distinct joy in the fact that I’m one of the only people at my school to learn this weapon. The school doesn’t even own a pair, everyone who learns them buys their own. They’re a bit off the beaten path in terms of the standard weapons progression. I like the fact that even the most senior black belts (with two exceptions) don’t have this particular knowledge.

I’ve also gotten to the part where I seem to have all the basic material that I’m going to get prior to testing for black belt. Now come the curve-balls to grind the knowledge into my bones. Sure, I know the formal exercises, but it still throws me to do them facing 45 degrees off from the way we usually work. I’ve got a pile of of punch response combinations but now I get to do them left handed, or in some random order. I like the fact that there is a depth to this study, and that there are any number of variables that I can tweak to get a much more difficult workout. Even deciding to drop my stance a few inches will turn a simple run-through into a sweat dripping exertion.