A weapon with which I do not normally practice (And another two pages)







One of my favourite things about martial arts is that it has gone beyond fighting to enrich one's life with more than just the ability to defend oneself. 

Those of you who study a discipline that is better adapted for the way people fight in this day and age may not think that those who practice more archaic fighting systems (if you don't know what I mean you are welcome to ask me and I shall explain, but let me get on with my post...) are not doing something that is of any use, but as a person who has been engaging in such seemingly pointless uses of one's time I can assure you- we are reaping the benefits from that as much as we are benefiting from the know-how of this day and age.

So it is with weapons. In Wenhsiuquan I include weapons practice, but with weapons that you do not see in use in our day to day life. Still- I practice with my staff, swords, tonfa, sai, nunchaku and even my shuriken dilligently, because of the positive effect they have on my empty handed fighting ability and because of the exercise they provide for my body.

Then there are those weapons I own that do not form part of this training regimen. You might remember that my kusarifundo (or whip chain) is one of those.

Another one is this balisong knife that I have bought last year. It is the most beautiful specimen I have ever laid eyes on and I just could not resist. Sure- a knife is deadly and very useful to know, but it does not give my muscles that aching stiffness that I seek in my workouts.  



Still- it is a lovely weapon of which I know very little. I do know it hails from the Philippines, though. 

Because I know that we have Escrimadors in our community I am hoping that this weapon somehow features in their curriculum so that they can tell us something about it.

Like the nunchaku this is a weapon that often lends itself to flowery movements like in the short video below:

 https://youtu.be/ctp1W917dfg

Or even something like this:

https://youtu.be/R_3_Qohj5ao



What I would like to know, however, is what this knife can do in a fight what other knives cannot.

Does anyone want to tell me? 


About today's two pages:

In my previous post I have just copied and pasted text and then had to look for the photos on my computer to upload. This time around, however, I have decided that a screenshot like this is more effective.

Stay well, everyone and train well.

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