Reiki, is yours primarily a weapons art?

I see from your post that you perform Sakagawa no Kun. This is a somewhat advanced Bo kata. It suprises me that kyu ranks learn this. Most middle Kyu ranks don't use their left sides effectively with open hand techniques, let alone the "mirror image" techniques while using a bo.

I will not speak for all Okinawan styles. However my students generally are required to have at least 2 yearsof open hand training prior to begining kobudo.

When they do begin Kobudo, the bo is the first weapon that they learn. Thet practice with it about 1-3 months before learning the first bo Kata.

Just curious as to how many others allow or have been allowed weapons training at the onset of their training.

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i study kenpo karate and kobudo as two separate arts. we have kobudo students who start and have never even thrown a kick or done any empty hand training. Yes i know that the two arts benefit each other greatly, but anyone can learn weapons. With proper instruction and patience its possible. Now i know some school only do weapons at shodan or blue belt or whatever and they have their reasons, but ive seen plenty of non empty handed-art students take up Kobujitsu and do just fine . We do Sakugawa no kun sho at blue belt, Sakugawai Dai at nidan, and Sakugawa Ko at like yodan i think. Our system is an extremely kata heavy kobujitsu. Just in Bo kata alone we have at least 15 traditional Bo kata in the system. It is a blend of Matayoshi and Ryukyu Kobudo, so we have the katas from both of those systems to study. I hope i dont come off to strongly, but plz dont think that people have to know an empty handed art before they can learn weapons. Here is a link to our Kobujitsu site if you have any questions.
http://www.nintaifukutsuryu.com/

My sensei said if he were to start over, he wouldn't teach weapons until sandan! I think you should AT LEAST be a good brown belt (1st or 2nd kyu). This way your stances are pretty much automatic. Yellow belts will concentrate on the weapons and their hands so much the legs will go to hell.

I know people have their reasons for waiting til higher rank to taech weapons. But why cnat someone learn stances and basics while learning a weapon? traditionaly for example, Samurai learned weapons first, soldiers learn to use a weapon first. The empty handed arts were intended for when you lost your weapon in battle. They were a last resort. weapons were taught first. students can learn the same basic stances, etiquette, kihon , or what have you in weapons class just as well as in a karate class.

Actually my sensei started us on weapons after about the first month of classes, his reasons were that they supplemented our empty handed training, (isshinryu) and the weapons we were able to choose from were the bo, sai, nunchaku, escrima. As these were usefull as well as being practical, i always particularly liked the sai, and nunchaku, which are both very good for strenghthening the fore-arms and wrist i sometimes do sanchin and seiuchin kata while holding the sai for a better workout, (they get heavy) also most basic thechniques with these weapons resemble techniques used with every day items, the nunchaku like a rope or chain and so on.