Hayes was one early US proponent of using
metsubishi, mentioning things like salt packets.
We are surrounded by things that can be used to blind, distract, or draw a flinch response that will give us an instant more time to defend ourselves against an attacker. The baseball hats many of us wear can be thrown or held up to cover an assailant's eyes just long enough to counter-strike or bring a weapon into play.
More than just having a weapon, it's important to train with each
type of weapon we might potentially use. For manual weapons, those are
sticks,
knives, and
flexibles.
You probably should never actually carry a kusarifundo chain anywhere, since they're widely illegal to use, but it's a good idea to train with one, and then be able to transition that training to other flexibles.
Here is Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi with a training kusarifundo maybe twenty years ago. No-one here will ever be able to use one as effortlessly, but the "tactical flexibility" of a flexible like this is hard to overstate. Braided 550 cord is
ideal instead of chain.
https://youtu.be/n7R1YBjZz5Q
Small stick techniques- easily converted to using small light or pen, though the actual eta koppo is just a small block of wood with a loop on it. The little guy with the mustache is Bud Malmstrom, who I trained with for three years. Notice Soke warns about being careful about letting the loop be used against you, if you choose to go traditional (also why I don't like knives with the "Perrin ring").
https://youtu.be/aUkBeVVV1cs
All of us probably know how to swing a bat, but there is more than one way to swing a stick. Here is one way that is especially useful for cane users responding to a sudden attack, demonstrated by Fumio Manaka. In addition to being swing the cane from the standing resting position, another advantage is that this style movement is completely unexpected for almost all Westerners.
https://youtu.be/wuAKZkW8-Ac
