Short sticks

[AStone]

Oh! Thanks, Jim. I didn't pay close enough attention. I'll check it out again.

 

[sidheshooter]

I'm amused by how a bokken is perceived by Westerners as a "dummy practice sword," little more than a stick a child would play with pretending to be a samurai. Nobody seems aware that Musashi himself killed several people in his career with them.

This is very true. The bokken was *the* favorite weapon of the karate-ka that I hung around with for decades; we all had them. Nothing not to like about a handled, medium length sturdy stick with strategic bevels, points and wedges designed to channel force. One leans in the corner on my side of the bed to this day; if I can't get to the .357, this thing will still ruin the day of anyone within a yard or two.

I still like traditional Bo kata on a nice day; nobody seems any more disturbed by a guy in a gi with an octagonal hardwood rokushaku bo than they would be by a guy in cleats and a softball uniform carrying a bat, despite the fact that both are serious weapons.

 

[Steel Talon]

Third, I remembered the name of
a type of Japanese stick drumming
- Taiko - and began to research it.
I've decided now to study Taiko.

Ondekoza "Demon Drummers"

 

[AStone]

Ondekoza. Fascinating.

Also found this video about their intense training which sounds more like boot camp. I'll watch it later.

To become a Kodo drummer, students are put through two years of hell. But these apprentices will endure anything to make the grade. In the Kodo drumming camp, students practice for around 20 hours a day. Cigarettes, alcohol, and TV are banned, there are no holidays or weekends off and their bodies are pushed to extremes. The day starts with a 15 km run up a mountain and ends when the students are too exhausted to continue. "I'm amazed at how far I can go," states one.

Interesting to see the musical component of what appears to overlap with warriors and martial arts.

I'm curious about whether the students study any martial arts along with all this.