Weapons & Warriors: The Tonfa of the Japanese

Tonfa Art by TL Jeffcoat

I’ve covered several weapons from Japan that were used by Samurai and Ninja, but the Tonfa was not very common among either. Never the less, it was a common weapon among the common people of Japan during the Shogunate centuries when civilians were not allowed to carry weapons. Sometime around the 1100’s, the Tonfa came into existence in Okinawa. There is a lot of discussion on whether this weapon was first invented in Japan or China, but until that is ever decided, the Tonfa is often associated with Japanese style martial arts schools, so I myself think of it as a Japanese weapon. The use of the Tonfa as a millstone handle did originate in Southeast Asia to grind wheat, but was probably not considered a weapon early on.

The basics of the Tonfa is pretty easy to learn, and is so versatile and effective that many law enforcement agencies in the United States trained their officers to take assailants down with a Tonfa. I used to hear a lot of people call them nightsticks because of their black aluminum materials.

Weapons & Warriors: The Dadao of the Shaolin

The Dadao is also called a Chinese sabre, Chinese Big Knife, or Chinese Great Sword. This heavy blade has served several purposes over the centuries in China. Some Shaolin monks train in the use of this sword and some daring monks train to use both the Dadao and the Jiujie Bian together. One way to describe the Dadao is that of a machete on steroids.

The blade of the Dadao is perfectly designed for chopping and was modeled after an agricultural tool for harvesting. The Dadao is considered a peasant's sword because it is a pretty simple and does not require a lot of training. The heavy blade and long handle balances the sword so that it is not difficult to maneuver despite its weight. Although it is not a light sword, it is not as heavy as an axe. However, the broad blade is designed to cut with the same power as an axe. The long handle allows for wielding with one or two hands.

The blade is only about two feet in length and the handle is just over a foot. The entire sword’s weight will vary from two pounds to close to four pounds depending on the type of and quality of metal used to forge it. The blade widens at the tip and curves slightly back to the wielder to increase the momentum of the tip. The width of the blade gives the Dadao the strength and speed to chop through bone and leather armor with ease.

Weapons & Warriors: The Naginata of the Samurai

The Samurai were some of the greatest and most disciplined warriors in history. One thing they were well known for was having the right weapon for the right situation. A Katana or Tessen had limited use against a mounted opponent. The Naginata was designed to put distance between the Samurai and his opponent.

At a glance, the Naginata looks similar to a spear with a long thin curved blade, but it is actually related to the poleaxe, halberd, and even more so to the glaive. The wooden pole was anywhere from 5 to 6 feet in length. The end of the Naginata was fixed with a 3 foot sword-like blade that had a long steel piece with a hole opposite the sharp end. This thin sliver of metal was slid through a steel cap in the end of the pole and a wooden peg was squeezed through the hole lined up with a hole in the pole. This made it easier for the warrior to sharpen his blade by removing it first instead of trying to maneuver around that entire cutting surface with a very long pole pulling on it.

Weapons & Warriors: The Bushidō of the Samurai

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Way of the Warrior Knight. That is what Bushidō means. It is the code that a Samurai lived by, and if he was honorable, he died by it as well. Some could say it was a form of chivalry, and there are quite a few similarities. Like the Knights of Europe, the Samurai were extensions of the government, nobles in their own right, allowed to deal justice when necessary and known to command troops when capable. Unlike the Knight of Europe, where title and victory in battle were often sought after, the Samurai balanced his violent lifestyle with wisdom and extreme discipline. Riches and status were not his goal.

Bushidō requires that all Samurai must be loyal to the death to whoever they serve. They must remain honorable even when they are about to die. Don’t bother interrogating a Samurai because he would rather die a horrible painful death than dishonor himself. They were trained at birth to be loyal, deadly and practical. They would shed their own blood if they dishonored themselves.

 
Surprisingly, there was no written or spoken code for Bushidō. It was more of a creation of beliefs that evolved over generations of military families. As the child was born, he was destined to be Samurai, and started training as soon as he could walk and understand his lessons. After centuries of families training children in this manner, there was never a need to create a written reference to what the code actually was, it was just naturally accepted and known. It wasn’t until later when historians tried to search out its roots that Bushidō was even named.

Weapons & Warriors: The Tessen of the Samurai

Art by TL Jeffcoat

You Mortal Kombat fans have seen this used by the ninja Kitana, but what you may not know is that this is not a purely fictional device. These specially designed fans were made with iron spikes and were very popular tools among Samurai and many others in Feudal Japan who were able to afford them.

The Tessen was designed to appear as an everyday fan used for cooling off. Instead of wood or paper panels, it was made with thin strips of iron, which were then sharpened. The fan could be folded up to hide its deadly nature and carried around without anyone knowing its true identity. This comes in handy when a Samurai enters an area that swords are forbidden, such as another lord’s home in which he refuses to allow the Samurai inside while armed with his katana. With the Tessen, the Samurai remains armed, despite his host insisting otherwise.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kanabō of the Samurai

Art by TL Jeffcoat

Although the Katana and other smaller blades were the most famous and most common weapons a Samurai used, they weren’t the only weapons in his arsenal. The Kanabō was probably the heaviest of the weapons a Samurai trained in. This two handed monster varied in actual length and weight, but there were those made that were the length of a man and were heavy enough that when swung down in a chopping motion they were powerful enough to destroy what they hit.

The thick club-like shaft was usually made with a very strong heavy wood, and sometimes with iron. Then one end was studded with iron spheres. The studs were inserted in rows along the length of each side of the shaft. Once completed it looked like a giant baseball bat with iron balls lined along its length.

There is a saying in Japan that goes “Like giving a Kanabō to an Oni.” What is an Oni you ask? It is basically a mythological Japanese demon that was supposed to be very strong. Strong enough that artistic depictions of them often had them wielding the Kanabō with only one hand. So the saying basically means giving someone an advantage while they already had the best chance; never a good idea.

Weapons & Warriors: The Ninja, The Truth of the Shinobi

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

They were once known as the Shinobi, but just saying the word Ninja usually makes people conjure images of ghostlike black clothed figures sneaking around and killing people without ever being seen. Believe it or not, that is the Hollywood ninja. The true Ninja is shrouded in mystery plenty enough by their own myths and legends that Hollywood has virtually deluded their existence to being magicians with weapons and martial arts. In reality, most ninja started out as farmers and labors. They made their weapons from the tools they used and learned martial arts from monks that had been influenced by Chinese refuges from generations before.

The victim of a real ninja probably looked right into the Ninja’s eyes as he died. More often than not, the Ninja would be so inconspicuous that they could waltz right up to their target and kill him without anyone realizing what was happening until he had already slipped away. They didn’t wear black pajamas. They wore what everyone else in the room was wearing. Blending in like a covert spy. Essentially, that’s what a Ninja really was, a spy who had been trained in sabotage, espionage, and assassination as well as combat.

Samurai were usually the enemies of the Ninja, and Samurai despised the Ninja who did not honor the Bushido code. A Samurai had to face his enemy and state his intentions before fighting honorably, even on a battlefield. A Ninja had no such limitations and because of this, Samurai were often known to hire local Ninja to sow chaos with their enemies and gain the edge without actually getting their own hands dirty and hurting their own honor.

Weapons & Warriors: The Shikomi of the Ninja

There were two forms of Shikomi used by Ninja, the Gatana and the Zue. Both were effective tools used to conceal a sword. The Ninja were well known for hauling around an extensive arsenal, but sometimes that was not always possible. For instance, while walking around in broad daylight among the public, a Ninja could not carry his swords without drawing attention. Or could he?

Once the technology to create thinner blades that wouldn’t break so easily was learned, the Ninja embraced it with a new weapon that was the most ingeniously disguised sword ever made. The Shikomi-Gatana was the more common of the two. When carried around by a Ninja who wanted to appear as a traveler or monk, it resembled a walking staff. A common tool used by many people both wealthy and poor. Once threatened or attacked, the Ninja would reveal the true nature of the staff. In reality, the staff was a scabbard that held a thin bladed sword, which could easily be drawn from one end.

This caught more than one enemy by surprise as the Ninja would often begin the fight using the staff as if it was what it appeared to be, but instead of swatting at the swordsman, he would deflect his sword, moving to the side and drawing his own sword hidden in the staff. Ninja trained well at these types of maneuvers and often cut down an opponent before they realized the Ninja ever had a sword at all.

Weapons & Warriors: The Ninjato of the Ninja

The greatest enemy to the Ninja was the Samurai. Ninja were not weak or poor swordsmen either but they were no match when they drew a katana to fight the masters of the warrior caste of Japan. Despite the vast array of weaponry that Ninja studied, they too studied the art of swordplay. They also mastered it and varied their style to counter that of the Samurai. However many historians believe that the Ninja adopted a shorter version of the katana instead of the bulkier length of the armored warriors. Samurai’s katana were a far superior quality of designed weapons than anything a Ninja could afford, and any Samurai who fell to a Ninja would certainly lose his precious blade to his slayer. Not all Ninja acquired a katana by theft or killing a Samurai, but it wasn’t unheard of. In fact, prying a katana from the bloodied hand of a Samurai was not only a wonderful prize, but an excellent reputation builder among the Ninja. Samurai did not give up their weapons while they still breathed.

Weapons & Warriors: The Shuriken of the Ninja

Art by TL Jeffcoat

Ninja were known for carrying many small weapons. One of the most famous Ninja weapons in America is often inaccurately called a Chinese Star. I'm not sure where the misplaced title comes from but the Shuriken was primarily a Japanese weapon. What many people don’t realize is that although designed for throwing, there were many masters that learned a technique where they wielded them like knives.

There are literally dozens of designs to the Shuriken. They could be made from virtually anything that a ninja could get his hands on. Many Shuriken where made from coins, washers and other scraps of metal. They were not all just flat pieces of sharp metal. One design was called a Bo Shuriken and it was not round or flat at all. It was a long piece of metal resembling a smooth spike, usually somewhere around a half foot long. These were one the most deadly of the Shuriken as well. The small flat razor types you usually see in Hollywood often created more flesh wounds than fatalities. Without any real weight behind the projectile it would not always dig as deep and therefore not pierce vital organs unless it was a perfect throw and imbedded into the neck or face. The Bo Shuriken however, was long pointed and heavy enough that when it was thrown, it was very capable of achieving the depth of penetration in the chest needed to kill a man. Some Ninja even found ways to hide Bo Shuriken inside the handle of their katana and some Shuriken were designed to be thrown over forty feet accurately.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kusarigama of the Ninja

This fierce looking and deadly weapon was created by combining a chain and a farming tool. The ninja were people of poor origins and made weapons with whatever they could as they perfected their martial art to protect themselves from the superior trained Samurai. Many Samurai were caught off guard by the strange weapon in its earliest days and died at the hands of the Ninja wielding it. Kusarigama is translated as Chain-sickle.

Like many weapons used by the Ninja, the Kusarigama was designed to neutralize the Samurai katana so that the Ninja could face the Samurai without his weapon. It is used by swinging the ball on the chain overhead or to either side and then the Ninja would swing the weighted end towards an opponent’s sword or limbs and tangle them. If the Sword was entangled, the Ninja could attempt to jerk it free or jerk the Samurai off balance and then close in with a fatal strike from the sickle end.

By entangling the limbs of the Samurai, the Ninja could unbalance and subdue his opponent. A quick jerk on the chain that has wrapped around the legs could send a man to his backside, making him vulnerable to the Ninja. Once the enemy was distracted with trying to escape the chain, he became an easy target to the deadly end, the sickle.

The weighted ball at the end of the chain could be deadly when used to strike directly. When facing a fully armored Samurai, it could not deal a fatal blow, as Samurai were covered head to toe in steel plate. The fingers were the only exposed part of the armor and a carefully aimed blow to the hands could cause the Samurai to drop his katana and possibly shatter a finger or two. If the Samurai was found unarmored then his disadvantage against the ninja would be even greater as the weighted ball was solid enough to crack his skull.

Weapons & Warriors: The Sai of the Ninja

This is a very popular weapon around the world, only made more famous by its use in films such as The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Xena, Daredevil and Elektra. Children everywhere became obsessed with the Sai after the red banded Raphael jumped onto the big screen, kicking butt with his half shell and his trusty pair of Sai.

Art by TL Jeffcoat

Like many of the weapons of the ninja, this was once a farming tool used in Okinawa. The weapon actually originated from a similar style of weapon in southern Asia, called a tjabang, which originated from the Indian trisula (trident). Contrary to what most people believe, the tip of the Sai is not sharp. It is actually a rounded smooth rod from tip to handle. The bottom of the handle is exposed steel and sometimes diamond shaped. The ninja often used the weapons backwards with the blades of the Sai running along their forearms to deflect attacks and then punched with the ends of the handles. The force of that kind of punch would probably be equivalent to being hit with brass knuckles.