A Blog For The
Staff
Martial Arts
Enthusiast

Archive

Associations/Groups
General
Links
Schools & Traditions
DVD/VHS


Google Map: Staff Traditions

Youtube Playlists

Historical staff
Staff traditions
Staff in the Movies
Staff, general

About

This Site

Contact

Click the mail link below, then remove the first letter of the address. (Remove the W, that is.)

squidocto

Welcome
To
Martial Staff

2008

Google Map: Staff Traditions

View Larger Map
To suggest additions, corrections, etc., please contact (see left sidebar).

[/schoolsTraditions] permalink

2007

Welcome to Martial Staff

Staff, Bo, Kon, Cudgel... a long stick that has been used for defense and excercise for millenia.

The staff is the most beautiful and simple of weapons, and every tradition, form, and technique has something to offer its students.

The blog format of MartialStaff.com reflects its ever-changing, ever-incomplete nature. If you want to suggest an addition, or point out a error, please let me know.

--Squidocto

[/general] permalink

A Brief Staff Vocabulary

Bo - Japanese staff.
Cudgel - Chinese staff.
Grande canne, or grand baton - French short staff.
Gun - Chinese staff (often translated as 'cudgel').
Jang Bong - Korean staff
Jo - Japanese short staff.
Kon - Okinawan staff.
Gusan - Okinawan short staff.
Bangkaw - Philippine staff.
Jogo do Pau - Portugese staff.
Quarterstaff - English staff.

[/general] permalink

Chinese translation help?

I don't speak or read Chinese, but I would very much like to know what the names of these Western Wushu staff forms are. Please contact me (see left sidebar) if you can help out. Thanks in advance!

One "Taming Tiger Staff" thanks, Russ!
Two
Three
Four

[/general] permalink

Silambam

Silambam is a southern Indian staff tradition, said to be many thousands of years old.

Karnataka State Silambam Association
Wikipedia:silambam
International Silambam and Kuthuvarisai Federation
Another history
The are few videos currently available online; one's on youtube, the other's at silambam.com

[/schoolsTraditions] permalink

2006

Staff Videos

Rather than link to all the staff videos available online these days, I'm just going to maintain a staff playlist over at you tube.

I'm not going to put every bo, stick and staff video available on the list -- that would be thousands, and a waste of everyone's time. I'm just going to include the ones that are representative of a style, are particularly well done, are unique, or just catch my fancy.

I've divided it into several sections:

Historical Staff, for older clips
Staff Traditions, for videos that represent a martial tradition
Staff in the Movies, for clips from films
Staff, General, for everything else

[/general] permalink

Hu's Monkey Staff

This performance of a monkey staff routine by Grandmaster Hu Jianqiang is, to my knowlege, the best of its kind. The soundtrack is HORRIBLE, and I recommend TURNING THE SOUND OFF before watching. Terrible voiceover and added swish sounds. Master Hu now teaches in the USA
.

[/links] permalink

Western Wushu 3 VCD Set

This set of three VCDs is not an instructional video but an overview of Western Chinese Wushu styles. The good thing about this is that it has an enormous number of demonstrations: in addition to ten staff forms there are forms for the stick, spear, three-sectional staff, two-sectional staff, whip chains, broadsword, tonfa, and others (some of the weapons I don't know the names of). There are a few empty hand forms as well. The bad thing... well, it's only bad if you don't speak Mandarin. There is extensive narration and what I assume is historical background information. Perhaps it's quite good. I don't know.

When I purchased this it was listed as being by Master Sui Bing Liu, but there are several other performers, ranging in age from about 16 to 66. This makes for interesting watching, since many of the forms have stylistic similarities and it allows for a comparison of personal touches. Also from the ad: "This Set that show a lot of the different sets in the Western Staff style. Among them are the Black Tiger, White Eyebrow, Winding Sea, Fanzi Fist, Fanzi Spear, and many more. No breakdowns, just sets with different sections on the background of the instructors and the sets." A sample form can be viewed here at youtube.

Part of the 'Sports' VCD series [more HERE, 2nd paragraph], but, since it's not instructional, doesn't follow the same pattern as the others.

[/dvdvhs] permalink

Shaolin Kung Fu: Yin Hand Cudgel

The Shaolin Temple's Master Shi Deyang appears in an extensive series of DVDs, demonstrating the traditional open hand and weapons forms of Shaolin. He is calm and patient, and performs with a relaxed style which can be misleading -- he makes it look easy. The instruction is excellent, with each action and stance repeated slowly, often with other practitioners on hand to show how it looks 'on a different body.'

The indexing is virtually non-existent, but the image quality is excellent -- far better than the average instructional video. Chinese and optional English subtitles.

The Yin-Hand Cudgel DVD is not one of the stronger in the series. It has worse-than-usual english translation (it's really quite amazingly bad), and, in my opinion, it is not Master Shi Deyang's best form. Nevertheless, for the staff enthusiast, it is worth a viewing if not just to hear the history of the form, which he explains. There is a preview of it available here on YouTube.

[/dvdvhs] permalink

Okinawa BBTV

Okinawa BBTV has some staff form performances up:
Sakugawa No Kun
Sakugawa No Kun
Shirotaru No Kun

[/links] permalink

Yahoo Quarterstaff

The Yahoo Quarterstaff group is the place to begin for anyone interested in European staff arts. As a member you can access articles, photos, and of course discussions -- and their extensive link section will provide you with hours of study.

[/associationsgroups] permalink

Bellingham Quarterstaff Association

Washington State based association of martial artists and scholars dedicated to preserving the art and science of the English Quarterstaff. Their website is simple but clear, with an excellent FAQ and glossary.

[/associationsgroups] permalink

Jang Bong Forms

The Korean staff (Jang Bong) tradition is nicely represented here, though it doesn't start for 1 minute, and the music is... well, just turn the sound off.

[/links] permalink

The Eight Circular Pa Kua Staff

This is third in a series of Pa Kua DVDs taught by the accomplished Sifu Jerry Alan Johnson. The instruction consists of the staff set, the linking form, basic self-defense applications, and a sparring demonstration. The set is taught as a walk-through reminder for the student, and the complete set (perhaps wisely) is kept slightly veiled from the uninitiated. Learning the form from the DVD without a teacher (while never recommended) would not work.

The defense techniques shown focus on staff-to-staff encounters. We get a brief taste of sparring at the end when the Sifu takes on two of his students -- quite a slow, mellow display without actual contact, necessary because of the lack of protective equipment.

The production value is high (except for the annoying lack of index points), but at $45 it is an expensive introduction to this rarely-seen style, and is best purchased as a student study aid. If you would like to see the style for yourself, visiting a dojo is a better way to go.

[/dvdvhs] permalink

Shujii no Kon video

Video: Okinawa Kenshikai Kobodo kata Shujii no Kon

[/links] permalink

Introduction To Yamanni Ryu Bojutsu

Yamanni Chinen-Ryu kobujutsu was brought to the U.S., from Okinawa, by the author of this high-quality DVD. [More here]. The style is demonstrated thoroughly and with well written explanations, from warm up excercises to intermediate forms and applications -- all shown more than once, from multiple angles.

The movements in Yamanni Ryu are quite unlike other staff traditions, with unique footwork, grips and timing. They are clearly unlearnable from a TV screen. MartialStaff highly recommends this DVD as a reference for the Yamanni student, and for any staff enthusiast curious about the school.

[/dvdvhs] permalink

Bojutsu Intensive

Sensei David W. O'Daniel is a life-long staff and stick enthusiast. [Note: many links on this site are not functioning.]

[/links] permalink

Okinawa

Okinawa, historically, has had what for culture is a double blessing. It has benefited from contact and participation with two great societies, Japan and China, and at the same time its separation from the Japanese mainland has allowed it to develop distinct cultural traits. On top of all this, bladed weapons were long outlawed, and multiple-use items such as the staff, oar, farm implements, and of course the body, became the focus of highly developed martial styles. [This commonly told 'outlawing of weapons' tidbit is put into question by Sensei Toshihiro Oshiro in this article.]

There is a wealth of information on the web regarding Okinawan martial arts, which are among the best known and most practiced. Here are some starter links:

Simple bo description.

History of Okinawan Karate, with short documentary. And you can scroll down for a video demonstration of Gyosho no kon.

Yamanni Ryu: Bo-Jutsu of Okinawa. An Interview with Sensei Toshihiro Oshiro, with interesting details about the history of the staff in Okinawa.

[/schoolsTraditions] permalink

Modern Wushu Form

[/links] permalink

Seishinkan Bujutsu

Seishinkan Bojutsu draws on traditional Japanese forms and applies them in a modern, practical method. This includes training in multiple length staffs to prepare the student for application 'on the fly' (grabbing the nearest stick). This site also has a nicely worded staff history and an essay on contemporary uses of weapons.

[/schoolsTraditions] permalink

Introduction To Asian Long Staff Fighting

On this DVD, sensei Christopher Keith of the Northern Chi Martial Arts Center teaches Northern Chi no kon dai and shushi no kon dai. The production is good, with simple camerawork and multiple angles to show details, and the sensei's instruction is succinct. Sensei Keith practices with an un-flashy, traditional style, and the bits where the producers try to hype him up with fancy effects are a little unfortunate -- but don't detract from the meat of the program.

The additional material is little more than clips from some classes, but they give a sense of the teaching style and mood of the dojo. And while there are videos out there with worse music, the constant replay of the one track here gets pretty unnerving.

[/dvdvhs] permalink

Hontai Yoshin Ryu Bojutsu

Stephen Fabian has a nice introductory article on the staff in Hontai Yoshin Ryu.

[/schoolsTraditions] permalink

British Quarterstaff Association

"The quarterstaff was for many years the weapon of the common man. Today, the British Quarterstaff Association provides men with a form of training that is rooted in British traditions."

They're going for it, developing forms and holding classes. There are a few videos on the gallery page.

[/associationsgroups] permalink

Furyu.com Bojutsu

Furyu.com has some short-but-sweet clips of Chikubujima-ryu and Takeuchi-ryu.

[/links] permalink

Staff Arts of Africa

They are numerous, and I hope to some day do them justice with more extensive notes. For now, some starter links:

Af, Car, and Dula Meketa

Nice picture showing kids who are learning Nguni stick fighting in South Africa.

[/schoolsTraditions] permalink