The yawara is a small stick, sometimes with sharp points or rounded edges, usually used in pairs to initiate throws, bone breaks, and pressure point strikes. The yawara stick was popularized for police officers in the 1940s by Professor Frank A. Matsuyama. You can download the original “HOW TO USE THE YAWARA STICK” Published in 1947 by Mr. Frank Matsuyama manual for police self defense at the Yarawa.com site.

In recent weeks, Coach Freedman has been emphasizing yawara techniques in his classes. It is a great weapon for training as its small size and multiple uses make it a great weapon that anyone can use for self defense. Once one learns the basics it can be transferred to any small weapon that can be held in the hand including the kubaton, pen, hairbrush or even a small rolled up magazine (who thought you could be dangerous with a Readers Digest).

In this video Coach Freedman demonstrates the use of the yawara and shows with just a few simple techniques how you can have an effective self defense. He shows how the yawara can be used to maximize the torque on joint locks, increase the impact of strikes and add power to throws. Assisting him on the demo is Ryan Birmingham Sensei.

Video by Philip Duldulao

No related posts.

Once again Master/Guro Spencer Gee was up at the new Hampshire Dojo to share with us his insight on Arnis stick and knife fighting techniques. The amount of knowledge that he gives out is incredible. Anyone that wishes to advance their knowledge of these arts will be challenged by his teaching. Everyone that attended was grateful for the opportunity to meet and train with this master.

Guro Gee put us through quite the regimen of training. When asked for a warm up routine, he had us all grab tires and proceeded to put us through a workout that included lifting, jumping over and rolling on the tires. After that he commenced to slowly lead us through a progression of stick drills that went from the simple to the sophisticated. After the break he handed out the training knives and again showed us how much more there was to learn about knife fighting and defense.

Check out the video from the Friday night jujutsu class to get a sample of what we went through for the seminar. We will post some videos from the Saturday class soon.

Keep posted to this blog and we will let you know when he will be coming again.

No related posts.

Guro Freedman & Guro Birmingham demonstrating basic variations of locking (Trankada) against a garote/single stick.

No related posts.

Another Phil Duldulao video where Coach Freedman demonstrates some re-direction and flow drills against knife and stick. Helping is Guro Fred Lorman and Guro Ryan Birmingham.

Pay close attention to how Coach Freedman follows the direction of the attack and uses the natural motion of his body to redirect and counter his opponent. These are flow exercises and should be practiced slowly so that you can get a feel for the proper movement. If you practice too fast you might miss the subtleties  of the exercise. Have faith that if you practice slow the correct movement will come out if you ever have to move fast.

Related posts:

1. Training for Sensitivity

Here is another short video clip that Master Film maker Philip Duldulao put together. In it I talk about the cross over between – Kendo/KenJutsu – Arnis & Jujutsu.

Just ignore the man in the mask, some of my students like to play dress up to get my reaction.

No related posts.

Coach Freedman took me out in his backyard the other day to practice hitting with the arnis sticks. He has a tire wrapped in duct tape and mounted on a wooden frame. He showed me a small section on the top of the tire and instructed me to hit that spot as fast as I could. He demonstrated what he wanted. His striking was a smooth syncopated rhythm, an even flow of strikes that never missed the mark (see the video). After he had finished, he had me try. In comparison to his striking, mine were an erratic uncoordinated mess with half of the strikes missing the mark.

He then began hitting the tire in an extremely slow manner- each strike precisely on the mark.

He proceeded with this advice. “If you want to achieve 100% accuracy, you need to start by practicing at a speed that allows you to do that.” He then instructed me to try the exercise again but at a very slow speed.

I started the exercise again and I slowed myself down to a speed where I was hitting with every strike.

“How does that feel?”, asked Coach. “Now you are hitting with every strike.”

The lesson that he was trying to teach was that we should be training for success. What happens is that we think we need to go fast to be successful. Actually it is the other way around. By training slow we ensure that we are successful. At the slow speed we can start to pay attention and notice where we are making our mistakes. We can begin to adjust and increase the efficiency of our practice. As we practice in this manner our bodies become accustomed to the movement and it begins to fix in our body memory till the movement becomes automatic. As we become more proficient our speed begins to increase retaining the accuracy. At a fast speed we get excited and start to fail. When we practice fast and continue to fail we may become discouraged and may abandon the practice altogether. We are also not learning to do the technique properly.

“There is another reason to practice accuracy.”  Coach said.  “In a combat or self defense situation, the strike that we miss may be the one that would have saved our life.” Coach is constantly saying, “It is better practice slow and right then fast and wrong.”

After a week of practice with the sticks I can see a major difference following his advice. I am no Coach Freedman but I have a goal to aspire to.

For more on Coach Freedman’s approach to slow training, read the post on Stickman Jeff Finder’s Escrima blog Peter Freedman on Training Slowly.

Video provided by Philip Duldulao

Related posts:

1. Training for Sensitivity