One of the five major martial arts weapon categories (see subcategory Martial Arts Weapons) are the projectile weapons. They are also sometimes known as hidden weapons because of how they would often be concealed on a person before being thrown.
The most well-known projectile is the knife, whether it was used in entertainment, sport or combat. The Japanese projectile shuriken (ninja-throwing stars) also has received a lot of notoriety in the West because of its popularity in film and television in the 1980s.
A weakness of projectile weapons is that if the thrower misses the target, he is now weaponless. Generally, warriors carried a backup edged or blunt weapon to use after throwing their projectile. However, some practitioners would attach the projectile to a chain or rope in order to retract it after it was thrown. This is a martial arts weaponry skill in itself.
Commonly used martial arts projectile weapons include darts, flying locust stones, bow and arrows, sleeve swords, wolf-teeth hammers, nine-section whip, double-flying claws, dragon-head stick, flying weights, meteor balls, rope javelins or rope darts, and throwing axes.
– November 8, 2011
Consider this scenario:
In Lubbock, Texas, police officers responded to calls of an elderly woman in her own home posing a threat to those around her. Unable to contact the woman, the officers identified themselves and entered the home. The woman, unwilling to believe the officers were legitimate, armed herself with
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– November 2, 2011
A good defense against any threat must first address the primary danger, and clearly the most immediate danger from a gun is getting shot. Specifically, the danger is being in the path of the bullet once it leaves the muzzle, which means that to avoid the danger, you must get
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– October 27, 2011
Unfortunately, there’s been an uptick in multiple-assailant violence involving zombies. Just this morning, I read an account of a young man who was jogging home when three or four zombies attacked him. He landed in the hospital with a bite wound; doctors then monitored him until he transformed. It’s definitely
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– October 24, 2011
Consider these two scenarios:
Scenario No. 1
It’s late at night. You’re walking to your car in a parking structure. Your mind is occupied, and you’re obviously not as aware of your surroundings. Without warning, a man steps out of the shadows. You can’t see his face, but you can see the
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– August 5, 2011
Can empty-hand jujitsu techniques improve your weapon skills? We asked our friend George Kirby this question, and the result is our latest free ebook—Basic Jujitsu Techniques: 4 Budoshin Moves to Improve Your Jujitsu Weapons Training.
Long before the Brazilian jiu-jitsu tidal wave washed over the world, George Kirby was diligently spreading
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– July 22, 2011
If you’re a student of self-defense, learning how to wield ancient weapons and defend against them is impractical. Why? Because it’s unlikely you’ll face a Greek spear or a Japanese katana outside the dojo. It’s much more practical to acquire a working knowledge of edged weapons and firearms and concentrate
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– July 19, 2011
The hot topic in the martial arts is reality-based self-defense. Its counterpart in the firearms world is Combat Focus Shooting. The two disciplines share plenty—for instance, they start by reminding you that an attack in the real world stands a good chance of catching you by surprise and leaving you
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– June 29, 2011
The Asian martial arts have received a tremendous amount of exposure in the past century and are now almost universally known. Meanwhile, we in the West have neglected many of our own martial arts traditions, which in some cases have fallen into obscurity—much as the Asian systems had at the
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– June 7, 2011
Like the Green Berets, the ninja operated in small bands in which each man was a specialist in some form of ninjutsu training. They had such a huge assortment of ninja weapons they were expected to master that it was only natural that some men became more adept at specific
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– April 1, 2011
Black Belt magazine’s Rachelle Lagnado takes aim on the set of Spike TV’s Deadliest Warrior during a visit to the show’s weapons shop. Weapons maker Dave Baker shows her how to hold and shoot a bow and arrow. The result? Well, nobody was injured in the filming of this exclusive
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