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Saturday, July 11, 2009

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Kama (鎌 or かま?) are Okinawan and Japanese traditional farming implements similar to a sickle used for reaping crops and also employed as a weapon. Before being used in martial arts, the kama was widely used throughout Asia to cut crops, mostly rice. It is commonly used in martial arts from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines where it is found in many forms. The kama has also been used in Chinese martial arts but not often. From one or both of these areas the kama was brought to Okinawa and incorporated into the martial art Te (hand) and later Karate (empty hand).

The Kama is a formidable weapon, traditionally used in pairs, though in agricultural use it would be used one-handed, whilst the other hand grasped the stalks for cutting. Agricultural use of the Kama can be seen in Kurosawa's Seven Samurai during the harvesting sequence. As a weapon, both the point and sharpened edge of the metal blade are called in to use, Okinawan kata (forms) suggesting that the kama could also be used to block, trap and disarm weapons used against the wielder. The hard edge of the kama blade would traditionally be kept razor-sharp to enable efficient cutting of crops, which made it a lethal weapon in the right hands, though this is sometimes a cause of training accidents by unskilled wielders, for whom blunt training versions of the weapon are created. They were often used by ninja.

Kama are often included in weapon training segments of karate, tae kwon do, silat and more obscurely in some kung fu systems. It is also a popular modern forms competition weapon. Modern forms competitors often simply adapt their empty hand routine while holding kama with little actual kama technique, or employ elaborate weapon-juggling routines that differ radically from the focused Okinawan forms.

The kusarigama (鎖鎌?, "chain-sickle") is a traditional Japanese weapon that consists of kama (the Japanese equivalent of a sickle) on a metal chain (manriki) with a heavy iron weight at the end.

Though the kusarigama is derived from a farmer's scythe, and though the sickle was often carried as a weapon during the feudal era of Japan, these farmers did not carry kusarigama. Its purpose as a weapon was very obvious, so unlike a sickle, it could not be carried openly. The art of handling the kusarigama is called kusarigamajutsu.

Attacking with the weapon usually entailed swinging the weighted chain in a large circle over one's head, and then whipping it forward to entangle an opponent's spear, sword, or other weapon, or immobilizing his arms or legs. This allows the kusarigama user to easily rush forward and strike with the sickle.

A kusarigama wielder might also strike with the spinning weighted end of the chain directly, causing serious or deadly injury to his opponent while still outside the range of the opponent's sword or spear.

Kusarigama have also been employed as anti-siege weapons, with the chain allowing the weapon to be retrieved after it was thrown downwards at an attacking force.

Many fictional accounts of kusarigama sometimes show fighters swinging the sickle with the chain, rather than the weighted end. Though entertaining, this is usually not a proper use of the weapon, as the sickle is likely to bounce off a target without causing much injury. One of the few exceptions to this is the Hōten-ryū discipline of the kusarigama.

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