White Tiger Martial Arts Croydon

九 "Ku" stands for “nine" in Japanese

鬼 "Ki" It is supposed to be an older Chinese based kanji meaning "Kami" or god - the similar, original character of 鬼 (oni or demon) is used instead. Modern readers believe that it reads "Nine Demons", the character was originally pronounced as "Kami" (holy spirit) as opposed to "Oni" (evil spirits). The name "Ku-ki" is therefore actually "Ku-kami" yet, it has been customarily pronounced as "Kuki" since the Edo period

神 "Shin" or "kami" means god or spirit- the English interpretation of "spirit" works better as "Nine Gods God School" sounds redundant and creates problems in comprehension

While we do not directly train NAGINATA Halberd and YARI Spear of Japanese Kobudo, just as we don't train some Okinawan Kobudo weapons yet such as Kama and Sai, they can be included at a later date We would use this Ryuha as our first source The BOJUTSU we cover has elements of both these, and are referred to in CLASS sometimes when appropriate Naginatajutsu (薙刀術) The Kukishin Ryū Naginata is 225 cm in overall length. It has a double edged blade that is 21 cm long and is attached to the shaft by wires. It is used to slash, parry, strike, stab and deflect - the blade is also used to hook and arrest. Naginata is a weapon of primary importance in Kukishin Ryū, as the Bōjutsu owes its origin to the Naginata. It stands as another signature weapon of Kukishin Ryū and it is acknowledged as the base of the Ryu's creation - the broken Naginata became the Bo that was used Sōjutsu (槍術) The Kukishin Ryū YARI spear has a total length of 270 cm. The 36 cm to 45 cm spearhead is connected to the shaft with wire, and it has three edges or "blades." It is used to parry, slash, stab, strike and to unbalance opponents The spear techniques in Kukishin-ryū integrate complex variations and nuances and this is perhaps the most difficult weapon to learn. It has a number of targets which can be reached from both long and short distances and at each distance, a slight divergence in the way the weapon is used is needed in order to make it effective. This makes it one of the most complicated and complex weapons, depending entirely on distance and timing for the wielder to use it correctly SO means Spear, just as TO means Sword It is accepted that the HANBO was originally a Yari that broke or was cut in half - the development of the Hanbo takes more from the Biken Sword, and relates more to the Taijutsu, with the closer range blocks and locks

Below are the full Densho for the KukishinDen Weapons It may be some time before we cover all of these, and may not be on any particular order, however now seems the right time to publish them, and some of them will be referred to and sourced as we move on ROKU SHAKU BO - 6 foot Staff - 66 Kata HANBO - Half Staff - 22 Kata BIKEN - Sword - 20 Kata KODACHI - Short Sword - 3 Kata JO - Four Foot Staff - 16 Kata JUTTE - includes TESSEN - 5 Kata YARI - Spear - 28 kata NAGINATA - Halberd - 13 kata Bi Naginata - 6 Kata Bisento - 9 kata