Yielding Bad Results
Flexible weapons, such as ropes, towels, chains, and so on, are indeed effective as trapping and choking weapons. Some people experienced with fighting have asked us whether these types of weapons can really be used at full speed. Indeed, in 2001, one of our instructors successfully used a towel to catch and choke an attacking dog, mid-lunge, before anyone was bitten.
These weapons do not defy reality, however: one very common mis-application we see in movies and television is based on genuine training practice. The specific application we see is using a flexible weapon to block an oncoming strike.
Here is the usual scene: a fighter grabs a chain. The attacker swings a sword, staff, or other weapon down at the fighter. The fighter lifts his hands, pulls the chain taut, and checks the weapon. With a quick parry to the side, the fighter lashes the weapon out and topples his opponent.
Nearly every system that teaches flexible weapons appears to teach this move, or a variant of it. The technique is so common that it has become assumed true, when in fact it is a decidedly dangerous practice. The idea is initially sound: if you put enough tension on a cord, it becomes seemingly rigid...rigid enough perhaps to stop a stick or a sword. The reality, though is completely different.
The physics are simple enough: an oncoming hand or weapon imparts significant energy onto the weapon. Pulling the blocking weapon taut uses a combination of arm muscles in opposition; this is inherently inefficient, whereas the opponent’s arm is moving in a more efficient manner. The energy imparted is greater than the recipient’s ability to absorb or redirect. At full speed, the technique fails immediately.
This is easy enough to test. All that’s required is a wooden striking weapon, a flexible weapon, a football helmet, and a volunteer willing to have ringing in his ears. This same person should wear the helmet and hold the flexible weapon in the official block as taught. For example, use a shinai and a nunchaku. The recipient holds the nunchaku taut and ready, as shown in many Japanese and Okinawan weapons classes. The student with the shinai should swing the weapon into the block at training speeds.
At this point, we expect the student will easily show how the nunchaku can stop the shinai: the shinai will bounce harmlessly off the chain or rope holding the sticks together. After a couple of swings like this, the attacking student should swing the shinai at the nunchaku as if he had a real sword, and was trying to cleave the skull of the other student for real.
You can probably guess the result: the shinai will overcome the nunchaku’s tension, and whack powerfully into the football helmet. This can be tried with other variations: bokken, sticks, or even a bare arm against a chain, rope, shirt, or other “soft” weapon. The student in the football helmet, though, will probably agree the technique does not work without wanting further demonstrations.
The reality: when the oncoming weapon hits the flexible weapon, the flexible weapon yields.
Instead, use the flexible weapon to tangle and trap at close ranges; at longer ranges, simply swing the weapon!