Comparing 6 STAFF Martial Arts from around the World. History, Self-defence, Fitness & Flow

a long straight sturdy stick perhaps the most simple and multifunctional tool since the dawn of man for the past 15 years i've been fascinated by the staff for both an everyday survival item and self-defense weapon in this video i'll compare and describe my favorite aspects from 6 star fighting traditions from around the world in different ages within these arts i believe we can not only gain appreciation for history and learn effective self-defense but also methods for training fitness focus flow and stillness of mind that has application for everyday life so stay tuned life is really interesting and i feel like there's just never enough time in the day to learn everything i want to luckily with the internet knowledge is at all our fingertips but options can be completely overwhelming and how do you know what information is actually true well the great courses plus have brought thousands of courses and lectures into one easy-to-navigate on-demand subscription and courses are delivered by people who actually know what they're talking about experts in their fields and lecturers from ivy league universities as well as organizations like national geographic on this one subscription you get access to a massive library of over 11 000 video lectures about pretty much anything you can think of science math philosophy history fitness health you name it they've probably got a course in it every piece of knowledge is like a tool in your tool belt that can help us face and overcome the challenges of life so with this new year upon us i wanted to strengthen my meditation practice and also learn more about philosophy and the ideas that have shaped history and human search for meaning so i started a course called real zen for real life which strips away the stereotypes and misconceptions of this tradition and focuses on the fundamental ancient meditation practices that i feel are needed more than ever to navigate through an ever more distracting world i even use this course for researching this video i'm also working through a course called the meaning of life which compares philosophies from around the world and ages giving you a great perspective on how different cultures try to make sense of reality so if you're looking to improve yourself this year look no further than the great courses plus and you can try it out for free by going to wwe www.thegreatcoursesplus.com forward slash fandabydocy or click the link in the video description below what we ought to lose get some knowledgebomb fix today hey folks don't find diabetes thanks for tuning in so before i jump into it i first want to say i'm not claiming to be some sort of martial art master nor am i trying to sell a new philosophy or reinvent the wheel i just want to share some stuff i've been training learning about and thinking about for the past 15 years or so now my intention is not to promote violence but have an honest look at these styles from a self-defense philosophical and historical perspective as well as looking at the staff as a simple tool for training movement and flow in general now this video is an overview looking at lots of different styles and concepts not going into anyone into too much detail but i'll put numbered references to all the learning resources in the description below so follow that if you want to learn more and honestly i learned a lot from you folks so please share your knowledge and opinion in the comments below so for those who've seen my videos before you know i mainly focus on wilderness survival often from a historical perspective literally putting myself in the shoes of our ancestors to experience traveling and surviving in the land the way they would have done the intention of this work is try to experience life at its simplest form stripping away any needless fluff and condensing what you actually need to simple minimal multifunctional tools and staff has become a common feature of this practice and i've already done an in-depth video on my favorite staff design and all the survival uses i found for it as well as a video on how to make one so check those out if you're interested but a quick recap for the purposes of this video i'm referring to a staff as a long straight smooth stick roughly the same diameter all the way along blunt on each end and within the size range you can still realistically use it as a walking stick now the staff has two key beneficial characteristics one it provides an extension of your reach allowing it to be used as a walking aid providing an extra point of contact with the ground helping you walk in rough terrain keeping your balance helping you save energy and aiding in crossing rivers and jumping obstacles this also means it can be used to keep your distance between you and something that may cause you harm whether it's a wild animal or a human the original social distancing tool you could call it and secondly it provides leverage meaning that a small slow movement at the bottom of the staff results in a large fast movement at the top meaning you can guard and strike both high and low easily and generate quite a lot of power with relatively little effort acceleration means is good for hitting things and with the aid of a sling is good for throwing things so put simply on a good day a walking aid on a bad day a whacking aid so why did i like the staff so much and why do i think it's been one of the ultimate self-defense tools for travelers throughout history well first of all because it's primarily a walking aid it's what i would call a non-aggressive weapon it has no obvious offensive means which for me as a tool sums up the true spirit of martial arts that you're not here to cause trouble or to start violence but if it comes your way you've still got an effective means of dealing with it which is one of the reasons why i think the staff was often carried and staff martial arts often developed by people like monks pilgrims spiritual seekers throughout history so you could say ultimately peaceful but not naive people secondly its simplicity is very advantageous one if it breaks no big deal i just go to the forest make another one and i don't need any special tools or resources to do so its simplicity also means its carry can't really be regulated so if you look at countries all around the world throughout history sometimes in certain periods of time the carrying of weapons with either completely banned or only certain classes of people could carry them so the nobility or warrior classes but you can't regulate a stick it's just a stick so you can see that the staff has been the underdogs or poor man's weapon throughout history and thirdly can be used as a training tool for many other weapons giving the fundamentals of footwork technique functional strength and looseness that can be applied to two-handed swords musket and bayonet spears and other long-pole weapons i also see it as a tool for not only training from marshall perspective but also training movement flow and focus in general the same way that any movement that forces you to relax really concentrate get out of your head and into your body and from the perspective of the traveler your staff is nearly always close to hand meaning you know your practice tool is always with you giving you more opportunities to practice meaning you're more likely going to get better and finally the staff is often praised by many historical masters to be a superior weapon compared to many other hand weapons that you might come up against as it's very dynamic you can use both sides to strike cut and thrust and secondly it was often longer than many other swords or hand weapons that you might come up against so you have an advantage of reach so a decent hardwood staff in the right hands is still going to be very effective even if it's simply to dominate the space to create an opening for you to make a run for it now obviously it has some disadvantages and perhaps the most obvious one is the exposure of your hands you know they're not protected by any sword guards and it really doesn't take a very powerful hit to break or to lose a finger but different styles try to avoid this problem with techniques like deflective parries moving of the hands and pinch grips now before i go into comparing the different styles it's important to keep in mind the context of where these arts evolved some come from strict martial manuals so they're very to the point and regimented others have come from centuries of oral tradition and involve game-like elements with gentlemanly conduct while others have more artistic flair and showmanship elements to it which may not have as much direct marshall application but still overall train strength and familiarity with the weapon now we come to the eastern styles they're often very interwoven with the spiritual philosophies of the region namely the many forms of taoism confucianism shintoism and buddhism and they bring to the table elements of mind-body connection meditation and flow and the martial arts themselves almost become metaphors that you can live everyday life by however so much is lost in translation and it can be difficult to unpack as a westerner but in short i think all the styles have got something to bring to the table so without further ado here are the different styles i've been looking at and my favorite aspects from them first up the japanese joe or short staff typically about four feet long made from heavy oak wood perhaps the most famous master of the short staff was muzo gunosuke who lived in early 17th century japan famous for his jewels with the legendary swordsman miyamoto musashi some of the oldest surviving styles of joe are jojutsu or jodo but what first started me on my staff journey was aikido first developed by moria yushiba in the early 20th century and further developed by one of his top students saito who created 20 basic moves consisting of five thrusting variations five strikes three one-handed movements five figure eight movements two flowing movements as well as two catters and various partner practices what i love about this style of joule is how dynamic the movements are giving you great familiarity with the multiple ways of manipulating the staff i also love the emphasis on flow and relaxation to create fast and energy efficient movements next the french great stick or baton using a lighter hardwood stick as speed is the aim of the game here looking at techniques described in alfred hutton's book the art of fencing with the saber written in 1889 where he demonstrates french stick fencing taken and adapted from the french john vale tradition as you're using a lighter stick power is generated by full fast cycles and the stick is kept in near constant motion using the foundational practice of different mulanate translated as reels parries are only held temporarily before giving fast counter attacks hands are generally kept at the back of the stick and close together but emergency guards are described by quickly shifting the hands apart this style is one of the last properly taught usage of the staff fighting in europe in the modern era and was taught as a core gymnastic and fitness exercise not just for self-defense next up the portuguese style of jogo de pal translated as the game of the stick exact origins are disputed but the style seems to originate from the middle ages as a method of combat for poorer fruit soldiers as well as a method of self-defense and a way of settling arguments amongst the country folk of the northern regions of the country my favorite aspects of the style are the ferocious strikes and swings created by lunging forward with the hips and sliding the hands back to the end of the staff to generate maximum acceleration at time just before contact as well as the wide sweeping circular swings used to dominate the space while against multiple attackers next are two styles of european quarter staff which tended to use thick oak or ash staffs between 7 and 12 feet long so a bit too long to use as a walking aid but the techniques can still be applied to shorter more wieldable steps first we'll look at the scottish style inspired by the work of the famous 18th century fencing masters zack wilde archibald mcgregor and donald mcbain perhaps the most defining characteristic of the style is the similarity with the principles of scottish swordsmanship prioritizing defensive structure and stability resting guards are precise and designed to cover as much of the body as possible strikes are generated with small circles in front of the body so your staff is always between you and your opponent there are three hand positions from last quarter which gives you the best range but weaker structure to half staff which gives you great stability and variations of attacks but lacks range and exposes your hands but training shifting your hands to make use of the different benefits and the right opportunities this style can be super effective textile quarter staff is from the german fencing master joachim mayer mere is a rich and complex system that was written down in the art of combat in 1570. this style was used to prepare men for live combat and to compete in bloody martial games and prize fights in 16th century germany this material trains the body to push itself through its fullest range of motion to power large arcing strikes generally characterized by large clearing strikes binding and winding to deliver thrusts and surprise one-handed strikes mirror also saw his schools as not only a place to learn how to fight but to develop an honorable and virtuous way of being by the standards of the time where men would learn to be brave and resilient thank you sir finally i want to mention perhaps the most famous staff the bull although there are many worthy mentions of bull marshal techniques used in many japanese styles like fujitsu as well as a number of chinese arts but for this video i want to focus on bull staff spins which you sometimes see in chinese kung fu as well as the ancient indian art of salam bam although spending your staff doesn't have much direct martial application i believe there are a number of benefits from this practice firstly it looks cool and it's a fun thing to do to kill time around camp secondly it trains great familiarity with the weapon training grip strength and how to generate and manipulate momentum while keeping the body soft and stable and finally for me it encapsulates a concept that is applicable to all martial arts and many other things in life that is the concept of flow which is both a practice and a state of being that can be reached often described as the zone by many athletes it could be described as the optimum balance between boredom and anxiety between tension and relaxation between order and chaos something that requires intense focus to the point where your mind becomes still you lose the concept of time where actions are somehow effortless yet deeply meaningful when spinning the staff if you're too stiff and strong then it just doesn't work in fact it slows down too soft then you lose all control if you lose concentration for a second then you drop it or you're punished with a smack in the face with a stick you can progressively test your ability and risk factor by learning different spins increasing the speed and using heavier staffs and even setting the ends on fire to spice it up a bit but the principles of focus and balance between relaxation and strength are forever constant for me spending the staff is a single practice that sums up a lot but the same concept can be applied to many other practices that requires these same principles from ancient texts like the tao ji jing to modern books like the four f's of flow there are many interpretations of this practice in state of being which can also simply be described as the way many people who engage in combat or any activity that involves risk understand the state but i believe the reason why martial arts have often be related to the art of living in general is because these times of high risk and focus can sum up and simplify life into a single moment so there you go maybe to most people a stick is just a stick but i see it as a companion for the majority of human existence and the more we familiarize with it the more it can become an extension of our body to help steady us when the terrain gets rough and protect us when the going gets tough to help clear the space to find our opening to train momentum with the strength to initiate and guide it with the softness to maintain and flow with it to connect us with land and myth to get out of our minds and into the movement but maybe it's just me thanks so much for watching folks huge thanks to the great courses plus for sponsoring this video generally a really good learning resource please check out that free trial guys what we've got to lose you're going to learn a lot huge thanks to ben hamilton for helping me out this video as well as showing me my weaknesses in my staff technique showing me the hard way i really appreciate it also big thanks to heiko from the catherine society for helping me out with the research i've got links to some of his videos in the references below juice thanks to all my patrons and supporters i love you all train safe everyone and i'll be back with another video as soon as i can cheers

Channel: Fandabi Dozi

Views: 318,323

Rating: 4.9574122 out of 5

Keywords: Staff MMA, Staff martial arts, martial arts, history, movemnet, flow, fitness, stick fighting, scotland, german, jogo do pau, french great stick, quarter staff, jo staff, bo staff, staff spinning, sparring, stick, walking stick, survival, bushcraft, outdoors, hiking, myth, HEMA, MMA, Aiki-jo, Kungfu

Id: Cv3ROAi7TFk

Length: 16min 42sec (1002 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 29 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/BEATUWITHASTICK]

Staff is bae.

[u/Sure-Swim7459]

Interesting!

[u/Blacksidemountain]

Great video

[u/Shellshocked_Swede]

As the great C said: tread softly, and carry a big stick.

[u/RaiseTheBannerofWar]

Thanks for sharing. Subscribed. Interesting stuff.