My kind of weapon. Blades are nice and I admire the skill and dedication needed to master them, but there's a primal simplicity to the kanabo and other similar weapons that just says "you don't want to just defeat your opponent but literally break them".
I'm really not getting how you expect to deflect a full-blown strike from this oversized behemoth with a quick parry from a maybe 1.5-pound baton. The difference in momentum is such that the baton would bounce off like a bug from the headlight of an 18-wheeler.
Very cool, but I am pretty sure that Kanabo is almost comically oversized. My research is showing a proper Kanabo is between 2-3 lbs, MAYBE 4 MAX, but typically around 3 lbs. I made one out of a post hole digger handle and about an lb of stainless steel bolts. And it weighs just under 3lbs as my research shows it should, and hits like a truck at 4ft in length, sending my 70 lb heavy bag flying around like a rag doll. It is not lightweight at all, and it will make you sweat if you use it for a few minutes, but it's entirely reasonable for even a smaller person to wield with some training and exercise. The one Ben is using looks like it's at least 7-10lbs, maybe more. A lot of this depends on length, and judging by the one Ben is using, according to the length it should be much thinner and weigh about 3lbs like mine. The one Ben is using is likely patterned after a CEREMONIAL or DECORATIVE Kanabo found in a museum. Ceremonial or Decorative weapons are always the ones more inclined to survive long periods, and so one should always assume anything in a museum may not necessarily be a representative of the genuine article used in war or daily life. Much like some variations of Plate armor in Europe, or O No dachi which could reach almost ludicrous sizes in a ceremonial context. But besides this, the honesty of just how difficult this weapon is to defend against is important. Even though mine is decidedly lighter and easier to manage, I know for a fact that the weight and power this weapon has, especially when in the lighter faster package, is a very challenging weapon to counter. When using it, I find I need to focus on well-focused and timed aggression that puts my opponent on the defensive or forced to block. The weight of this weapon means you can overpower almost any lighter weapon with ease. The Kanabo of the size I am learning to use is lighter and faster than Bens, so with training and practice, it is not at all unrealistic to use it to parry much lighter and quicker weapons, and deliver counter blows. However, where the Kanabo shines is in situations forcing the opponent to block or parry or take the hit. Further, you do not need to do these big circular movements with a more appropriately sized Kanabo. you can develop plenty of power simply by pivoting it around the lead hand like a fulcrum and using very little arm movement at all. Incorporate some body movement and it's even better. Since the weapon is weighty, so long as you get it moving at a decent speed, it will hit plenty hard enough to crush an unprotected bone easily. and you can always reserve the bigger power swings for better opportunities when you know you can land them. If you are using a lighter weapon like a sword, it is virtually useless to attempt to parry or deflect this with any force, as deflecting a weapon this massive will be problematic, better to just jump out of the way and hope to counter-attack when they miss. And forget any form of a static block with anything other than a shield or similarly heavy weapon to the Kanabo. To counter the Kanabo with a lighter weapon, I want to go for the hands and fingers, hoping to disarm the Kanabo warrior with a few light and quick cuts BEFORE they could swing their weapon. I would also attempt to close the gap much like against a long weapon like a spear or Bo. The closer the better, as a weapon like the Kanabo has a hard time delivering crushing power up close, however, one could "Half sword" the kanabo for close-in grappling and short staff techniques similar. Providing the metal studs aren't too spikey or hard to grip. So close range might still be risky unless my weapon is ideal for this range. No weapon is king or best, but I have personally found the Kanabo to be a very under-appreciated weapon outside of those in the know or fans of the ONI mythology. As a Zombie slayer, I feel it may even be the supreme ultimate skull smasher, able to batter through the squishy rotting arms of the undead and hit the Yatzie noggin. As for home defense against more lively invaders, while nothing really beats a gun, this thing would be a horrorshow for a home intruder to have to deal with in the dark... When I made mine and was finished looking at it, the first thought I had while swinging it was... if I hit anyone with this, even in justified self-defense, I would probably be sent to every jail in the country on some kind of special punishment for inhuman cruelty. This thing makes Dad's old Baseball bay by the nightstand look like a joke. Of all the weapons I own, I would probably like being clobbered by this the least of all... I feel like even if it was a quick death, it would be utterly unbearably painful...
Thank you for you long and thoughtful comment, I will forward this to Ben. He's out of the country right now and he's not checking his messages as frequently as he usually does, he's coming back in a few weeks.
@@AmyStewartCooper Thanks, Amy. Ben seems like a really cool guy, and a fun martial artist. So make sure he knows I wasn't trying to be a snotty internet know it all! He's one of the few who is showcasing this weapon, and it's great!
amazing comment, I think it's time kanabo technic need to revolutionise, as you can form the demonstration with master roy miller, the kanabo user is nearly in a very vunarable situation against a lightening fast opponent in a close encounter.....I hope Benji would manage to combine the several club strike technics around the world and finally build his own/personalise technic - and that's being mentioned by Bruce Lee when he developed Jetkundo.
Hey do you know how much that Kanabo weighs? i'm asking because I'm startung to make them next week and I'm gathering as many weights as possible from historical and modern replica models. So I can gauge the ideal weight for a 2 handed one.
Such as it has been some time since you asked this, I think I will give my opinion on this. Every warrior is different and has different capabilities, and so going to need a different weight and length. that said, it likely is far lighter than you think, which does not mean it is easy to wield. Mine is about 5ft long, about as thick around as a softball bat, and weighs roughly 5lbs. His is shorter and stoat than mine but I would say it could not weigh more than 10lb.
Sorry, I'm just seeing this now. Ben's kanabo weighs 12 pounds. Recently he was trying to figure out a way to make a padded practice kanabo that wouldn't hurt too much if you got hit with it. But in the end we all thought that getting hit by anything that weighs 12 pounds would hurt even if it was padded and soft.
@@AmyStewartCooper No problems, you could try distributing the weight in the opposite end in the handle. It would technically move differently than an original but it's better than using a totaly light one to spar with. you could put metal inside the handle and use a dense foam covering the top. Or make it out of thick hardwood leaving a large pommel at the base while dense foam covers the top. So it can weigh over 10 lbs in total but all of the dangerous mass is below your hands. So you are still swining and lifting a heavy object, but it strikes lighter.
@@londiniumarmoury7037 yeah, he wanted something that would feel and move the same as the Kanabo, and I don't think there's any good way to do that. My suggestion was a something like one of my Ultra Sabers which have combat ready blades, so that way it's strong enough to support the weight, and wrap the blade with foam, but adding enough foam to equal 12 pounds that's still going to hurt when you get hit.
@@AmyStewartCooper We have the same trouble in HEMA sparring when trying to do things like 2 handed axe sparring and shield bashing with large shields. It's difficult to make heavy things safe, it's difficult to make bashing each other with 8-10 lb shields safe, so we tend to only shield bash with smaller buckler shields, but even then they can dent up fencing masks and cave them in. The training swords are not even totally safe, I broke my training partners hand and he was wearing thick hockey gloves, and the training sword still broke it and he was out of action for months.
@@slevin1157 Interesting. And thanks for the advice I'll take a look at the video. I mainly ask because 1 - Every says just swing the bat. 2 - seems like a bit of untapped potential for weapon based martial arts.
