Kama (weapon)
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The Kama( pronounced Kar-mah) are Okinawan and Chinese weapons that resemble traditional farming devices similar to a small scythe or a sickle. The development of this tool as a weapon began after Japan annexed Okinawa and outlawed all traditional weapons. The sickle, implemented as a redesigned weapon form, was called a natagama. The kama resemble another weapon familiar to the Japanese koryu, the Kusari-Gama, which had a weighted chain used to parry and club an enemy from a distance before the final Kama strike was administered. The kama itself is a stabbing and slashing weapon that is most effective for any type of hand-to-hand combat. The world's most renowned master of this kobudo style is Tadashi Yamashita, seen using these weapons in the film "The Octagon". Recently, the kama was popularized by the Japanese cult film Battle Royale, in which Mitsuko Souma utilizes the kama in an epic killing spree.
The 'freestyle' forms popular today have little or nothing to do with the original weapon or its historical techniques.
| Okinawan weapons of Kobudo, the "old martial way of Okinawa" (Japan). |
| Bo staff | Eku | Kama | Nunchaku | Sai | Tambo | Surujin | Tekko | Tinbe-Rochin | Tonfa |
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