Manrikigusari

[Soulend]

Not sure whether I should be asking this in one of the Ninjutsu forums or not..could anyone recommend a book outlining techniques for the manrikigusari? Since I have been using nunchaku for almost 20 years now, I figured the manriki would not be so difficult...oops, wrong answer. Wow, it is difficult to control! But, it surely seems an extremely versatile weapon..any ideas for good texts? There is noone in my area that teaches it's use. So, I'll have to train under Sensei Softcover.

[Walker]

There is a book by Charles Gruzanski originally titled Chain and Spike (1968) and recently republished as Ninja Weapons (1991,1994). It covers the manrikigusari and shuriken of the Masaki ryu.

[Soulend]

Thanks Walker and Janty. Ya, I knew the samurai used them, I just mentioned the ninja because I thought that perhaps(possibly) the chain weapons might be more widely practiced among those that follow your Art today. And yup, as I said..you're right, they are very different. Seems like the manriki could serve as a flail, garrote, bolo, chain whip, "brass knuckles", shield..perhaps even a climbing aid if neccesary. I will definately look into the text and video you guys mentioned.

[pboylan]

<SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT>

I just happens I finally got around to putting up a video on manriki gusari, or as it is called in the ryuha the video comes from Fundo Kusari. It's at
http://budogu.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page18.html

It comes with a fundo kusari.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or privately.

Peter Boylan
peter@budogu.com