As the (long) staff was used in rural locations to help during walks, and therefore, also used for defense,different techniques were developed so as to enable one to fight in different environments (narrow places, open fields, using the dirt from the ground towards the opponent's eyes, etc).
Attacks in open fields consisted of grabbing the staff in one extremity and striking the opponent with the other extremity, in order to take advantage of the full staff's length. On the other side, in narrow places, people resorted to grabbing the staff in the middle (and therefore having two extremities with which to strike the opponent), so as to adjust the movement's amplitude to the space limitations.
However, as society changed into industrial cities, people stopped carrying long staffs with them on a daily basis, and the substituted these with walking canes and batons.
This led to the art's specialization on long range strikes (mostly performed with a full rotation), and hence, choosing the weapon's length (staff or baton) depending on the conflict's environment.
Therefore, having already stated in a previous post that:
- the staffs have one of the extremities thicker than the other one;
- this thicker extremity is placed forward;
- the strikes are mostly performed by swinging the weapon through a full amplitude rotation (full circle);
this means that placing the most skilled hand at the back, where the rotation will have its center, improves one's control over the weapon.
Additionally, even when parrying, as the weapons hit each other, it is the back hand that has to stabilize the defender's weapon (or else it will oscillate on the forward hand, and therefore making the parry weaker and eventually making the strike slide towards the forward hand).
Finally, the non dominant hand is placed forward, approximately at shoulder distance, in order to be able to parry immediately, if needed. When striking the forward hand approaches the dominant hand (keeping a slight distance nevertheless), and then slides away from it again when going from attack to parry.
With the baton, only one hand is used on the weapon (the dominant hand), grabbing the baton in the thinnest extremity.
Friendly blows,
LFP
4 comments:
Hello Luis!
Thanks for the blog! This is helpful and interesting!
In the beginning of the post you say that JdP has "suffered" changes due to adapting into circumstances - does this reflect your personal view of the art, meaning that are you more interested in the arts origins or rather adapting it further to suit whatever needs may arise in today's world?
Yours,
Ilkka Hartikainen
p.s. Rgards from chilly Finland!
Hi there Ilkka,
I find it nice to know how JdP's technique evolved for several reasons, but perhaps mostly to help me understand today's technique better and thus being more effective in understanding combat's different contexts.
Although I try to "coach" students into having JdP improve their life overall, I view the art itself as a combat activity. This leads me to focus on effectiveness, and thus constantly adapting it, if necessary.
I've been with my instructor for 12 years now, and things have changed a bit over this time period. We're always looking for ways to improve, and we'll continue following that path.
All the best,
Luis
PS - Congratulations and thanks for being the first to place a comment on my blog
No problem, I'm happy to comment since you see the effort of sharing your experiences. For me constant change is a very common thing since we are reconstructing a martial art with no living tradition; this forces us to question our interpretations and further develop the techniques as we learn more.
For us the context itself does not change since we practice in order to survive whatever it was that 15th to 18th century European might have had to face. The same context does not exist anymore, but it is still the framework in which we attempt to think and perform.
Of course, it is also about personal developement, and for me teaching is the most 'real' application for a reconstructed art, which is partly the reason why I aim to be an instructor myself.
I will keep checking your blog!
Hi, i never seen jogo do pau used in narrow places, would love to see how would the tecnique adapt, maybe you can show me some day.
Also wanted to say that this blog is great and im sure to follow it! great idea and a must see for anyone interested in any kind of stick fighting,
keep it up!
cheers!
Post a Comment