Rytalin

[sungoo]

Alright, here is my rant on the bo and various other weapons.
Why I think it's such a neat weapon.
First off. I just want to stress that I am in no ways a master at these weapons, I just enjoy weapons training a lot.

Hrm... I'll just start with something about the sai's.
I really like the sai's, they're probably my second favorite weapons of all time. They're generally used as a method of disarming people. The basic movements are easy to learn but hard to master. Imo, It's hard to defend against someone using sai's as you can just flip them under your arm and use them like brass nuckles in a sense.
Or you flip them out and use them, to either trap someone's weapon or to strike them as you flip it out or just use them to thrust/strike at someone.
The reason I don't like the sai's as much as the bo, is because it gets boring after a while. There isn't much you can do with them.
Besides the actual trapping techniques and what not, there isn't much you can do with them. all you can really practice is flipping them in, flipping them out, thrusting... repeat...
And as your hands get tired after a while you can't practice the flipping in/out for hours on end with them.
It's a really neat weapon but kinda boring after a while. I still practice with them though...

Anyways, as for nunchucks, imo, they're one of the funnest weapons to play around with.
To me, it reminds me of that olympic sport "ribbon" or whatever it's called. It's the flashiest weapon I can think of.
You can be really creative with it, if you're good with them. Your opponent won't know which way the attack will come from as you can strike using your left hand or right hand. Not only that but after the attack you can continue on fairly quickly bringing the nunchucks back for another strike or you can stop the attack by grabbing a hold of the other end of the nunchuck, or by squeezing it into your armpitt, or by just letting it loose and hang towards the ground. The downside to the nunchucks imo is that to me, it's a lot of flash and not as useful as it looks.
I mean if you saw some guy with nunchucks or even a chain, you could take your shirt off and throw it at them. After that, if you charged them, it'd be hard for them to recover as their weapon would have lost it's momentum... Either way, in my eyes there are many more useful weapons then the nunchucks.

anyways, finally to the bo. I've just recently purchased a bo, approx 3 months ago and I've been practicing every second day.
Currently I'm just working with the basics which is switching from a left stance to a right stance(vice versa), figure 8's(in left/right stances swinging in a upward/downward direction), and also stopping it at will at any moment to strike. Even after using it for so shortly I've noticed that it's sooooOOOooo neat. It's almost like 2 weapons in one, a staff and a spear. I think the reason it's so useful is because it's so versatile. Also when you're defending against a bo it's hard to defend as the attacker can use either side of the bo to strike. sometimes goading the opponent into believe it'll be one side when he'll strike with the other.
Not only that, but he can vary the reach of his attack. As well one can continue attacks with ease as when one side of the bo is getting cocked the other is striking and vice versa.
It's so fun to use as well, just as fun as the nunchucks as you can almost make the bo an extension of yourself and there are so many little things you can practice. In comparison to the sai's, the bo has so many things you can practice. Just the basics itself...
I've also heard that back in the old days a shaolin monk could hold off about 20 guards with a staff alone.

Maybe I'll rant more later but I've done enough ranting for now...

[sungoo]

oh yeah my final point.
hah, well why I like the bo so much cause it's practical.
like you can find a broom or some kind of stick and use bo techniques to fend off an attacker.
It's fun to use, it's so simple yet it can be so complex. I don't know... it's almost like an art.
And it doesn't get boring.