Weapon Forms for Japanese Persona

[Saburou]

Not to _intentionally_ highjack the thread, but I've been using a nagamaki for a couple of months now, and it's a hard thing to get used to. The inability to put a rigid tsuba in the midde of a polearm is tough on the hands. I'm not sure if it's a substitute for the safety of sword-and-board...

[Kaijin]

I use a tsuba made from foam and renforced with strapping tape, then covered in black duct tape. I'm even looking at using my vynl cutting machine to make some little designs on it just for kicks.

It's about a inch thick and like a ~5 inch diamater. It works good for stopping a weapon from siding down the blade and hitting your hands, also is sometims helpful as a hook. But isn't rigid so it is still safe.

[Koredono]

Not to _intentionally_ highjack the thread, but I've been using a nagamaki for a couple of months now, and it's a hard thing to get used to. The inability to put a rigid tsuba in the midde of a polearm is tough on the hands.

Is there an EK reg against putting a rigid guard on a polearm? There doesn't appear to be in my perusing of the online regs (the East seems to use Society standards); I would think it'd be fine, so long as it conforms to the really picky interpretation of the 'guard' rule - 1 1/4" thick - and making it out of foam and maybe covered with soft leather (to extend its lifespan) or lots of tape *should* work (much like Kaijin suggests). I know I'd allow it in Æthelmearc, and so long as you weren't holding the weapon too far away from the guard and regualrly hitting opponents with the guard rather than the blade (which is why I'd strongly suggest a 'soft' guard, just in case), I don't think you'd be a danger with it.

Personally, I've been playing with something like a nagamaki for the past 9 months or so (ok, more like a 5' polearm, with a 20" striking head), and haven't found a need for a tsuba, but that may be partially because I changed handed-ness and range in the middle of bouts (or even blows).

I'm not sure if it's a substitute for the safety of sword-and-board...

No form is as 'safe' as sword-and-shield, except for maybe CA or siege; but those aren't acceptable tourney forms (with a very few exceptions).

[Wulf]

Not to _intentionally_ highjack the thread, but I've been using a nagamaki for a couple of months now, and it's a hard thing to get used to. The inability to put a rigid tsuba in the midde of a polearm is tough on the hands. I'm not sure if it's a substitute for the safety of sword-and-board...

I was using Nissan nagamaki for acouple of years at Pennsic. I enjoyed the weapon a whole hell of a lot. Good striking power and nice defence, if your used to working with a polearm.