Issue 9 of This Is Japan by The Asahi Shimbun stated, "Maybe, the most unusual Japanese martial art is that which employs the kusarigama. The chain is attached to the weapon's base and it is controlled with both hands, similar to the first type of kusarigama. The third type "has a straight blade, hafted at right angles, with a handguard set at the blade side". It only takes one hand to operate the second type and the other hand can be used for another form of combat. The second type allows the wielder to use quick attacks and it can continue to be used if the weapon is deflected.
The second type of kusarigama has the chain "attached at the base of the blade" and it is much more powerful than the first type. One hit with the kusarigama is typically not able to stop someone from attacking and the weight needs to be "reeled in" by the wielder again so that a second attack can be made. Depending on how easy it is to see the weapon's weight move, "it can be deflected or blocked". The use of the first type depends on the ryū (school), with the weapon being held in either hand and its chain and weight being held in the other hand to be swung at the other person.
The first type has a weapon in the shape of a sickle that has a chain attached to the end of its shaft. This allows the kusarigama user to easily rush forward and strike with the sickle. Methods of use Īttacking with the weapon usually entailed swinging the weighted chain in a large circle over one's head, and then whipping it forward to entangle an opponent's spear, sword, or other weapon, or immobilizing their arms or legs. Draeger mentions in his book Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts that the sickle, referring to the kama, was originally used for agriculture and later became used as a weapon. He also states that there is no evidence for peasant use of the kusarigama or that it was derived from a farmer's tool. According to Amdur, trapping an opponent with the chain is not effective, and a farmer's sickle would be an awkward weapon. The farmer used the sickle with a chain attachment to defeat the warrior. In the story, a farmer who used a farming sickle to cut his rice plants was attacked by a samurai. Įllis Amdur’s book Old School: Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions retells a myth about the origin of the kusarigama. The handle often has metal bands or strips for reinforcement at either end. Ī handle of a kusarigama is surrounded by raden, which is a lacquer wood inlay that contains pieces of mother-of-pearl. Kusari-fundo refers to the chain combined with the iron weight. Kamajutsu refers to the kama (sickle), kusarijutsu refers to the chain, and fundojutsu refers to the weight. It combined the aspects of kamajutsu, kusarijutsu, and fundojutsu. The schools of kenjutsu, jūjutsu, and naginatajutsu taught kusarigamajutsu, the art of handling the kusarigama. The kusarigama has also been used as a "plaything for warriors with time on their hands, and a means of attracting rural students who wished to do something unique in their local festivals". Yamada did not have enough room in the bamboo grove to swing around the chain of his kusarigama. One of these fighters was Yamada Shinryukan, a man who defeated many swordsmen he was trapped in a bamboo grove by Araki Mataemon and killed. įrom the 12th century, until the time of the Tokugawa shogunate, many fighters specialized in the use of the weapon. It is likely that the kusarigama was common during the Edo period, used against swordsmen and as a training weapon, but it was first created during the Muromachi period. Perhaps, it was carried as a backup weapon, for its light weight. The weapon is at its most useful when wielded against an opponent who attacks with a sword it is not as useful against a longer weapon such as a spear, a naginata, or a bō. Swinging its long chain could endanger allies and it would be ineffective against armor. There is no evidence of the kusarigama being used as a battlefield weapon in mass combat. Another theory is that the kusarigama is based on the tobiguchi ( ja:鳶口), which is a type of axe that had a "stout haft and a short pick-like blade". People would wield the weapons with both hands to protect their horses against criminals. The jingama could also be used as a weapon and according to Nawa, the tool might have been combined with a konpi (棍飛) which is a chain that contained a weighted end and a chain around the user's wrist. The researcher Nawa Yumio believes that the kusarigama was based on the jingama, a tool that resembles a sickle, which was used to cut through a horse's ropes in the case of a fire.
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