Choose your weapon

Weaponry is a huge part of any traditional style. It is a huge selling point for many but is often reserved for the more advanced students. The reasoning behind that train of thought: you should have a fairly advanced understanding of the styles empty hand rudiments before you get anywhere near a wepon so you can fully operate it. Also there are health and safety issues of having untrained individuals swinging poles and blades around. Ironic when you think that the entire point of a weapon is to cause harm to someone! Traditionally of course the weapon was used to gain an advantage on an opponent especially if you happen to not be so adroit. So we seem to have lost our connection to the classic weaponry. Most weapons sprang from the use they had in the fields as farming tools. They evolved from apparatus that served man to apparatus that could sever a man. They function as a gruesome reminder to ages past and to the martial heritage of our chosen art. Times have changed and we have more efficient weapons but training the classic weapons should remain, we truly benefit from the inclusion of such things in the styles. The appreciation grows, we see how devastating the techniques can be and most normal folk accept that they do not want to see that weapon in action. In this way we see the way of peace in the paraphernalia of war. The combative merit should be taught above all, through that ferociousness and the control that the practitioner displays we find the hidden beauty whilst recognising the ugliness of it. This is why I am againt the musical kata and musical weaponry forms that many people enjoy! Not only is there next to no combative merit to the techniques they distance themselves from the function of a weapon to the point of irresponsible. The showboating and the way in which the weaponry is treated so lightly troubles me. Perhaps I over analyse, but when it comes to leverage over someone perhaps you should think more carefully before employing it?