Kusarigamajutsu

Kusarigamajutsu (鎖鎌術:くさりがまじゅつ) is the art of using the Japanese weapon kusarigama.

Kusarigamajutsu is featured in several separate martial arts such as Koga Ha Kurokawa Ryū Heiho Ninjutsu, Tendō-ryū, Suiō-ryū and Shintō Musō-ryū. The kusarigama is made up of three parts: the kama (a wooden handle with a curved blade (traditionally straight) protruding at a right-angle on one end, and a small loop at the other), and the kusari (a chain attached to the kama) and a weight at the end of the chain. In a confrontation the kusari is swung in wide sweeping arcs to distract and entangle the opponent and the kama is used to deliver a fatal strike.

See also

• Araki-ryū – Koryū that includes the use of the kusarigama
• Suiō-ryū – Koryū that includes the use of the kusarigama via the attached school of Masaki-ryū Fukuhara-ha kusarigamajutsu
• Toda-ha Bukō-ryū – Koryū that includes the use of the kusarigama
• Isshin-ryū kusarigamajutsu – School of kusarigamajutsu found in Shintō Musō-ryū
• Tendō-ryū kusarigamajutsu- School of kusarigamajutsu found in Tendō-ryū bujutsu

Sources

• Pascal Krieger: Jodô – la voie du bâton / The way of the stick (bilingual French/English), Geneva (CH) 1989, ISBN 2-9503214-0-2