How to Fight with a Staff or Bo!
4 Feb 2009
We have all seen Kung Fu and Karate masters fight many attackers with a staff but have you ever questioned the effectiveness of a staff? I took a look on youtube and found lots of advice on how to use a staff and I will share a couple of these videos but keep in mind that most of these methods come from katas. Will the staff or bo really work in a fight? Maybe! It depends on how you use it. I’ll explain.
I will explore the differences in kata (forms) and kumite (sparring-fighting) with a staff. I will evaluate the effectiveness of the staff techniques through the filter of – would this work in a real self-defense situation? I will talk about some of the claims made on one of the videos from Fight Science. I will close with self-defense applications of the staff against armed and unarmed attackers and how I would use a staff/bo in a fight. Here is a video of some Shaolin monks demonstrating a staff fight.