Christmas
Gifts for the Martial Artist
By
Jonathan Bluestein
Unlike
my usually scholarly articles, in the spirit of Christmas let us have more
fun :-)
Ain’t
no time like Christmas for spoiling a loved one or yourself with a cool martial
arts gift. But what should you get? I have listed a bunch of wonderful gift
ideas for you to consider, and I am quite sure you would like at least some of
them. Take note that they are listed from the more expensive to the least
expensive (and even the free!), accommodating a wide range of gifting budgets.
I will be describing most items from personal experience, so you can be sure it
would be a good and safe purchase on your behalf. Please note that I have not
received any of the items recommended here for free, and neither am I
associated in any way with the people selling them.
300-400$ :
A real, functional, well-made sword
Regardless of style, martial artists
like swords. A decent blade, especially a customized one, is a very cool item
to have, and sure as hell impressive wherever you put it. As a gift, it will
carry good memories for decades and more.
People tend to think really good sword
should be very expensive. Not true. The high-end blades, yes. Can top 5000$ and
sky is the limit. But for 300-400$, you can get a REALLY fine sword, even a
functional one, made using traditional methods (or not). This actually seems to
be the lowest price point at which it is safe to rely on a sword product to
last and be sturdily built, regardless of sword type.
Before purchasing, be sure to do some
research about the type of sword you’re looking for. Steel types, for instance,
can be of utmost importance. The following guide is a good place to start: http://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/buy-swords-online.html
Picture:
373$ custom-made Katana from SinoSword.com
Where to buy?
Tozando (www.tozandoshop.com) – Good for regular and custom Iaito (unsharpened steel alloy Katanas).
I have had experience with their wooden weapons – top notch, best you can get.
They can sometimes be pricier than other shops, but make up for it with quality
products and free international shipping.
SinoSword (www.sinosword.com) – For custom swords, Japanese and
Chinese, of all kinds. Their specialty is the Japanese Katana. Their strength
is in superb blacksmithing, excellent customer service and the ability to
customize swords to the extreme. Ordering from them requires you describe your
blade of choice to the smallest of details. Otherwise they may choose things for
you, and that can cause misunderstandings. I am in the process of ordering a
sword from them, and the correspondence so far has been excellent.
SBG (http://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/authentic-japanese-swords.html) – Sword Buyers Guide is a wonderful
website with tons of info for people interested in swords. The page I linked to
contains many reviews and links to quality Japanese katanas at a decent price.
Around 150$ :
The best punching bag out there
I have tried my fair share of heavy
bags. The one I have now in my martial arts school is my all-time favourite.
The MaxxMMA bag is simply brilliant. A genius design – inner rubber tube filled
with air, surrounded with a larger outer tube filled with water. These are
wrapped with real leather. The result is a bag that actually feels like a torso
of a human being. Soft, yet does not give way much.
Springy but does not
bounce. Heavy, but can be moved (70-140lbs, depending on how much water you put
in). Just right. As the leather can be tough on some people’s bare hands, the
company also includes a nice cushion that easily wraps tightly around the bag.
I have had this bag for several weeks now, and I am very pleased with it.
Where to buy?
Amazon:
Ebay:
50-100$ :
Winter protection
You like training outside… But it is
god damn winter, and rain/snow would freeze you to death. Luckily this Gore-Tex
coverall exists.
Wearing it will keep you warm and completely dry on the inside
in the most wicked of storms, while maintaining your full range of motion. Highly
resilient. I have had this suit for 2 years now, and cannot stress how useful
it had been for me. Just yesterday I took my large spear to the park and
trained with it in the rain.
Where to buy?
Here (the people I bought from):
(Wherein the link is no longer active,
then Ebay search for: ‘ Gore-Tex Coverall ‘.
A wooden weapon (any weapon)
Though not ‘the real thing’, can be no
less impressive, especially if custom-made. You also have the advantage of not
suffering any guilt while banging it around in practice. The standard wooden
Bokken can be gotten anywhere these days. Boring. For a real masterpiece at a
reasonable price, which can be used for contact training, you need to order
from a hand-crafting artist. Luckily, these artworks are not too expensive.
Picture: Wooden swords made by Carina
Cirricione.
Where to buy?
Raven Studios (http://www.little-raven.com/RS/MA/) – Run by the Carina Cirricione, this
is a fine workshop. I have purchased 4 Chinese Miao Dao from her in the past
and had been very pleased with them. Her choice of woods is limited, but she
can design and craft any design you may challenge her with (European, Japanese,
Chinese or otherwise). Her professionalism is to be trusted and appreciated.
Blizniak Bokken (http://blizniaksbokken.com/) – Their design options are slightly more limited than
Carina’s, and they can get more pricey. They also mostly specialize in just two
weapons – bokkens and short staffs. They make up for this with an unusually
accessible website which makes ordering a breeze, and a very large selection of
wood types. For a few hundred dollars apiece, they also make bows (http://blizniaksbows.com/ ).
Less than 50$ :
A weapons rack
Well, all these steel and wooden
weapons you bought earlier… You need to put them somewhere, don’t you? A weapons rack is in my opinion a rather
aesthetic addition to any home or martial arts school. It is good looking even
when used as a coat hanger. You need to beware as there are lots of bullshit
products out there, which are very poorly built and would not last. Take in
account that although these cheaper racks look nice, they would be made of wood
composites. Full hardwood ones can be much more expensive.
Nonetheless, I think
it would be a waste to pay more.
Where to buy?
Standing for two weapons (free
shipping):
Standing for several weapons (free
shipping):
Wall-mounted for several weapons (free
shipping):
Research of Martial Arts
Research of Martial Arts is my first book. Since its release in
August 2014, it has become a sensation in the martial arts community. I was not
expecting such an overwhelmingly positive response, and was very happy when it
arrived. The premise of this book is to provide the answers that other books on
martial arts do not. To do away with the bullshit – the mysticism, excessive
discussions of energies (at the expense of practicality), personal and
historical myths, etc. As a life-long martial artist and teacher, I was fed up
with the current state of martial arts literature, and decided to write a book
that I would have enjoyed reading. Five years of hard work have led to the
creation of this work, which I am quite proud to say looks and reads like
nothing else on the market. At 418 pages and 220,000 words (longer than two
maxed-out Phd thesis put together), the scope of topics discussed in this book
dwarfs other ones of its type. It carries appeal to any martial artist,
regardless of style, rank or experience level.
Because of its scope, the book is hard
to describe in a paragraph. Therefore, I decided to share no less than 72 pages
from it absolutely free online, to help potential readers get a sense of what
it is about: http://media.wix.com/ugd/0cde99_2049dcd1c02c4cf391346f203baf4fd5.pdf . The book has earned many reviews, all
favourable, and they may be read here: http://www.researchofmartialarts.com/#!reviews/c8h4
(scroll down a bit). The book itself can be purchased on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Research-Martial-Jonathan-Bluestein-Shifu/dp/1499122519
.
I am also holding a special Christmas
giveaway which will end on December the 18th, after which I shall
send free copies of the book to 10 lucky winners: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/116308-research-of-martial-arts
.
I wish
you all a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year!
______________________________________________
Shifu
Jonathan Bluestein is the head of the Tianjin Martial Arts Academy, and teaches
Xing Yi Quan and Pigua Zhang in Israel. He is also a martial arts author and
researcher. His list of published articles, most available for free reading
with links (and on this blog), can be found at the following link:
If
you liked this article, please ‘like’ the page of shifu Bluestein’s school on
Facebook:
_______________________________________________
All rights of this article are and the
pictures within it are reserved to Jonathan Bluestein ©. No part of this article
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission, in writing, from Jonathan Bluestein.
Jonathan may be contacted directly via email:
jonathan.bluestein@gmail.com .
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