TONFA
The tonfa measures about three centimetres past the elbow when gripped.[5] There are three grips, honte-mochi (natural), gyakute-mochi (reverse) and tokushu-mochi (special). The natural grip places the handle in the hand with the long arm resting along the bottom of the forearm. This grip provides protection or brace along one’s forearms, and also provides reinforcement for back fist, elbow strikes, and punches. In use, the tonfa can swing out to the gyakute grip for a strike or thrust. Martial artists may also flip the tonfa and grab it by the shaft, called tokushu-mochi. This allows use of the handle as a hook in combat.
Tonfa Shinpo Mataoshi System
Starting with Uke Waza then progessing to Uke Tsuki Waza as a basic introduction to the weapon with cross reference to the empty hand form. This will enable the student to gain a foot hold over the Tonfa with the familiar body mechanics of the empty hand form before training the Shipo Mataoshi system.
Partnered pairs work with the Tonfa is Ippon structured as this also enables the student to use familiar training strategies again from the empty hand art and apply it with existing body skills. The thing to keep reminding yourself is you are the weapon and the body structure and alignment coupled with the stances is exactly the same.