Araki-ryu Kempo

This is off of the Kendo World site (Specifically their YouTube page). They have a lot of really great videos that I might link to this site. This happens to be Araki-ryu Kempo. The fact that they are doing kata with a staff  and other weapons really interested me. Notice how each time these kata are performed the swordsman ends up on the losing side. This is probably due to the fact that the other weapons were developed specifically to counter a sword. The peasants back in the day had to find ways to defend themselves from errant samurai (ronin), that were looking to create trouble.

Notice the need for the nice forward roll in the last kata!