“Wings of Light” is another case where my friend and weapons maker, Roy Kauffroath, handcrafted a weapon for me, in this instance, Kama.  Again, his expected fee was that a Kata be created for the gift...Sifu Kauffroath’s not interested in money, he expects creativity.

I believe what prompted him to make the Kama was some conversation we had along the lines of how most forms demonstrating Kama at tournaments were not combat realistic.  The Kama themselves are vicious weapons.  They can stab, slash, strike, push and pull.  You can spin them, either with or without rope, and always have the option of using the handles as weapons in their own right.

Most who perform with Kama are in effect doing a hand and foot Kata, while holding a pair of Kama.  After receiving Sifu Roy’s gift, we set to work compiling the essential Kama maneuvers, then developed a meaningful fight script where they could be presented in context.

The Kama is unique, and moves like no other weapon.  In some respects Kama represent the merger of Sai, Tonfa, Arnis, and Knife.  For that reason alone, everyone should have a least one Kama Kata under their Black Belt.

We apologize for the poor quality of the video below.  This has been extracted from dated archives which were degraded and of poor quality.  Currently, this is the best clip available.  We share it in that spirit, believing it better to show what we have than to use nothing.