Forums > Social Discussion > Poi as a martial art

Posted: 26th May 2005
...which is nothing to do with the thread, but interesting nonetheless

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 26th May 2005
Bender

Written by:

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poi is as much a martial art as Macdonalds is a restaurant.

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Being Maori, i would have to dispute that. But it would depend on your defnition of a martial art. (If you only count asian fighting styles as MA and not other native's)
Long Poi was not only used are a training weapon for chlidren and men but short poi is also connected to weapons. Just as a sword has a string with tastles. A mere has a string with a poi, birds wing or some other distraction.

Am i saying that a string is a M.A. Most defnetally not. But it is part of the weapon and is often used as such.

I wonder if you guys get Maori t.v on sky>? There have been some awsome performances from men with poi and mere on programs like "toi whakaari" etc. Some awsome form and movements.

U know, u can get some madman running round with a sword, does that make him a martial artist or the sword a martial art. What im saying is just cause someone has a mere, dos'nt mean they know what to do with it. But there are a rare few who could take you down with just the string.


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Usually they have a poi/ birdswing attatched to the string. And sometimes the mere is swung instead of the poi.

Posted: 26th May 2005
cool, i knew poi was a training device for warriors, but i didnt know it was actaully part of a weapon!

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Posted: 30th May 2005
dude you ever hit your self in the head with a SOFT wick and that bloody hurts!!

try a rock or somthing harder.... hmmmm deadleness.

"The company of those that seek the truth is
always preferable to those who think they have
found it"

Terry Pratchet
Monsterous Regiment

Posted: 31st May 2005

Written by: polarity

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I've never heard of the Japanese using metal armour, too much of the fighting style is based on freedom of movement, for huge periods or Japanese history the hardest object a samurai had after his sword would most often be the wooden sandals on his feet.

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Well... Respectfully I have to disagree.

Granted for long periods of time Samurai wore nothing but silk, leather and wood as armour, but they did wear metal armour for a sizable chunk of time.
Not full metal like the european knights, but they had cast iron breast plates and helmets, and also much metal worked into all the other armour plates that we are so familiar seeing when we see representations of Samurai. Many even had iron face masks, and throat protectors.
There came a point in Japanese warfare that *the* most effective weapon on the battle feild was something akin to a gigantic baseball bat that would litterally crush someone inside thier armour (a medievol tank of sorts), because of the trend in iron armour on the battle field.

Having spent many many years training in a Japanese martial art that is very much steeped in tradition, I had to (or rather, I should say "got" to) learn hundreds and hundreds of weapons techniques that were designed to get around the armour conundrum.

In the full armour of the later fuedal period there were litterally only about nine vulnerable points in the samurai's armour that you could effectively attack with a sword. Three of which (five in the advanced levels) became the basis of the sport of Kendo.

Iron, other than in weapons, was a huge part of the the later fuedal era of Japanese history. Most Samurai gave up mobility for protection, and limitation of bodily targets.

Jesus helps me trick people.

Posted: 31st May 2005
Dr4gon - Going on the definition that martial = "Of, relating to, or suggestive of war. " (The "art" part is pretty self-explantrory...) I would agree that it can be seen as a form of martial art, just as soft, internal tai-chi or chi-kung (or even caligraphy), whilst not weapons or actual combat moves are "martial" by their design.

I would however say that poi is not and I believe (although am happy to admit I'm wrong) has never been an actual weapon...
You mention one was attached to a mere (which I presume is a bladed weapon of some kind), however were poi ever used as the actual weapon? I know there are throwing weapons under many names which are more similair to meteors with a rock at each end to act as a snare, but actual poi?

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 31st May 2005
i forgot to add to my post: "..but poi is great!"

i understand that it is not a martial art, but it is great.

saying things are necessary because i have a great respect for the traditions of poi (and of Maori culture in general)

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Posted: 31st May 2005
I mean that the poi was made to emulate the fighting style of a mere. How else are you going to teach a child to fight without them getting hurt? You give them a soft weapon simila to the one they will be using when adults. Like how you train with a wodden sword, but you would use a real sword in war.

Ie kendo.

I understand caligraphy was related to sword play. Related being the opertive word. The relationship between the poi and mere is the string. Iv seen demonstration fights where the string was used to disarm the enemy.

Oh they were also set on fire and thrown into buildings to raze the village. And used to train you to evade/ deflect attack. "karo". https://history-nz.org/poi.html

Its such a vast field that you cant say poi are only one thing, one way. They were used in so many different ways. And you need to understand that my ancestors were living for war nearly everyday. Live it breath it eat/ sleep it.

Kind of a sad life when your kids games are made to make you grow up to be a killer

The point im was trying to make is they are joined to the weapon so they are the weapon, sure they wont kill you, but they would distract you for the split second it would take to...

Now that i have said to much, I have a Q:

Do any of you believe that Maori fighting styles (or any other native) are martial arts? I sense that alot of you think MA applies to JUST asian.

Posted: 31st May 2005
I dont think Poi should be considered a martial art, thats my two cents

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AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 31st May 2005

Written by: Dr4g0n7

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Do any of you believe that Maori fighting styles (or any other native) are martial arts? I sense that alot of you think MA applies to JUST asian.

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Some of us even train in other than Asian Martial Arts!

Posted: 31st May 2005
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Its not that i think its IS a martial art. Im not sure, its some where inbetween. Like the caligraphy thing. A way to teach a way. I do know that it helps train you if you perform it "properly".
EDITED_BY: Dr4g0n7 (1117591267)

Posted: 10th Jun 2005
Just for my two cents, was watching "Science of StarWars" of all things the other night and there was a REALLY dodgy analogy between the Shaolin monks and the Jedi... low and behold a monk doing a demo using two weighted ropes starting with straight cross, weave, and then behind the head into a turn.... Classic Pio moves/combo. Between the Maori and the Shaolin there are DEFINATLY poi martial arts styles. As to the fire twirling styles as martial arts it all comes down to application and knowing how.....

"The company of those that seek the truth is
always preferable to those who think they have
found it"

Terry Pratchet
Monsterous Regiment