This article was originally published in 2 parts in the Kilohana Chronicles, Voulme 7, Issues 1 & 2, 2007.

It wasn't a long time ago that as a police defensive tactics instructor at a training seminar, I taught another instructor (who possessed the right credentials and was being 'groomed for administration') the inner workings of a simple Katate Tori (probably to the degree of a green belt). At the next instructional gathering, I was to learn it from him, and I was told he had invented the wristlock! Well, that's politics.

Same as it always was. A sense of humor and even sharing the 'cosmic giggle' might save you from your disappointment in reality.

There is a great book called the "Kabalion". It's one of those things that if you're not ready for it, it won't come your way (hint). One of the lessons in it is "As above so below, as below, so above." I think "Same as it ever was" helps too.

Lessons upon lessons. What triggered this writing is, that while I was on eBay shopping for Yawara sticks, I discovered in the advertisement claims that the small stick has been kinda invented within my lifetime! No really! I'm not that old!

These claims are interesting. When did it become a Yawara stick, and where did it come from? This gives us an opportunity to learn with pictures and examples. Since I'm curious and have an idea about it, I'll do the leg work.

On eBay I found two Yawara Sticks, renamed Koga SD1 and Koga SD2, designed by Robert Koga, a renowned police defensive tactics instructor who was with LAPD. In my opinion, in his long career he had appropriately watered down martial art techniques to a degree where they were useful for police training, but not too effective against the citizenry. He appears to have followed a middle road and filled a gap where it was needed.

These Koga sticks are produced by Cold Steel and made of practically indestructible plastics. I bought both of them. The saving grace for Cold Steel is they make great products!  I recommend them. They may have new names but this stuff's been around a long time, as you'll see.

The Kubotan was developed in the mid 1970's by Shihan Takayuki Kubota, founder and Soke of Gosoku-ryu Karate. I have not read where Sensei Kubota has claimed to be the inventor of the Kubotan. To say he was the developer, producer and name donor would be more accurate.

One great advantage of owning and practicing with a Kubotan (or any other Yawara implement) is that after learning the techniques there are many other small items that could be substituted for the actual material tool. (e.g. hair brushes, combs, pens, pencils, telephone receivers, bicycle locks, bicycle pumps and so on.)

The United Kingdom has repressive laws forbidding possession of objects that can be described as 'pocket sticks'. Be careful while traveling! (That means Canada too.)

Frank A. Matsuyama is credited with inventing the Yawara stick. Professor Matsuyama practiced Yawara in Japan where he was born in 1886. He moved to the United States and taught police departments in California and Colorado in the 1940s and 1950s.

Professor Matsuyama initially advocated a back up knife for police officers who might have lost their gun or ended up in a situation where they couldn't use it. The fact that he called his device a Yawara stick rather than naming it after himself is to his credit, in my mind. I expect that he would claim to have been a developer and promoter, but primarily a teacher. He wrote an instruction book titled “How to use the Yawara Stick.” 

I still have the first Yawara stick I purchased from the George F. Cake Police Supply Co. of Berkeley, CA, in 1969. It has a patent and is the same as in Professor Matsuyama's manual. I'd say Professor Matsuyama has the claim for an object in the United States that he called a Yawara Stick, and that started locally here in California in the 1940s. He also wrote a training manual and actively trained police officers.

Matsuyama, Kubota and Koga were all of Japanese descent, and well-known and ranked martial artists. They trained police officers in defensive tactics and offered their talents to the public for self-defense. All three were bilin¬gual, and only Robert Koga was not born in Japan (he was born in San Francisco). Koga served as a police officer in Los Angeles for 35 years before he retired.

The Japanese have a long history of small, handheld weapons, which, like many Japanese objects (bows, swords, religion, art, writing, etc.), came to them from mainland Asia.

Temple Guardians are found in India. China. Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia. Agyo at Sugimoto Dera, Kamakura. Japan is one of two Temple Guardians (Ni-O or 'Two Greats'). Notice the dorje (vajra) in his left hand (not all temple guardians hold a dorje.) The word dorje is the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit word vajra.

In Tibetan, do is 'stone' and je is 'noble/royal' so dorje translates to 'hard royal stone'. The hard royal stone is a diamond. The Sanskrit word vajra also has come to mean thunderbolt, lightning, or thunder. When you put the two together, it is understandable that the diamond of wisdom can penetrate your ignorance and you can become enlightened literally in a flash!

These Temple Guardians are not dated, but appear to be of some antiquity. The temple they guard was founded in the 9th century. When a temple guardian holds a dorje, it is a weapon guarding against ignorance and disbelievers. Agyo's stance and demeanor leaves little doubt that the varja he threatens with is a weapon.

The Flammarion Iconographic Guide states: "These two guardian kings are Vajradharas" (lit. holders of vajras, or thunderbolt holders, called Shukonjo-jin in Japan).

In European culture, some of our former weapons have turned to symbols. For example, the king's scepter at one time was a mace. The power and authority connection is obvious. Another example is that European holy men bear a crozier (or crosier), which used to be a shepherd's crook for protecting the 'flock'. It seems obvious that the dorje has gone through a similar transformation to become a spiritual weapon

Examining the dorje, or varja, we find they are made of jade, stone, iron, bronze (an alloy of copper and tin), silver, copper, bone or wood. In Tibet, it was thought that a special holy connection was enhanced when a ritual object was made from a combination of seven sacred metals, corresponding to the sacred seven planets: gold (Sun), silver (Moon), mercury (Mercury), copper (Venus), iron (Mars), tin (Jupiter) and anti¬mony (Saturn). There were those who also felt two other sacred metals should be included - zinc and nickel - making it nine sacred metals. The sacred metals were often used to making singing bowls, singing bells, and matching Dorje.

A further description of the role of the use of bell and dorje: The chanter holds the dorje in the right hand, twirling it with skillful method, and rings the bell with the left. The bell represents primordial emptiness and wisdom. The dorje is male (the ultimate spiritual weapon) and the bell is female. "...As an attribute of the Vedic god Indra, the "vajra" ( or dorje) originally symbolized the elemental power of thunder and lightning. In Vajrayana Buddhism, a tantric form of Buddhism, it later assumed the role of the most important religio-magical symbols and was assigned to various deities and an attribute... The function of the 'vajra' is that of a ritual scepter. The round central section is to be thought of as a seed, the smallest unit of matter from which the cos¬mos develops. The imminent energy it contains is expressed in motion, as represented on the form of a spiral or, as here, in a series of rings. The energy is the driving force behind creation, as represented by the cups and petals of lotus flowers. By opening out at both ends of the 'vajra', they make manifest the polarity within all beings (e.g. male/female, happiness/mis¬fortune), from the circle formed by the four petals spring four rays, identified with the four cardinal direc¬tions: the space they encompass is the physical world. The fifth ray originally found in the center... It (the fifth ray) is always fashioned as a straight rod because it points to the zenith. The five directions of north, south, east, west, and zenith symbolize cosmic totality..." (Jessup, Helen Ibbetson & Thierry Zephir.)

Another type of Dorje is a dagger form called a Phurba (Furpa, or Phurpa). Phurbas were used by being stuck into the ground, to either pin down or ward off evil spirits and demons.

I will assume having an occasional weapon stuck in the ground in or around your abode where you can quickly locate it could possibly be a comfort to you. It's not really a weapon; it's a religious object that you might substitute for a weapon, as you are not allowed to have weapons... right? These objects were not just in possession of monks.

This Tibetan doesn't look all that friendly either. We've seen deities from Japan and Tibet holding the Dorjes that the folks in India called Vajra. We also saw a pretty mean pronged one from where Cambodia is now, that was from way back in the 1100's. They look close enough to me that if I was getting worked over by one it'd be hard to tell it from a Yawara stick or a Koga. Our Dorjes may be called Yawara Sticks, and they may be made out of plastic, but it's good strong plastic that won't crack or split. It's interesting what they have become in ritual...Thunderbolts!