Bōjutsu Training Striking Target

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my most useful pieces of training equipment is a tire target that I assembled from a 6X6 post, three old tires, and the hardware necessary to attach the latter to the former. In my case, the post was repurposed from an old fence, but they are readily available from the home improvement store. Tires are, sadly, available in roadside ditches everywhere. The necessary hardware consists of heavy duty bolts with two washers per bolt that are as wide as you can get them, as well as the corresponding one or two nuts per bolt. You’ll need two sets of hardware for every tire you have on your target. Three tires worked well for me, but one could probably make two tires work.

The first thing to do, before assembling the target, is to bore large holes in the tread portion of the tire at what will be bottom dead center (the same size hole as is used to accommodated the bolts is fine.) This is important because if the tires hold water they will be perfect breeding spaces for mosquito larvae. One doesn’t want to catch Yellow Fever, Malaria or some other vector-borne disease from you kobudō training.

One then drills holes in the sidewall of the tire 180-degrees apart as well as correspondingly spaced holes in the post. Then just securely bolt the tires to the post, and sink the post in the ground.

I use this target for bōjutsu (6 foot staff), jōjutsu (4.5 foot staff), hanbōjutsu (3 foot stick), and juttejutsu (pronged truncheon) striking practice. The positioning of the tires, the rounded surfaces, and the open middle of the tires allow one to practice striking at a wide variety of height levels and angles. One can practice strikes like hane age (hem lifting) as well as other upward strikes on the inner surface of the tire as well as using the outer surfaces for dō uchi (torso strikes), men uchi (head strikes), and ashi barai (leg sweeping hits).  I practice tsuki (thrusting) into the post itself or the sidewall of the tire.

I highly recommend this type of target as a cheap durable piece of equipment on which to practice weapon strikes upon at full force.

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