What armor should I get/use?

Discussion in 'Weapons' started by Hapuka, May 8, 2015.

  1. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    Hi guys, long time no see.

    So I've been doing Mau Rakau 10 months and my kiako (tutor) thinks that our club is ready to spar. The problem is that the sparring is full contact and all we are provided with are cricket gloves and the rakau (wooden staves) we use are barely padded. Frankly I don't fancy having my head caved in by inexperienced fighters who don't know how to hold their blows. Here's a video demonstrating Mau Rakau sparring, if anyone has any ideas on what the fighters are wearing and where to get similar armor from that would be helpful.

    https://youtu.be/2Y4iuGG460U
     
  2. Kave

    Kave Lunatic

    It looks like gear designed for HEMA sparring, which might be hard to find in NZ (unless you are willing to import from overseas). If you are looking local you might want to check out some Kendo gear.
     
  3. Guitar Nado

    Guitar Nado Valued Member

    I have no real answer for you, but I just wanted to comment because that seems pretty awesome. It's very cool. Complete wild guess - see what SCA heavy sparring people in you area use and try that? Maybe metal helmets, etc. If your group will allow it, might be OK?
     
  4. blindside

    blindside Valued Member


    Try the suppliers from this NZ based HEMA group:
    http://swordsmanship.co.nz/suppliers.html

    Can you tell us anything about your training? My instructor has show me a little bit with the taiha, but he says his training was only rudimentary.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2015
  5. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    I'm not sure if metal headgear would be suitable as it would be considered too out place, and we do have 'top of the head' head shots and face shots. Its difficult trying to find a happy balance.
     
  6. Langenschwert

    Langenschwert Molon Labe

    The arms look like motocross armour. Hard to say. It has a certain DIY look to it. It's not professionally made HEMA gear that I recognize, though HEMA gear would be good for it. It might be a little overbuilt though, as HEMA gear is designed to protect against steel "feders", which are flexible swords for sparring and drilling. There could be HEMA or fencing masks under the headgear they're using. HEMA gear might be a bit too hot as well.

    What are the sticks you're using?

    For HEMA brands, look up stuff like Absolute Force, SPES, PBT, and Sparring Glove for a start. The SPES stuff is particularly good.
     
  7. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    The rakau (sticks) we use are similar to the ones that the toa (fighters) were using. We use a wood called manuka which is dense. The thickness, length and weight are similar to the Japanese bo staff.
     
  8. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    We train with various maori weapons with the main two being the taiaha and the patu. We train for both sparring and kapa haka as well as public demonstrations.

    We have empty hand combat techniques too (rongomamau) the closet I can compare it to would be karate/kenpo, which includes disarming techniques, blocks, locks as well as basic kicks and punching.

    At the moment our training consists of learning various karakia (prayers) and haka (dances), rongomamau (empty hand techniques), ringa ringa me nga rakau (stick work), wae wae (foot work), ahei (patterns), paoa (strikes), karo (blocks), karo taua (counter strikes) and sparring.
     
  9. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    Last edited: May 8, 2015
  10. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    I'd look into an eskrima supplier. The headgear we wore in WEKAF tournaments (World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation) were designed to protect against rattan sticks. These two you've linked look the part, but at that price, I'm pretty confident they're made of less stern stuff.

    Eskrima is reasonably big in NZ and Australia, I think. Shouldn't have an inordinate amount of trouble finding a supplier.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    So I've decided that I will probably go with eskrima gear which I will modify to make it look more suitable for mau rakau demonstrations. Could anyone recommend any brands?

    I might also in the future get some muay thai body armor too. I'm not though how it will stand up to taking heavy blows from a rakau though. But it appears less bulky than the eskrima body armor.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2015

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