Most martial artists have seen the so-called “Wing Chun dummy,” which is actually called a muk yan jong in Cantonese, or mu ren zhuang in Mandarin, meaning “wooden man post.” This training tool was widely popularized by Bruce Lee and, more recently, the Ip Man series of movies, starting Donnie Yen. While these dummies were developed for Chinese martial arts, their popularity in martial pop culture has led to their adoption by practitioners of other arts, including karate. What many karateka do not realize, though, is that their art already developed a training dummy of its own (LINK, LINK). This wooden dummy was used in conjunction with other hojo undo kigu (supplementary training tools), such as nigiri game (gripping jars), ishi sashi (stone locks), and chi-ishi (stone mallets), and it is notable that so many pieces of equipment in karate focused heavily on gripping.
The kakiya, or kakete-biki (“hanging/hooked hand puller”), at its most basic, is a post (often wrapped in something to absorb impact, like bamboo) with an arm that extends both in front of and behind the post, pivoting in the middle, with weight hanging from the back of the arm so that it levers the front of the arm upward. Sometimes, the counterweight was attached so that it could be moved up and down the back of the arm, allowing for adjustable resistance. As opposed to the muk yan jong, the kakiya/kakete-biki has more in common with the ching jong (balanced dummy) of Choy Li Fut, as its primary feature is a moveable, counter-weighted arm, although the Choy Li Fut dummy often has many additional arms, as well. This illustration from the book, Karate Nyumon Shindo Jinen-Ryu, by Konishi Yasuhiro, is one of many that can be found in early karate texts, before the training methods that made a tool like this useful began to be phased out in earnest. Additional illustrations and descriptions make it quite clear that the intended purpose of this device was to work limb control methods against resistance, and incorporate strikes with those limb control methods.
Unfortunately, as karate became more popular as a sport, and the Japanese Budo culture became more ingrained within it, the vast majority of it’s grappling and limb control techniques were removed, neglected, or forgotten. Ryan Parker discusses this in his article on “crossing hands in karate” (LINK), as well as going into detail on some of those old-style karate practices. Along with those methods went many of the hojo undo kigu that had been so useful before, as the ability to grab and control an opponent was no longer necessary, and the only equipment many practitioners would see anymore would be the makiwara (lit. “wrapped straw,” but referring to a springy wooden post with a wrapped straw pad for striking) and the sunabukuro (sand bag), or more modern punching bag. Some instructors maintained at least some of the limb control practices of old, and that typically came with some of the training equipment associated with those practices, of course, but they are not nearly as popular as they once were. Today, however, there is a bit of a Karate Renaissance going on, with practitioners from all over the world endeavoring to bring karate back to its practical roots, and many have been rediscovering these methods. In conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing people into isolation, many karateka have even begun to build improvised kakiya/kakete-biki out of necessity–often without realizing that they are emulating a classical karate training implement. Due to our access to modern materials and equipment, both traditional and improvised kakiya/kakete-biki can be made more effective and versatile than the original design.
Looking at the traditional kakiya/kakete-biki, the first and most obvious upgrade that can be made is to replace the counterweight–typically a stone, or sandbag, which only provides resistance in one direction (down). By replacing the weight with springs or bungee cords, we can provide resistance for the arm in either direction (up or down), or both at once, and the amount of resistance can be adjusted by using stronger springs or bungee cords, or by adding additional springs or bungee cords. Lumber and hardware are also much easier to come by, these days, so we can build streamlined, compact versions of the dummy, with limbs shaped better for limb control, and which can be easily mounted indoors. Padding the post for striking can also be done with modern materials, such as foam, or rubber, rather than bamboo, making it safer and more pleasant to use. Chris Denwood wrote an article on building his modern kakiya/kakete-biki, which provides a good look at how to approach such a project (LINK). This is a great option for those who want to build a permanent piece of training equipment that caters to the limb control methods of karate, such as those who have home dojo, or own a martial arts school.
Another option for modernizing the kakiya/kakete-biki is to forgo the lever arm design, entirely, and replace it with a spring-mounted arm, such as those used in the Shidokan dojo on Okinawa, currently headed by Maeshiro Morinobu. This design allows you to not only move the arm up and down with resistance, but in all directions, and because it uses a spring, the further you try to move it, the more resistance you feel. Additionally because this design doesn’t require any space behind it, it can be mounted directly to the wall, instead of needing to have a separate “body.” While mounting it directly to the wall limits the angles at which the “body” of the dummy can be struck, it does allow for much more versatile placement, including above a makiwara, so that one can work limb control on the limb of the kakiya/kakete-biki while simultaneously working structure and power development through striking the makiwara. There are also various wall-mounted padding options, such as “uppercut and hook” pads (LINK) which can provide safe striking options from multiple angles. These days, there are even some companies manufacturing spring-mounted arms with striking pads already attached, or with mounting brackets to attach to makiwara (LINK).
Improvised kakiya/kakete-biki can be much better options for those who have limitations that might make it difficult to build a permanent training dummy. This can be done by simply tying a “limb” to something that can act as a “body,” and there are many ways to go about doing this. For example, one could tie a broomstick to a tree with a bungee cord. Of course, unless you can wrap the “body” of the improvised kakiya/kakete-biki with some sort of padding, it could limit your striking options. Using a punching bag as a “body,” on the other hand, solves that issue, although the bag moving around can present its own complications. Changing up the limb, itself, can also provide a lot of interesting options for training.
With a rigid limb, such as those used on traditional kakiya/kakete-biki, or those improvised with something like a broomstick or dowel rod, the amount of movement in the limb is limited by the way it is attached to the “body” of the dummy, and the limb itself cannot be bent. This means that the limb must be moved as a whole, and any joint locks practiced on it are limited to straight arm locks. This also means that force applied to the limb is transferred to the pivot point where the limb meets the body, so if you want to move the limb any more than its attachment method allows, you would have to exert enough force to move the body or break the limb. This may not be possible when the body is mounted to the floor, or buried in the ground, but when attached to something like a heavy bag, it can actually provide some resistance training for manipulating an opponent’s body using their limbs. Using a heavy bag as the body of the dummy is also convenient, as it provides you with two pieces of training equipment in one. Of course, all movement aside, the rigid arm can act as a placeholder for an opponent’s attack, allowing you to work tai sabaki (body evasion) and tenshin (shifting) around that to work the heavy bag.
By switching to a flexible limb, such as ropes or belts, you lose the resistance training aspect of manipulating the limb, but you gain a great deal of versatility in the movements you can explore. Since this option is not limited by being rigid, it allows for limb control and joint locking methods that bend the arms, including wrist and shoulder locks. Additionally, because the flexible limb still has a fixed length, it allows you to still attempt to move the body of the dummy if the limb is manipulated enough, provided the body is movable. Unfortunately, even with a movable dummy body, you will generally not be able to bend it down, emulating breaking the opponent’s posture. Still, this provides you with an element of weight training that can work well for practicing throws, or moving the opponent with joint locks, if you are using a heavy bag as the body. If the body of the dummy is stationary, such as a tree or post set in the ground, then you will not be able to move the body, but you can still work a bit of strength training with actions that pull yourself to the dummy.
To gain back some of the resistance training aspect lost by using a flexible limb, you can use a stretchy limb, such as resistance bands. These allow you to manipulate the arms of the dummy in the same manner as with a rope or belt, but with the added benefit of progressive resistance–the tighter the band is stretched, the more difficult it is to keep stretching it. This means that, as opposed to simply being stopped when all the tension is removed from the arm, the technique being worked can actually be applied through its complete range of motion. In the case of a standing armbar, for example, this can emulate the feel of breaking someone’s posture, bending them forward with the lock, even though the body of the dummy isn’t able to move in that way. This does bring up one drawback to the use of resistance bands for this purpose, however; the body of the dummy is very difficult manipulate. With rigid limbs, you affect the body of the dummy very quickly, as the movement of the limb is limited. With flexible limbs, you only affect the body of the dummy once you have taken the slack out of the limb. With stretchy limbs, like resistance bands, it is very difficult to take all of the slack out so that the body of the dummy can be affected. This means that methods like throws, or moving the opponent with locks, will be much harder to work with such limbs.
As with all training methods, the kakiya/kakete-biki and its many variations has both pros and cons, and compromises on some things in the process. This means, of course, that we must diversify our training in order to account for the deficiencies found in each training method or piece of equipment. With that in mind, it is important to remember that all of the methods of constructing a training dummy that have been described in this article have advantages and disadvantages when compared with each other. To truly get the fully benefit of such a piece of equipment, it is best to explore all of the different options available to you, and find out what material works best on which setup. When a partner is not available, as has been the case for so many martial artists during the COVID-19 pandemic, something like this can be a great way to not only keep up on your skills, but to keep up on your motivation and creativity. There is also a slowly growing community of karateka sharing videos of themselves working with these training dummies, and Paul Musolf, chief instructor of Heian Karate-Do in Flushing, MI, is actively developing an instructional DVD on building and using a kakiya/kakete-biki (LINK), so it is a great time to get involved with this type of training!