The martial arts have always been a popular feature of pop culture. Different martial arts weapons appear over the years in various films, television, and books but one particular group of characters has martial arts weapons embedded in the very essence of all they stand for. Those characters are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Each character in this children’s series carries their own particular martial arts weapon and the show in general introduces children to all sorts of information about the martial arts.

Some martial arts weapons are famous and others are not so famous. The Turtles help to bring the not so famous ones to the forefront by putting them in the hands of the main characters. Rafael is one of those turtles and he uses a pair of Sai. The Sai is a fork-like weapon that has three prongs. It is used to stab opponents and to hook them down. It is not as popular as some other martial arts weapons but TMNT tries to make good use of it.

Leonardo is the chosen leader of the Ninja Turtles and therefore he gets to carry the biggest and the sharpest weapons. Leonardo wields a matching pair of katanas which he holds on the back of his shell. Don’t worry parents, he’s never seen goring foot soldiers or making people bleed all over the place. Usually when he cuts something with his swords it is a robot or a piece of wood.

Not all of the turtles use weapons made out of metal. Half of them use weapons that are made out of wood. Donatello is one such turtle. He chooses to wield a bo. The bo is a long wooden staff that can be used for blunt strikes and sweeping techniques. He does a lot of tripping and twirling with his bo but the character is more into computers and technology than anything else.

The fun loving skateboarding turtle Michelangelo carries with him a pair of nunchaku. These match his personality because they are wild and zany weapons that can go every which way. In the latest ninja turtles movie the director was actually banned from showing Michelangelo hitting anyone with his nunchucks though because the weapon is banned in China and no one would have been able to watch the movie if he had shown that.

Martial arts weapons and the general practice of martial arts is an important stepping stone in the growth process of a child. Children who are involved in the martial arts will have more patience with other children, they will have more self confidence, and they will generally be healthier. Shows like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are great for introducing children to some of the more advanced concepts of the martial arts and will get them interested at an early age.

Bruce enjoys discussing martial arts weapons training in pop culture. He also knows a lot about martial arts practice weapons.