Iron Body Training Tool: The Steel Hitter (Tesutaba)

If you are interested in Hojo-undo (supplementary training) especially Okinawan iron-body training & impact conditioning, Chinese Iron Shirt & Golden Bell Cover training, or even such health, rejuvenation, and longevity practices as Bone-Marrow Nei-Gong & 99-Powers Shen-Gong, then there is a piece of equipment which is extremely useful (arguably almost essential) for all of these endeavors. It is the bundle-hitter... in particular the steel bundle-hitter (called a "tetsutaba" in Japanese)

And it's awesome...

These can be purchased from various martial arts and/or qigong supply shops for a variety of prices ranging from $80 at the lowest to well over $600 on the high end (and that is not including shipping costs which are substantial). Which I suppose is probably why so few people own and work with them...

But even if you are on a tight budget you needn't despair:

Did you see that? The rather attractive tetsutaba in the lower right corner says it is only $25!!

That can't possibly be correct...

 It is correct.

It is a Do-It-Yourself Tetsutaba built by Joseph Warner and posted to the Hojo-Undo Facebook discussion group.

Click to enlarge

The design it is based on is the brainchild of Matt Perlingiero. Matt has made a excellent video tutorial on constructing this device which is funny in addition to educational.

Here is Matt's video:

So... I supposed some readers are wondering what the heck do people DO with such a device...

Here is a playlist featuring a collection of videos showing the use of bundle-hitters in Okinawan karate's Tai-Tanren, Chinese Iron Shirt training, and health Qigong... (including a very long-winded video on throat conditioning by yours truly):

Click for the "Tetsutaba & Related Conditioning" playlist

Tetsutaba & Related Conditioning

I imagine there are a few of you out there who were hoping for something a bit more "esoteric" or from a more detailed TCM type of perspective. Well we can accommodate that. Here is a book on Bone Marrow Nei-Gong which is chock-full of esoteric jargon and Chinese medical theories (and actually is a fairly practical methodology when you get down to the actual core practices).

Mantak Chia - Iron Shirt Chi Kung III - Bone Marrow Nei Kung from Mantak Chia