“ANY weapon is just an extension of the body.”
This has been the claim of legitimate martial artists about martial arts styles that uses weapons like swords, sticks, knives, bow and arrow, etc., according to them any martial arts can have a weapon to augment the skill that they already have it will always depend on how innovative the martial artist is to be able to come up with his own version of using a weapon other than what he can already do without it.
Most of the known martial arts styles all over the world have their own style of using weapons, Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, Aikido etc. are known to be non-weapon martial arts.
Non weapon meaning most skills and or techniques are from using their hands, legs and body as a whole in most of their movements and techniques, but it does not mean that they do not have their own style in handling augmenting weapons.
Most masters in this field have their own favorite augmenting weapon which they could use expertly showing the character of their base martial arts which they manage to transform into the astonishing weapon skills that carries the style which is their own.
Even for known weapon based martial arts like Arnis, Kenjutsu, Kubudo, Kendo etc. to name a few, it could not be denied that the fundamentals of their art is the human body movement, coordination and flexibility any weapon cannot move on its own without the dictate of the body’s precise movement to make the weapon effective for its purpose, it is important to know and understand that the primary weapon of any martial arts be it a “weapon based” or “non-weapon based” is the human body weapons held by the hand or placed in the body like armors for protection are just augmentation to a weapon that is already possessed which will be useless if it is not coordinated with the primary weapon which is the body.
Martial arts is all about a working system of mind, body and spirit in a martial artist to be an efficient martial artists this three should work effectively in unison which should adapt to any augmentation. A true martial artist will always be deadly of effective with or without any augmentation of a weapon other than his body.