#ninja fighting

Sai are typically used as a specific counter to longer weapons, like blades or staffs. Outside of that, they don’t get as much use. It’s fits fairly well in a series that has a lot of conflict between Raph and Leo (and Donnie, sometimes), as he has a weapon designed to fight them. He can literally catch and counter their weapons, and take advantage of them.

Tonfa, on the other hand, are of a more general defensive weapon. You’d usually use them to block incoming attacks, then swing them around for a strike. They work for both an aggressive character (as they can do a lot of damage if you know what you’re doing), and for a protective one. Remember, a shield is just as powerful a weapon as a sword, you just use them in different ways.

Tessen are one of my favorite weapons, so I’m always happy to talk about them. They are also my weapon of choice if I want to do stuff with Venus.

First off, they really aren’t throwing weapons, which is the main way I see them used in fiction. In actuality, your typical folding fan would be the furthest thing from being aerodynamic, just like a kunai. You could really only throw them if you have some kind of psychokinetic ability that allows you to control them in midair.

It’s a subtle and versatile kind of weapon, and you can let it adapt to your own fighting style. I’ve seen it used in videos as such:

Striking tool, similar to that of a tanbo or eskrima stick. Usually, you’d strike them with the folded fan, which make a very nice smacking sound. You could also jab people with the thinner end parts

Blocking. Either you use the folded fan to catch the hilt/arm of the attacker, or use the unfolded fan as a shield. I’ve even seen people catch swords in between the spines, fold the fan, then twist to disarm them. A simpler technique is to just strike the arm of the attacker and make them drop their weapon.

Slashing. Really, this one only really works if the edge of the fan was sharp, or has blades sticking out of it. You use the whole fan to slash at the opponent for massive damage. Works really well if you are especially fast.

I’d recommend looking into demonstration videos to learn more. Here are some I used.