Type of martial arts using wooden sticks
Stick-fighting
,
stickfighting
, or
stick fighting
, is a variety of
martial arts
which use simple long, slender, blunt, hand-held, generally wooden "sticks" for fighting, such as a
gun staff
,
b?
,
j?
,
walking stick
,
baston
,
arnis
sticks or similar weapons. Some techniques can also be used with a sturdy
umbrella
or even with a
sword
or
dagger
in its
scabbard
.
Thicker and/or heavier blunt weapons such as
clubs
or the
mace
are outside the scope of "stick-fighting" (since they cannot be wielded with such precision, so sheer force of impact is more important), as are more formed weapons such as the
taiaha
used by the
M?ori people
of
New Zealand
, and the
macuahuitl
used by the
Aztec people
of
Mesoamerica
in warfare.
Although many systems are defensive combat techniques intended for use if attacked while lightly armed, others such as
kendo
,
arnis
, and
gatka
were developed as safe training methods for dangerous weapons. Whatever their history, many stick-fighting techniques lend themselves to being treated as sports.
In addition to systems specifically devoted to stick-fighting, certain other disciplines include it, either in its own right, as in the
Tamil
martial art
silambam
, or merely as part of a polyvalent training including other weapons and/or bare handed fighting, as in
Kerala
's
kalaripayattu
tradition, where these wooden weapons serve as preliminary training before practice of the more dangerous metal weapons.
Stick-fights between individuals or large gatherings between sub-tribes where men fight duels were an important part of the anthropological heritage of various cultures
[
original research?
]
. On tribes such as the
Surma people
of
Ethiopia
,
donga
stick-fighting is an important cultural practice and the best means of showing off to look for a bride,
nude
or nearly so, and their more warlike neighbors, the
Nyangatom people
,
Pokot people
,
Turkana people
who fight duels bare-chested, the aim being to inflict visible stripes on the back of the adversary, using not plain staffs but sticks with a flexible, whipping tail-end.
Styles
[
edit
]
Traditional European systems of stick-fighting included a wide variety of methods of
quarterstaff
combat, which were detailed in numerous manuscripts written by masters-at-arms. Many of these methods became extinct but others adapted and survived as folk-sports and self-defence systems. Examples include Portugal's
jogo do pau
, the related
juego del palo
of the
Canary Islands
, France's
canne de combat
or
la canne
, Poland's
palcaty
and Italy's
scherma di bastone
. Giuseppe Cerri's 1854 manual
Trattato teorico e pratico della scherma di bastone
is influenced by masters of the Italian school of swordsmanship,
Achille Marozzo
and perhaps
Francesco Alfieri
.
The French system of
la canne
is still practiced as a competitive sport. A self-defense adaptation of
la canne
developed by Swiss master-at-arms Pierre Vigny in the early 1900s has been revived as part of the curriculum of
bartitsu
.
[1]
In the US during the early years of the 1900s, fencer and self-defense specialist A. C. Cunningham developed a unique system of stick-fighting using a walking stick or umbrella, which he recorded in his book
The Cane as a Weapon
.
Singlestick
was developed as a method of training in the use of
backswords
such as the
cavalry sabre
and
naval cutlass
. It was a popular pastime in the UK from the 18th to the early 20th century, and was a
fencing event at the 1904 Summer Olympics
. Although interest in the art declined, a few fencing coaches continued to train with the stick and competitions in this style of stick-fighting were reintroduced into the
Royal Navy
in the 1980s by commander Locker Madden. The art continues to gain a small following amongst the martial art community in the UK, Australia, Canada and the US.
Latin America
also has its share of martial arts devoted to stick-fighting, including
Venezuela
's
juego del garrote
,
Brazil
's
palo do Brasil
and
Maculele
,
Trinidad
's
calinda
and the South Americans'
Eskrima Kombat
.
[2]
Sticks and staves of various sizes are common weapons in Asian martial arts, in which they vary in design, size, weight, materials and methodology, and are often used interchangeably and alongside open-hand techniques. For example,
eskrima
or arnis of the
Philippines
uses sticks traditionally crafted from
rattan
or from
butterfruit tree
and may be wielded singly or as a pair.
See also
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References
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Africa
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Asia & Pacific
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Americas
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Europe
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