African fighting stick
 

Ngandu / Saka
Congo
85 cm
wood
1920

Bonsoir Luc

fighting stick, was lethal weapons or just for fight simulation ? religious purpose ?

in case of violent engagements, these wooden weapons were breaking quickly, right ?

I'm curious to know the real destination of these weapons, ceremonial or war ?

thanks per anticipation to teach an uneducated :o

à +

Dom

wooden weapons are deadly
 

Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most famous swordsmen in Japan, liked to use the bo-ken, the wooden sword, and used it successfully in one of his most famous duels.

In the Rwanda genocide, the predominant weapon was a wooden club.

In Elizabethan England, one of the most violent times and places in the world, more people were killed with a cudgel, a plain old piece of wood, than with any other weapon.

The Maoris of New Zealand used a wooden weapon called the taiaha, and successfully defeated British troops using rifle and bayonet in hand-to-hand combat.

God forbid I should have to go into combat against a swordsman, (or against anybody, for that matter) but I'll take a 6 foot hardwood staff over the sword any day.

These stick are described as " non-lethal " weapons.
But I don't want to try...

Looks really nice. Any chance of another, view edge on. What wieght is it. It looks a hard wood. Much wood work from the Congo, on swords and knives seems to me to be often rather soft woods. A really good whack across the temple/eye socket would mean the next hit would be lethal.