Tibetan dog "stick" pocket flail

[kronckew]

Cool, would be very Illegal in the UK to carry one.

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Cool, would be very Illegal in the UK to carry one.

Haha well everything is illegal In the UK.
You just need to be imaginative with the shape I suppose..
In Tibetan regions people all immediately recognised what it was.
Useful multitool.
Monks also had a very large engraved handmade key on a strap for the same use.

It's a handy companion.
Some are engraved with Buddhist imagery to fish, patterns and the like.
You could see some older people in very isolated areas, herders and farmers with a belt knife, a dog flail and a sling for stones on their belt. Well armed.
I suppose wolves, stray dogs and nasty drunks could be encountered occasionally and it's best prepared that not.
But these little flails seemed totally a self defence ethnographic weapon.
People told me until the 2000snds these were an almost universal accessory . Now I'm searching pictures of Tibetans to spot these on their belts.
It seems these iron dog flails and stone slings have some strong universal cultural currency there as every Tibetan I've met outside Tibet immediately knew what they were and was familiar with them. So their decline is probably pretty recent. It didn't seem like the Chinese authorities really regulated the flails or even really knew what the were at a state level.. unlike knives ..

[Bob A]

Thank you for the very interesting content.

It's fascinating to note that more "primitive" societies accept both the need and the tools to protect themselves, that are denied to the more "civilised" among us.

Ah, progress!

[Ian]

Lest anyone think these small flails are puny weapons, a Tibetan colleague was hit with one of these by accident (wrong place at the wrong time). His cheek bone was shattered and he ended up with a nasty scar.

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by Ian

Lest anyone think these small flails are puny weapons, a Tibetan colleague was hit with one of these by accident (wrong place at the wrong time). His cheek bone was shattered and he ended up with a nasty scar.

Yep they pack a punch for sure.
The dog would not be walking of a blow from these for sure.
There is no written instructions for their use but I have seen some old black and white pictures of the various strikes and techniques being demonstrated . You can also use the leather cord to wrap an attackers neck or wrist in a grappling situation or strike with the flail head in your hand as I'm told.
I suppose their was a whole civilian martial art to use these and the Tibetans daggers and knives but it was not something written down.
Here I have attached the only image of the less lethal wooden version , a heavy key like the type used by monks as a flail.. and an image of a herder using the wooden type

[David R]

Thanks for the information and the post. Reminds me of the Chinese Meteor Ball, and the Japanese Kusari Fundo, but with a distinctive and elegant shape all of its own. Apparently Victorian muggers used the ball version, striking for the elbow from behind to disable the victim.

[Richard G]

Reminds me somewhat of the bicycle chain, popular with gangs shortly after the war.