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A club (also known as a cudgel, baton, bludgeon, truncheon, cosh, nightstick, or impact weapon) is a short staff or stick, usually made of wood, wielded as a weapon or tool [1] since prehistory. There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused by clubs in the past, including at the site of Nataruk in Turkana, Kenya, described as the scene of a prehistoric conflict between bands of hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago. [2]
Most clubs are small enough to be swung with one hand, although larger clubs may require the use of two to be effective. Various specialized clubs are used in martial arts and other fields, including the law-enforcement baton. The military mace is a more sophisticated descendant of the club, typically made of metal and featuring a spiked, knobbed, or flanged head attached to a shaft.
Examples of cultural depictions of clubs may be found in mythology, where they are associated with strong figures such as Hercules or the Japanese oni, or in popular culture, where they are associated with primitive cultures, especially cavemen. Ceremonial maces may also be displayed as a symbol of governmental authority.
The wounds inflicted by a club are generally known as strike trauma or blunt-force trauma injuries.
Police forces and their predecessors have traditionally favored the use, whenever possible, of less lethal weapons than guns or blades. Until recent times, when alternatives such as tasers and capsicum spray became available, this category of policing weapon has generally been filled by some form of wooden club variously termed a truncheon, baton, nightstick, or lathi. Short, flexible clubs are also often used, especially by plainclothes officers who need to avoid notice. These are known colloquially as blackjacks, saps, or coshes.
Conversely, criminals have been known to arm themselves with an array of homemade or improvised clubs, generally of easily concealable sizes, or which can be explained as being carried for legitimate purposes (such as baseball bats).
In addition, Shaolin monks and members of other religious orders around the world have employed cudgels from time to time as defensive weapons.
Though perhaps the simplest of all weapons, clubs come in many varieties, including:
Some animals have limbs or appendages resembling clubs, such as:
A mace is a blunt weapon, a type of club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful strikes. A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced with metal, featuring a head made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, or steel.
A morning star is any of several medieval club-like weapons consisting of a shaft with an attached ball adorned with one or more spikes, each used, to varying degrees, with a combination of blunt-force and puncture attack to kill or wound the enemy.
A flail is a weapon consisting of a striking head attached to a handle by a flexible rope, strap, or chain. The chief tactical virtue of the flail was its capacity to strike around a defender's shield or parry. Its chief liability was a lack of precision and the difficulty of using it in close combat, or closely-ranked formations.
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than 2.61 inches (6.6 cm) in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches (1.067 m) in length. Although historically bats approaching 3 pounds (1.4 kg) were swung, today bats of 33 ounces (0.94 kg) are common, topping out at 34 to 36 ounces.
Singlestick is a martial art that uses a wooden stick as its weapon. It began as a way of training soldiers in the use of backswords. Canne de combat, a French form of stick fighting, is similar to singlestick play, which also includes a self-defense variant with a walking stick.
A jitte is a blunt melee weapon that was used by police in Edo-period Japan (1603–1868). In English-language sources, it is sometimes incorrectly spelled jutte, such as in Ikkaku-ryū juttejutsu.
The kanabō (金砕棒) is a spiked or studded two-handed war club used in feudal Japan by samurai. Other related weapons of this type are the nyoibo, konsaibo, tetsubō (鉄棒), and ararebo. Related solid iron weapons with no spikes or studs are the kanemuchi and the aribo.
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, bō, jō, 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.
Indian martial arts refers to the fighting systems of the Indian subcontinent. A variety of terms are used for the English phrases "Indian martial arts", deriving from ancient sources. While they may seem to imply specific disciplines, by Classical times they were used generically for all fighting systems.
Ikkaku-ryū juttejutsu is a school of juttejutsu that, as the equivalent to its sister variant Chūwa-ryū tankenjutsu (中和流短剣術), is taught alongside traditional school (ko-ryū) of Japanese martial arts, Shintō Musō-ryū. It is composed of 24 forms (kata) divided into two series. It was created by the third Shintō Musō-ryū (SMR) Headmaster, Matsuzaki Kinu'emon Tsunekatsu in the late 17th century.
The tekkō, are weaponized stirrups and horseshoes which originated in Okinawa, Japan, and they fall into the category of "fist-load weapons". By definition, a fist-load weapon increases the mass of the hand so that, given the physical proportionality between the fist's momentum and its mass, it increases the force the bearer can deliver. Some fist-load weapons may also serve, in the same manner, as the guard on a sword, to protect the structure of the bearer's hand.
A shillelagh is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel, typically made from a stout knotty blackthorn stick with a large knob at the top. It is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore.
A waddy, nulla-nulla, leangle or boondi is an Aboriginal Australian hardwood club or hunting stick for use as a weapon or as a throwing stick for hunting animals. Waddy comes from the Darug people of Port Jackson, Sydney. Boondi is the Wiradjuri word for this implement. Leangle is a Djadjawurrung word for a club with a hooked striking head.
A rungu is a wooden throwing club or baton bearing special symbolism and significance in certain East African tribal cultures. It is especially associated with Maasai morans who have traditionally used it in warfare and for hunting. It is a commonly encountered tourist souvenir in that part of the world.
A baton is a roughly cylindrical club made of wood, rubber, plastic, or metal. It is carried as a compliance tool and defensive weapon by law-enforcement officers, correctional staff, security guards and military personnel. The name baton comes from the French bâton (stick), derived from Old French Baston, from Latin bastum.
Hōten-ryū (法典流) is a Japanese martial art founded in 1600 CE. It is a school based on the use of the sword; however it has several different kobuki in its curriculum. It is also notable for its hidden weapons or items that appear to hide among everyday things.
An improvised weapon is an object that was not designed to be used as a weapon but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence or if the person is otherwise unarmed. In some cases, improvised weapons are commonly used by attackers in street fights, muggings, murders, gang warfare, during riots, or even during insurgencies, usually when conventional weapons such as firearms are unavailable or inappropriate.
The gada is a mallet or blunt mace from the Indian subcontinent. Made either of wood or metal, it consists essentially of a spherical head mounted on a shaft, with a spike on the top. Outside India, the gada was also adopted in Southeast Asia, where it is still used in silat. The weapon might have Indo-Iranian origins, as Old Persian also uses the word gadā to mean club; see for example the etymology of Pasargadae.