The staff has been in use as a weapon since at least the middle ages, and continued in use as a training method for certain military units untill at least the 1980s. The staff has also been known as: The Stave, Balkstaff, shortstaff, tipstaff (with metal tips!), cudgel and club. The length of the staff can vary from 6 feet to 9 feet by roughly one and a quarter inches.
I found this fascinating. I have been trained in our own version of the staff fighting, though I never had to make use of the training. It was part of our growing up in villages of Tamil Nadu. You can get some information from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silambam
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it Ramana. I checked out the link you kindly supplied, very interesting. Using bamboo poles.
ReplyDeleteRegards.