Tetsubo - Iron Staff

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

One is roughly the dimensions of a largeish baseball bat; the difference is that the "handle" (the part that you wrap with tape) is about 1/5-2 times longer than on the bat. The thing is hardwood, and the "business end" is, instead of being rounded like a bat, faceted -- it is planed to six flat surfaces, the faceting melding into the round handle area. Each facet is set every three or four inches with a big iron stud. It's possible that the entire end is clad in iron, but I can't tell.

Another looks like the above, but is much more chunky and is larger and heavier all around. It has eithg facets, and the studs are actually pointed.

Another one is slenderer than the first and longer by half; it appears to be cast or forged, and is solid iron. It has alternating nearly spherical studs along the facets.

One is just a long, iron rod a bit shorter than the first tetsubô above.

The fifth is a round wooden core (maybe 1.5" dia.) that is sheathed in REALLY THICK iron for about 2/3 its length. There are three bands on the iron cladding (think the bands on an Enfield). This one one is the length of the second tetsubô above.

The last one is a long wooden staff (just a round shaft) probably about an inch in diameter; the last fifth of it is sheathed in iron, with about a four inch chain on the end of the iron and an iron weight hanging off it like a flail. The weight appears to be about 1/5" diameter, 2" long.

The tale ends terminate in a largeish ring (like you'd hang the thing up when done). The only one that doesn't have the tail ring is the wooden pole.

Unfortunately, I can't actually tell how large they are, as there is no "to scale" marker in the photo. If I take the first one mentioned as a "standard size" from illustrations I've seen, that would make it about 4' or so long.


Effingham

[Iriye]

Forgive my ignorance, learned ones, but could one (or more, yes) illuminate for me the probable population who used these weapons & how they might have been wielded? That illumination is welcome to shine a flashlight down the bookshelf and direct me to a book I can read for myself. Of course I have to buy it.... can't just borrow it from the library.....

speaking of which.... I saw a few of Bryant-sensei's books on eBay but won't bid on them unless they are out of print and cannot be obtained by normal retail means. I'd like to have him get a chance to receive any royalties due. (Unless, of course, he wants me to send him a percentage of the purchase price directly, LOL, when I buy from the eBay listings). Maybe I'll just IM him and check out his distributor.

Rizii

[Draco Sezeski]

Some of them have been all wood with Iron Studs, some of them have been all Iron, and some of them have been wood handle with Iron "Business End"

I should know, I've checked em' out at Rising Sun (Oriental Weapons Shop around here.)

[raito]

I'm waiting for Baron Eirik to get some of the 3" rattan, so I can make a good one (my short polearm, the 'ugly stick' doesn't really qualify).

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

$2,750.00
5.8 kg
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=73466&item=3753658839&rd=1

A MAGNIFICENT FINE QUALITY ANTIQUE MUROMACHI , 1392 - 1573 , VERY RARE ORIGINAL KANABO , SAMURAI WAR CLUB . THIS IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE RAREST OF JAPANESE SAMURAI WEAPONS USED BY A MINORITY OF HERCULEAN STATURE SAMURAI . THIS WEAPON ORIGINATED IN THE NAMBOKUCHO PERIOD 1333-1392 & THIS PARTICULAR KANABO BEARS THE SUKASHI MARKINGS ON THE HANDLE CAP SEEN FROM THE NAMBOKUCHO PERIOD TO THE MUROMACHI PERIOD 1392-1573 . TAPERING OCTAGONAL SECTION 154CM LONG AND FREQUENTLY STUDDED THE ENTIRE LENGHT WITH HOSHI , IRON RIVETS , WIDTH AT THE WIDEST PART OF THE TAPPER IS 7CM .EACH ARMORED SECTION OF THE FOUR SECTIONS OF THE KANABO HAS 56 HOSHI RIVETS , MAKING A TOTAL OF 224 HOSHI ON THE ENTIRE LENGHT OF THE KANABO , HANDLE APPEARS TO BE A TYPE OF OAK OR ONE OF THE IMPORTED VERY HARD WOODS .THERE IS STILL SMALL AREAS EVIDENT OF THE ORIGINAL BLACK LACQUER THAT ONCE COVERED THE KANABO AND HAS PRESERVED & SEALED THIS OLD IRON SO EFFECTIVLY AGAINST THE ELEMENTS ON THIS RARE KANABO , TOTAL WEIGHT IS 5.8 KILOGRAMS . A VERY AVERAGE BLOW FROM THIS WEAPON WOULD BE FATAL , AS THE IMPACT WOULD SHATTER BONE AND WOULD EFFECTIVLY TOTALY DESTORY ANY ARMOR THAT MAY HAVE BEEN WORN . THERE ARE TWO SECTIONS OF IRON PLATE LAMINATED TOGEATHER AT THICKNESS 7MM THAT THE HOSHI ARE MOUNTED ON ,WITH FIVE SUPPORTING IRON STRAPS AND AN IRON END CAP . ONE OF THE VERY RAREST OF THE SAMURAI WEAPONS FROM THIS MOST INTERESTING PERIOD IN JAPANESE HISTORY , THIS STYLE OF KANABO IS A WEAPON THAT WAS NOT USED IN THE EDO PERIOD , EDO PERIOD KANABO WERE CONSIDERABLY LIGHTER WITH LESS HOSHI AND WERE COPIES OF THE HEAVIER MUROMACHI PERIOD KANABO , THE LIGHTER KANABO WERE DESIGNED MORE IN THE EDO PERIOD TO INTIMIDATE THAN FOR ACTUAL USE . FEW EDO PERIOD KANABO CAN BE FOUND TODAY , SELDOM IF EVER CAN YOU FIND A MUROMACHI PERIOD KANABO ANYWHERE . WORTHY OF ANY SERIOUS RARE WEAPONS COLLECTION OR MUSEUM . INTERESTING TO *NOTE , I HAVE NEVER SEEN IN MANY YEARS OF BUYING AND SELLING SAMURAI ANTIQUES IN JAPAN , AN ORIGINAL MUROMACHI PERIOD KANABO OF THIS STYLE FOR SALE ANYWHERE . ONLY EVER EDO PERIOD KANABO & MEIJI PERIOD REPLICAS HAVE I SEEN AVAILABLE FOR SALE AT HIGH COSTS . OVERALL CONDITION IS ORIGINAL UNRESTORED AND VERY GOOD

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

The basic method of building an estimate is good. Using the given density of iron (I'm going to round down slightly to make it even) of .25 lb/in^3 it is easy to build a table of weights for a solid iron rod of a given radius (r = 1/2 diameter) and length.

pi*(r^2)*length*.25=weight

Diameter Length Weight
-------------------------------
1" x 4' ~ 9.5 lb
1" x 6' ~ 14 lb
1.5" x 4' ~ 21 lb
1.5" x 6' ~ 32 lb
2" x 4' ~ 37.5
2" x 6' ~ 56 lb

I've done a lot of rounding to make the numbers nice and even, but they are close.

Was a 1.5"x6' iron rod ever used as a weapon? I don't know. Is the fourth one from the top in the above picture solid iron? I can't tell.

A 32 lb iron rod would be handy to break down gates and to break the legs of horses. You don't want to be hit in the helmet with one.

[TachibanaOmi]

My Samurai comrad Hachisuka Toshiro created one of these evil clubs for SCA combat out of a 2" thick piece of rattan about 4 1/2' long and belt sanded for a hexagon shape. To accomplish safe veriosions of the studs he ordered a bag of superballs (the 2" diameter ultra-bouncy rubber ones), cut them in half, and glued them, and strapping taped them on followed by a layer of ducktape. The effect was very pretty, legal, and painful


Tachibana Omi

[tlast]

I'm in the process of building one of these and when I get finished (and get some pictures), I'll post them.

I live in Atlantia, so I have to adhere to the 1" padding rule for polearms.

My construction has gone something like this (up to this point).

1 stick of rattan ~ 6ft long.

Used Otagiri's method of thrusting tip (leather + raquetball)

Overlapping layers of blue camp foam to create a end that is just barely 1" thick.

Took the next layer of foam, and scored it lengthwise, so it would have an octagonal shape when glued to the previous layers.

Drilled 10 holes evenly spaced in every other "strip" of that layer of foam.

Shoe-gooed "party poppers" into each of the holes, front and back.

party poppers look something like this:

makeashorterlink.com/?L37F266F9

Once the shoe-goo had set on those, I glued that layer of foam onto the weapon, so overall it has just over 1" of foam + the extra 1/2" or so from the poppers.

Then began the great shoe-gooing. In each of the crevices created by the scoring, I filled it with shoe goo and allowed it to dry.

Next I knocked down the "joints" in the rattan haft a bit so there's a smooth transition from plane to plane.

I managed to find an aerosol tool dip (I used black, but it comes in other colors). So about every 30 minutes yesterday, I was spraying a new layer of tool dip onto the whole head. I ended up using about a can and a half.

I let it cure overnight and took a whack or 6 on my stump this morning to see how it was going to hold up. Looks like it'll hold up just fine.

So what's left?

1) I plan on setting the popper-lumps off with either gold paint or yellow tool dip

2) Stain the haft with a red mahogany stain I have in the garage.

I've run the stages of construction by my local Knight and some other marshalls and they seem to like it so far, but what do you all think?

Thanks!

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

Guest-tlast said:

I'm in the process of building one of these and when I get finished (and get some pictures), I'll post them.

....

I've run the stages of construction by my local Knight and some other marshalls and they seem to like it so far, but what do you all think?

Wow! You have given a lot of thought and effort into this weapon. It sounds great. I am glad that you have worked with a Knight Marshal on this, it helps with unusual weapons. I eagerly await your photos!

[tlast]

Otagiri said:

Wow! You have given a lot of thought and effort into this weapon. It sounds great. I am glad that you have worked with a Knight Marshal on this, it helps with unusual weapons. I eagerly await your photos!

Thank you, I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. What do you all think?

Here are the pictures:

After tool dip:


Closeup after tool dip:


Showing 2 "edges" of gold studs:



Showing 3 "edges" of gold studs:



Just after staining last night - it's still drying (kinda cold right now, y'know?):

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

WOW!

That is a GREAT looking weapon.

I haven't been to Pennsic in a long, long time - so there might be one somewhere - but I have not seen a better looking tetsubo in the Known World!

Way To GO!

Be careful waving it at the ladies, though.

[tlast]

Otagiri said:

WOW!

That is a GREAT looking weapon.

Thank you!

I haven't been to Pennsic in a long, long time - so there might be one somewhere - but I have not seen a better looking tetsubo in the Known World!

Way To GO!

You do me great honor. Arigatou gozaimasu.

Be careful waving it at the ladies, though.

Heh.

[siri]

This is my tetsubo!

There's a little movie with it smashing a watermelon too.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJLr1xEVL4g

[wastenator]

Is that a Legend of the five rings card?

[siri]

wastenator said:

Is that a Legend of the five rings card?

Exactly!