Curious Weapon

[BradfordE]

Hello

As I was reading through the book 'Samurai Warriors' by Stephen Turnbull, I came across an illustration depicting a samurai from the Onin War of 1467 holding a very large, studded iron club(pp. 56-57 plate #12).

Is anyone out there familiar with this type of weapon? Was this a common weapon used during that time?

Thanks!

Bradford Pomeroy

[Meik Skoss]

It's a tetsubo (lit., "iron staff). They were used, mainly by *very* strong individuals, but were never particularly common. There are no koryu associated with this weapon.

[Scott Irey]

Meik,

There you go dashing my dreams against the craggy shore of reality...no tetsubo in any of the koryu!! Are you sure?!? How about in the local batting cage?

Scott "who always wanted to learn but could never lift the damn thing up" Irey