Stick fighting

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Stick fighting is a generic term for any of several martial arts which employ a small staff, cane or walking stick as a blunt hand weapon.

Some of the techniques can also be performed with a sturdy umbrella or a sword in its scabbard. When the weapon is rather too thick and/or heavy to be wielded with such precision, so sheer force of impact is more important, we rather call it a club, such as a cudgel or a mace.

Most stick fighting systems are serious combat techniques that were intended to be used if attacked whilst lightly armed, but a few, such as la canne and kendo, are also practiced today as sports similar to fencing.

Of course, stick fights are also still part of the anthropological heritage of various cultures, especially tribes such as the Nilotic Ethiopian Suri tribe (where donga is a general obsession and the best means of showing off to look for a bride, often naked or nearly) and their more warlike neighbours the Nyangotam (who fight duels bare-chested, the aim being to inflict visible stripes on the back of the adversary, using not plain staffs but sticks with a flexible, mean whipping tail-end).

Traditional European systems of stick fighting survive, with Portugal's Jogo do Pau, France's bâton français and Italy's scherma di bastone. These traditions have their origins partly with medieval pole weapons and longsword fencing. Giuseppe Cerri's 1854 manual Trattato teorico e pratico della scherma di bastone is influenced by masters of the Italian school of swordsmanship, Achille Marozzo and perhaps Francesco Alfieri.

The French system of la canne is still practised as a competitive sport. A self-defense adaptation of la canne developed by Swiss master-at-arms Pierre Vigny in the early 1900s has been revived as part of the curriculum of Bartitsu.

British stick fighting, known as single stick or cudgels, was a popular pastime in the UK from the 18th to the early 20th century, when it was included in the Olympic Games. Although interest in the art declined, a few fencing coaches continued to train with the stick and competitions in this style of stick fighting was re-introduced into the Royal Navy in the 1980s by commander Locker Madden. The art continues to gain a small following amongst the martial art community in the UK, Australia, Canada and the US.

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Stick fighting

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