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WABUKAN Arsenal · Staffs and sticks · Okinawa

Tonfa

A stick with a side handle, spun to strike and held along the forearm to block. It inspired the side-handle baton used by many police forces.

Tonfa
Tonfa WABUKAN illustration

Also known as

トンファー · tunfā; tuifa

Origin and history

The tonfa is an Okinawan weapon of uncertain origin, often linked to a millstone handle, and was taught in kobudō in pairs. In the 1970s police in the United States adopted a side-handle baton based on it, and many police forces later followed.

Martial arts that use it

Okinawan Kobudo

Construction

A wooden bar of about 50 cm with a short handle at right angles about 15 cm from one end; the long side protects the forearm when held along it.

Basic techniques

Training

Stick and staff training starts with grips, stances and basic strikes and blocks practised in the air or on a target, then two-person drills at controlled speed. Many schools use rattan or padded sticks for sparring, with a helmet and gloves.

Safety

Wear a helmet with a face grille and padded gloves for any contact work; hands and fingers are the most common injuries. Check sticks for cracks and splinters and retire damaged ones.

Legality (general information)

Sticks, staffs and other impact or flexible weapons are ordinary objects in some countries and restricted weapons in others (several European countries, for example, regulate nunchaku, batons or weighted chains). Carrying one in public without a good reason can be an offence even where owning it is legal. Transport it in a bag and use it in the training hall. This is general information, not legal advice: check local law.

Did you know?

Okinawan kata such as “Hamahiga no tonfa” preserve the names of the masters who passed them on.

More weapons

Hanbo Eku Gun (staff) Baston (rattan stick) Silambam staff Knobkerrie / induku

Sources

Original WABUKAN text, written from these cross-checked sources (facts, not sentences).

  1. Wikipedia — Tonfa
  2. Wikipedia — Okinawan kobudō