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WABUKAN Arsenal · Staffs and sticks · Europe

Varapau

The Portuguese fighting stick, about the height of the chin or shoulder, once carried by shepherds and farmers of the north.

Varapau
Varapau WABUKAN illustration

Also known as

pau · pau; jogo do pau; vara

Origin and history

The varapau is the long stick of northern Portugal, used for walking, herding and self-defence. Its art, jogo do pau, was practised at fairs and pilgrimages and kept alive in Minho, Trás-os-Montes and Lisbon academies; it includes fighting several opponents at once.

Martial arts that use it

Jogo do Pau

Construction

A stick of strong, straight wood such as ash, holly or quince, from chest height to eye height or more (often 1.5–1.8 m), sometimes with a thicker end.

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?

The jogo de roda trains one player to defend against several attackers in a circle, recalling fights at village fairs.

More weapons

Combat cane (canne) Cajado Shillelagh Makila Jo Jutte

Sources

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

  1. Wikipedia — Jogo do pau