Kanabou (金棒) - The Samurai's Mace

Kanabou (金棒) - The Samurai's Mace 

A Kanasaibou wielded by a Sohei (僧兵) from 大和武者絵

Since I've received some request about this particular weapon, I've decided to write a detailed article about this iconic mace.

The Kanabou (金棒) or Tetsubou (鉄棒), better know as Kanasaibou (金砕棒) in Japanese, is a percussive weapon designed to counter armor.
The name translated means "metal or iron staff".
For the sake of simplicity in this blog I won't consider similar weapons like the aribo or kanemuchi as different ones since they are essentially Kanabou too.

I've already talk why and when Japanese percussive weapons started to be underrated in my previous article about war axes so I won't spent more lines talking about it; but maces in Japan were known and used through out the feudal period, without being considered "lesser" or "dishonorable" tools.

The Kanabou is a mace either made of hardwood like oak or forged iron, although the latter is more likely to be hollow or wood encased with iron due to weight's issues.
Usually it has iron spikes, studs or a plain surfaces; the cross section of the shaft is polygonal or rounded and it could be tapered like a baseball bat. Sometimes both ended were encased with metal, and in some variations a ring shaped pommel is fitted at the end near the handle.

The length could vary a lot, from one handed versions of 30 cm to two handed ones of 2 meters, but the majority are in the 1.50 meters spot, and according to the dimensions the weight is in between 50 grams and 5 kg but most of the two handed versions are near the 2 kg spot, leaving the heaviest to "ceremonial weapons". 
Contrary to the popular opinion, this weapon is not that heavy; it would require the same amount of energy of wielding a Nodachi or a Nagamaki, two long top heavy weapons.

In this battle screen there are two warriors in the third section from the left using a rather plain, simple and long Kanabou. From 長谷堂合戦図屏風

The first mention of this weapon is found inside the Taiheiki (太平記) in 14th century; is not a coincidence that during this period specialized heavy weapons started to appear.

In the 14th century, Japanese armor saw some peculiar innovations that many scholars even nowadays don't consider as much as they should: although not as revolutionary as the 16th century ones, during the Nanbokucho period (1336-1392) the Dou Maru started to be the main form of armor, new helmet designs were created to emphasize upper shoulder protection, the Osode from standing anti-arrow shield became proper pauldrons, the Haidate and the Kote were further developed, we have the introduction of the Kogake, the Japanese sabatons and last but not least an extensive use of mail to cover the gaps in armor.

A Kanabou was a straight solution to bypass all the amount of cover one warrior had with blunt force trauma. This type of weapon is similar to the Chinese Lang Ya Bang or the European Goedendag (but without a top spike).
In the Japanese folklore, the Oni are often depicted using this weapon, and according to the tradition is one of the seven weapons of the famous warrior monk Saito Musashibou Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶).



Shape and use

Like battle axes, and maces all over the world, there aren't any detailed manuals describing the use of the Kanabou.
According to its shape and variation, bojutsu ( the Japanese quarterstaff techniques),  kenjutsu ( sword's techniques) or juttejustu ( baton's techniques) could be applied and this might be the reason why specific schools didn't developed around this particular weapon.
The longest versions were also used from horseback to strike or thrust.
It is said that this weapon was also used to break warhorses legs, but whether or not this was actually done is hard to establish.
As I said before the Kanabou is not massively heavy, but it still quite heavy and required strength, balance and train to be used effectively.

A Kanabou used on horseback, from 大日本歴史錦繪.

Unlike a classic mace, the weight is generally not focused in one small area (although some variations have this property) but is spreaded all over the "spiked zone"; however the centre of percussion is far from the handle, which means that the Kanabou is still top heavy: it can strike hard, but it feels heavy in the handling and so is not fast to redirect it or recover after one blow.

Having a larger area of spikes offers both advantages and disadvantages in terms of damage; if all the force is focused in one small area, the damage would be higher and this is the case of a classic mace.
However, having a larger area increase the "hitting zone" of the weapon: unlike a normal mace, you can still deal a lot of damage even if you "overshoot" (= hitting with the handle rather than with the mace's head) your opponent.
In addition to that the Kanabo, being two handed and generally heavier than other maces, could still generate the same amount of energy (if not more) in one strike.

Although this weapon, due to weight and balance, lacks the defensive properties swords have, and is usually shorter than a spear, it can break enemy guards/stances and weapons. With the former issues in mind, the Kanabo was created to be used in conjunction with heavy armor.
Famous wielder of this weapons were Akiyama Mitsumasa (秋山光政) and Shinozuka Shigehiro (篠塚重広) in the 14th century, Kojima Yatarou (小島 弥太郎) and Mogami Yoshiaki (最上義光) in the 16th century.

To have a well rounded article on the weapon I've decided to make some sketches of the several variations followed with some comments; I'm defenitly not an artist but I think that this drawings could be helpful. Please consider that given the amount of features (size, taper, cross section, types of spikes/knots etc.) the possible combinations could be endless.


One handed versions:

These one handed versions are also called ararebo; starting from left to right, the first one is entirely made of iron, has an hexagonal cross section and two rows of studs along the "edges".

The second one is very similar to a trench club of the ww1, it is rounded and it has two iron cap on bot ends, iron studs on the upper end, while is also tapered along the handle.

The last one which is quite famous, is more similar to a classical mace: It is rounded in cross section and most of the weight and all the spikes are focuses in a smaller area, which means that they could concentrate more force in one spot.

Although quite practical in the sense that these maces can be carried around, they lack the power and the reach of the two handed versions, and even if they are faster, they were never more popular than the longer ones.

Two handed versions:

Starting again from left to right, these are some of the variations of the two handed versions.
The first one is a plain hexagonal full iron shaft, that could also be called kanemuchi or aribo due to the lack of tapering or studs.

The second one is tapered towards the wooden handle, is hexagonal and has an iron "head" reinforced in three different zones with further iron bands.

The third one is actually quite famous too since is found inside an ukiyo-e; it is essentially an octagonal Kanabou, without tapering and with plain studs towards the end, which is reinforced with a lacquered metal band.

The last one is probably one of the most interesting; like the previous ararebo, the weight of the weapon is all focused towards the end, in that thick sphere, making this variations a like a classical mace, while the handle is wrapped in clothing. It is found inside the original 14th century scroll Jiuunirui-emaki  (十二類絵巻) 

Those last versions could be classified as the "heavier" ones.

The first on the left is actually a very classical shape associated with the kanabo; it is octagonal in cross section and it has studs on the upper end, while the handle tapers towards the bottom.

The second one is rounded, has very long and pronounced studs and a big pommel on the handle to counterbalance the weapon. It is tapered as well.

The third is probably one of the most effective in terms of damage; the upper end is encased in iron, it is polygonal in cross section and it has very long and nasty squared spikes that could seriously injure the opponent, and is probably on of the longest example.

The final Kanabou is quite famous too, with is "globular" handle that tapers down towards the bottom. It is quite massive and it is made of hardwood, with spikes  and an octagonal cross section.

Studs vs Spikes

One interesting note is the comparison between spikes and studs; you might already notice that there were different configurations of the same weapon, from plain surfaces to proper spikes.
Although the plain surface might seems "harmless" it is fair to say that the majority of the spikeless Kanabou are polygonal, and the edges alone could still inflict damage through armor, not to mention the fact that being beaten by an heavy iron bar is already an unpleasant experience.


Back to the topic, it is quite obvious that spikes are more dangerous since they could directly pierce enemy armor, and this is actually a problem too: the weapon might end getting stuck into the enemy's body leaving the wielder disarmed.
On the other hand, a stud deform (or bite) rather than pierce the armor, so is less likely to get stuck in it, and if the studs are rather plain the user could still safely grab the shaft to perform bojutsu techniques which are equally useful (if not more) than piercing enemy's defenses in an armored fight context.



The Nyoubou (如意棒) and the Dou Tsuki (胴突)

Two interesting variations of the Japanese mace are the Nyoubou and the Dou tsuki; the former is actually a training tool used to enhance arm's strength and is still used nowdays in some dojo. Its shape is the same of the one of an oversize Kanabou, and it was never meant to be used on the battlefield.

A Nyoibo from 武道教育 : 剣道二百二拾本勝太刀之法; usually they were even bigger with a larger cross section.

The latter is actually a flanged mace with a quite self-explanatory name (胴突 = Armor breaker/piercer) and is actually drawn inside the Buki nihyaku zu (武器皕圖) a recollection of 200 traditional Japanese military related gear and equipment. The book was published in the late Edo period, and is hard to establish if this type of weapon saw actual use during the feudal period; however it is highly likely that the Japanese sooner or later developed a flanged mace design since it is a very common and effective design, found all over the world.

The Dou Tsuki is the second from the left; interestingly enough, the first weapon on the left is a warhammer, but this is a topic from another article!

Just like war axes, the Kanabou (and all its several variation) were never widely used on the battlefields; although they were quite simple to make and extremely effective against armored foes, they required itself to be used by a strong and trained armored men, can't be properly used inside formations and lack the reach of a spear.



I hope that you liked this article! If you have any questions please feel free to write a comment below, and feel free tho share it!

Gunbai