Tewhatewha
The tewhatewha is the long-handled fighting staff of the Maori, a wooden weapon with a flat, axe-like blade at one end and a shaped base, often hung with a bunch of feathers or dog hair at the bottom of the handle. It was swung in sweeping strokes and could be thrust or thrown, and the feathers at the base were used in training and in challenge, flicking and flashing to distract the opponent or to call out a warrior before a duel. The weapon was also carried in war dances and chiefly display as a mark of martial skill, and its handling was taught within the whare-taua, the house of war. The te