Blowgun Techniques. Amante P. Marinas, Sr.

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      SOUTH AMERICAN BLOWGUNS

      ECUADORIAN BLOWGUN –The Waoranis of Ecuador use the knot-free chonta tree to make blowguns that are at least 9¹⁄₈ feet long. They cut a sapling and split it down the middle to expose the soft core.

      It takes several days for the Waorani to make the blowgun. He has first to remove the soft core and carefully carve the center into half cylinders. The two halves are then tied securely with vine. The inside of the blowgun is smoothed by repeatedly pouring sand into it. The final polish is done by rubbing the inside with a wooden rod and then running fine clay through the bore. The outside of the finished blowgun is elliptical. Thus shaped, it will fit across the mouth in much the same way as the mouthpiece of the .625 caliber blowgun (Figure 2-6, right) does.

      The Waoranis as well as the Capahuaris of Ecuador fashion darts from the spine of the leaves of the maximiliana regia palm tree and fletches their darts with kapok. The darts are poisoned with curare for use on the woolly monkeys, toucans, and on the nocturnal currasow that they hunt for food.

      PERUVIAN BLOWGUN–The best known Peruvian pucunas (blowgun) is made by the Yaqua tribe. The Yaquas use the blowguns for hunting monkeys, birds, and other small animals such as the sloth.

      The pucuna is 6 to 7 feet long and is made from pucuna caspi (blowgun wood). The bore is chiseled out on two matching halves then tied together with a cord made from the chambira palm. The bore is rough-smoothed using a rod made from the pona palm with the final polish made by passing fine sand repeatedly through the bore.

      The assembled blowgun is wrapped with the skin of the huambe vine. For a smooth feel, the skin is wrapped inside out and glued to the blowgun with resin from the copal plant. The wrapping is stained black.

      The darts are made from the ribs of the maximiliana regia palm tree fletched with kapok and are carried in a basket-like quiver called the cargajo. The kapok is carried in a nut from which the inside was removed. The dart is dipped in poison the main component of which is curare. The composition of the poison is a well-guarded secret.

      CHINESE BLOWGUNS

      One of two blowguns used by ancient Chinese martial arts masters is called the mea hua needle. It is tiny being only 2 inches long and is made from goose feathers. It is believed that a woman first used it because the shaft of the dart is a 1½ inch sewing needle. The dart is feathered with flannel.

      One other blowgun created during the Yuan Dynasty is called the blowing arrow. It is made from a short section of bamboo that is about 6 inches long. The blowgun shoots a 5-inch dart with a bamboo shaft that is tipped with a metal point.

      In the Chinese martial arts, both blowguns are considered hidden weapons.

      JAPANESE BLOWGUNS

      The Japanese blowgun is called fukiya. The traditional dart is called fukidari and is 2 inches long.

      The ninja book Mansenshukai written in the Edo era about 200 years ago shows a picture of a paper blowgun dart. The Japanese novelist Saikaku Ebara, in 1688, wrote that the blowgun was popular at the time.

      The website of Dr. Hironori Higuchi showed a 254 cm blowgun said to weigh about 2 kg that was made 130 years ago. However, there is no mention of how the blowgun was made and what type of wood (or metal) was used to make it.

      Strangely enough, though bamboo also grows in Japan, there was no mention of it being used to make blowguns.

      chapter 2

      MODERN BLOWGUNS

      Modern blowguns are made from heat-tempered, precision seamless aluminum. Thus, the barrel is relatively light and will not rust. The modern blowgun is provided with a mouthpiece and shoots darts with plastic tails and steel or bamboo shafts.

      BARREL

      Modern blowguns can be one-piece, two-piece or three-piece. The latter two can be assembled and disassembled in minutes. The short sections are connected to each other with plastic couplings.

      Take-down blowguns are designed for easy carrying to the target site. A one-piece, 5-foot blowgun will be difficult to transport.

      Some modern blowguns are also designed as walking canes (Figure 2-5).

      MOUTHPIECE

      The modern blowgun features a mouthpiece (Figure 2-5, Figure 2-6). Most traditional blowguns do not have mouthpieces. The mouthpiece allows the focusing of the blown air into the launching of the dart. Thus, there is little wasted air.

      The mouthpiece, made of plastic, is a molded one-piece construction with safety rings to prevent inhaling the dart. There is no such provision in the traditional blowguns. Hence, the traditional blowguns required more skill in its use considering that they were oftentimes aimed at targets overhead. Thus, there is greater risk of inhaling a dart when shooting a traditional blowgun.

      The mouthpiece is not necessary when you only shoot occasionally. There will be little harm if your teeth or lips touch an aluminum or bamboo tube. However, if you shoot a couple of hundred darts a day, you need to use a mouthpiece.

      In my case, I shot the .51 caliber blowgun without a mouthpiece. However after shooting 200 darts a day for 5 days, I felt indentations in my lower and upper lip. So I made a mouthpiece for it.

      You will not feel comfortable shooting a .625 caliber blowgun with no mouthpiece. It is just too big for the mouth.

      PROJECTILES

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