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A blowgun (also called a blowpipe or blow tube) is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light such as darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the force created by forced exhalation ("blow") to propel the projectile. The propulsive power is limited by the strength of the user's respiratory muscles and the vital capacity of their .
Projectiles include seeds, clay pellets, and darts. Some cultures dip the tip of the darts in curare or other in order to paralyze the target. Blowguns were very rarely used by these tribes as anti-personnel weapons, but primarily to hunt small animals such as and birds. The North American Cherokee were known for making blowguns from Arundinaria to supplement their diet with and other small creatures. The Choctaw Indians of North America also made use of cane blowguns to hunt squirrel and .
Blowguns are depicted in paintings on pre-Columbian pottery and are mentioned in many myths. Back then and today, the Maya peoples use a blowgun to hunt birds and small animals with spherical dry seeds and clay pellets. The clay ammunition is made slightly larger than needed (to allow for shrinkage and refinement) and stored in a shoulderbag. The outside of the dry clay pellet is shaved off and burnished right before use.Carol Ventura. "The Jakaltek Maya Blowgun in Mythological and Historical Context", in Ancient Mesoamerica 14.2: 257–268, 2003.
Shorter blowguns and smaller bore darts were used for varmint hunting by pre-adolescent boys in traditional Cherokee villages. Cherokee, Blowgun, Bibliography. 2011. Contains a brief bibliography and article on the subject of blowguns. They used the blowguns to reduce the population of small rodents such as rats, mice, and other mammals that cut or gnaw into food caches, seed and vegetable stores, or that are attracted to the planted vegetables. While this custom gave the boys something to do around the village and kept them out of mischief,Health, Physical Education, Recreation a, and Hilliard, K. An instructor's guide to traditional Native American games of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee: grades 5–8. Middle Tennessee State University, 2014. Abstract: The purpose for this study was to develop a guide for instructors to use in understanding and teaching traditional games of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. This guide is intended not only to provide an educational resource for instructors to use in teaching how to play traditional Eastern Band of the Cherokee games, but also as a resource to utilize in passing on historical and traditional information about each game. In creating this study the researcher identified two major topics to be reviewed: (1) Historical information relating to Native American culture with an emphasis on the Eastern Band of the Cherokee and traditional games of the Eastern Band (to provide a historical background of each game, including traditional purposes, how each game was played, traditional equipment, and other beneficial information for instructors and students). (2) Curriculum development information (to guide the researcher in developing the components and format for the instructor's guide). After reviewing the historical information available through interviews and literature, three categories of Eastern Band of the Cherokee games were found. These categories include games of skill and dexterity; games of amusement; and games of chance. Within the games of skill and dexterity category ten traditional Eastern Band of the Cherokee games were noted: arrow/dart throwing, tipping, and tossing games; blowgun games; chunkey; cornstalk shooting; a hunting game; kickball; marbles; a running game; stickball; and tug-of-war. Within the games of amusement category only one traditional Eastern Band of the Cherokee game was noted, a string game called Crow's Feet. Within the games of chance category there was also only one traditional Eastern Band of the Cherokee game found, a basket dice tossing game called Jacksnap. After reviewing the curriculum development literature, the Tennessee Instructional Model (1984) was selected for the overall design of the instructor's guide, with the added features of photographs of traditional equipment, when available, and lead-up activities which teach the skills necessary to play each game. By combining the Native American historical information and curriculum development information the instructor's guide was created, which includes an introduction to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee people and detailed lesson plans for each traditional game. The guidebook was constructed for the developmental characteristics of students in the fifth through the eighth grade. It is hoped that this guidebook will serve as a tool for instructors to use in keeping alive the history and traditions of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee games. it also worked as an early form of pest control.Ruehl, Ron, and Lawson S. Warren. Hayes Lossiah: Cherokee Blowgun Maker. Raleigh, N.C.: N.C. Dept. of Cultural Resources, 1985. Summary: This program, set during the Cherokee fall festival in North Carolina, highlights the work of Hayes Lossiah, Cherokee craftsman and blowgun maker. Lossiah demonstrates the construction of a traditional Cherokee blowgun. Some food was also obtained by the boys, who hunted squirrels with blowguns well into the 20th century.Smith, Jim "Crow". 2017. "The Modern Blowgun". The Backwoodsman "The magazine for the twentieth century frontiersman specializing in trapping, woodslore, survival, gardening, muzzleloading & homesteading". Volume 38. September/October 2017. Pages 58–60.
Today blowguns are used with tranquilizer darts to capture wildlife or to stun caged dangerous animals. Herpetology use blowguns to capture elusive with stun darts. Blowguns are also used recreationally, with either darts or paintballs.
Two other styles are also being pursued to make up the Olympic blowgun event, both based upon the Cherokee Annual Gathering Blowgun Competition. The Field Style competition is similar to the winter Biathlon, where the shooter runs from a starting line to a target lane, shoots and retrieves the darts, and continues to the next station. The course length varies from or longer, with from 9 to 16 targets at various heights and shooting distances. The final style is the Long Distance target shoot. The target is a circle of diameter, and the firing line is away. Three darts are fired by each shooter, at least one of which must stick in the target. All successful shooters move to the next round, moving back each time.
The sport blowgun competition is managed by the International Fukiyado Association, with which national associations in the United States, France, Germany, and the Philippines are affiliated.
In Japan, competition darts are made of cellophane rolled into a cone (Fukiya), topped with a non-pointed brass brad. The Japan Sports Fukiya Association JSFA has privatized the sport, and all materials must be purchased from them. International Fukiya Association IFA chairman H.Higuchi promotes worldwide blowgun rule cooperating with other countries.
In other nations, modified piano wire is used to make the cal and cal darts, with certain manufacturers making specialty darts for odd sized or larger caliber barrels ( cal, cal, cal, and cal).
Use of home-made darts in the larger sizes or for hunting is common, utilizing bamboo skewers ( diameter), wire coat hangers, and even nails or knitting needles.
In the United Kingdom under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, and in Australia, the blowgun is categorized as an offensive weapon, and as such it is illegal to manufacture, sell or hire or offer for sale or hire, expose or have in one's possession for the purpose of sale or hire, or lend or give to any other person. Antique blowguns are, however, exempt.
In Canada, the blowgun is classified as a prohibited weapon and is defined as any device that "being a tube or pipe designed for the purpose of shooting arrows or darts by the breath". Any imported blowgun must be deactivated by either drilling a hole or by blocking.
In the Republic of Ireland, blowpipes (blow guns) are classified as illegal offensive weapons.
In the U.S. state of California, blowguns are illegal. CA Penal Code §20010 California Legislative Information (retrieved 01 Feb 2016) They are also illegal in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., but are legal elsewhere. There is currently no age requirement for using a blowgun. "Legal and Safety Notices." United States Blowgun Association. (retrieved 19 Dec 2009)
The Tegua people, an ethnic group from Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, produce a type of curare called Ticuna. This poison acts quickly on the prey, killing birds like the toucan in a matter of three to four minutes and small monkeys in about eight to ten minutes.
In the Orinoco Basin, the blowgun and curare are used by: the Hoti, who make blowguns that are unique in their components; the Panare people, who obtain blowguns from the Hoti; the Huottuja, or Piaroa people, who get their blowguns from the Yekuana or Maquiritares; the Maquiritare, who get their curare from the Piaroa; and the , who also get their blowguns from the Yekuana or Maquiritares, though they make their own curare.
In the upper Rio Negro basin, the combination of blowguns and poisoned darts is used by the Baniwa, who make their own blowguns using technology and materials different, in part, from those of the ethnic groups of the Orinoco. They also produce their own curare. Their ancestors, the Huaorani people, used a match known as kakapa along with the curare to impregnate the darts of their blowpipes.
The Piaroa are known for making curare to impregnate the darts of their blowguns. They produce it beginning with extracts of different species of plants from the Strychnos genus– mainly maracure (Strychnos crevauxii)– mixed with kraraguero sap to increase the adhesion of the poison. An animal hit by a dart poisoned using the Piaroa recipe usually dies within fifteen minutes, depending on its body mass.
In the Philippines, Borneo, and Sulawesi, the sumpit (or sumpitan) blowgun darts are typically coated in the sap of Antiaris toxicaria ( upas)a toxin also used by the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysiawhich causes convulsions and death by cardiac arrest. Uniquely among blowguns, sumpit are also commonly tipped with metal spearheads for use in close combat or when the ammunition is exhausted, functionally similar to . (2012). 9781462905546, Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 9781462905546
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