Weapon; Club
LIV.2010.132.6
Information
A wahaika (hand club) with a human figure carved on one side of the blade, and a notch on the other. There is a face carved on the end of the butt and a round hole through the butt. The blade has a carved pattern of whakarare (a distorted pattern where several parallel ridges and grooves regularly curve across a notched ridge between them) around the edges and dividing it into four sections containing diagonally-arranged rauponga (several parallel ridges and grooves with a notched ridge in between). The grip is uncarved. The eyes of the figure are shell-inlaid.
Wahaika are weapons held in one hand, generally using short, jabbing actions, to inflict wounds with the sharp edge. The hole in the butt is for a wrist cord.