Throwing It All Away
For most people, the idea of a spear as a weapon means throwing it into a target.
That works pretty well for hunting, provided you are using the correct spear. As a first topic, the reader should realize there are many different types of spears for many different types of purposes.
In spear fighting, throwing the spear is an especially bad idea. Here’s why.
A typical fighting spear needs to be pretty sturdy: it has to withstand a variety of strikes and blocks without the shaft breaking. Sturdy usually means a little heavy.
Adding the blade to one end offsets the balance point on the spear. This means the grip must be adjusted, otherwise a throw will simply cause an immediate nose-dive.
An offset throw like this produces effects on the thrown spear. Like all projectiles, the spear is subject to four effects: pitch, roll, yaw, and gravity.
Pitch is the tendency for the spear to want to tumble end-over-end. This is one thing on a throwing knife, where its short length allows it to turn rapidly. On a spear, the result of pitch is that the spear whaps harmlessly into the ground, usually pointing back at you.
Roll is where the spear spins in flight. This can be a good thing: it’s why barrels in guns are rifled, and why a good football throw spirals. This drilling motion allows the projectile to overcome some wind resistance and travel furter. Unfortunately, a spear’s blade usually acts as a stabilizer and counters the spin (unless the spear’s blade is bullet-shaped). The slimmer profile of a javelin tip helps a little, which is why a keen-eyed observer will notice javelins “wiggle” in flight.
Yaw is the tendency for a projectile to try to turn right or left in flight. The long shaft of a spear helps reduce yaw, but a careless throw can cause the spear to turn harmlessly sideways during its flight.
And of course gravity pulls the spear into the ground. A spear thrower needs some arc to prevent the spear from sliding through the grass, and instead thudding into the target.
Unfortunately, all of these effects reduce the speed of the spear in flight. As a result, with careful timing and execution, a combat-ready spear can be thrown with minimal counter-effects—but at a relatively avoidable speed of 20 - 30 miles per hour.
As a result, you have a high effort weapon with a slow throw to show for it.
But doesn’t history prove otherwise? Not entirely. Hunting spears are light weight, and can be thrown against smaller prey at great velocity. Larger prey required several hunters working in cooperation. In military applications, the atlatl was a device designed to stabilize a spear throw as well as greatly increase its speed and range. Without an atlatl, you’re back to square one. The Greeks certainly lacked atlatls for their javelins: but here, sheer numbers were used to hurl hundreds of javelins into waves of men: the javelin was rarely thrown in one-on-one situations. The Roman soldier took a different turn with his pilum: this was a heavy spear that was designed to be thrown into an opponent’s shield, weighing it down for the soldier’s followup gladius strike. Indeed, the pilum blade was designed to crack off, so that the pilum could not be thrown back. It was not a spear-through-the-chest kind of weapon. Indeed, most conventions about the throwing spear stem more from Hollywood than history.
Consequently, spear techniques in Chongdo rely on thrusts, blocks, and parries, and never on throwing. This provides our students with a means of effectively taking on an opponent with less training and less review (compared to the need for constant practice with throwing).