Taigh Suntais:
The Ancient Martial Art Schools of Scotland
by Louie Pastore
| It may come as a surprise to the Western reader that Europeans too practiced and developed systems of armed and unarmed combat with dance-like forms or kata, an abdominal shout similar to the Japanese Ki-ai, conditioning exercises and meditation techniques. Many western masters of the late 13th century right through to 19th century, wrote and published treatises of their techniques, styles & theories. They include stick-fighting, swordsmanship, grappling and fist-fighting, many of which are illustrated and now widely available on the internet. These arts were practiced throughout the British Isles and Ireland, although on the surface, little evidence remains today, other than those kept alive in the traditions of morris dancing, sword dancing, country fairs and Highland games.
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| In Scotland, Martial art gymnasiums, referred to in Gaelic as Taigh Suntais, were training schools that existed in the Highlands until the British government proscribed the weapons of the Highlander and dismantled the clan system, after the battle of Culloden in 1746. Similar to the martial art dojo's of Asia, the first recorded taigh suntais was erected by Domhnuil Gruamach, Lord of the Isles in 1400 for his strongmen and wrestlers. In later years, sons of successive clan chiefs created their own gymnasiums where training was often held in the open air. “It was a custom in the Highlands of Scotland before the year 1745 that the gentry kept schools to give instruction to youths in sword exercises, and the laird of Ardsheil kept a school for the instruction of the youth of his own district. He stored the |
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| cudgels behind his house. There were cudgels for the
lads, and there were cudgels for the laddies, and the lads and laddies
went every day to Ardsheil to receive instruction on the cudgel from
the laird. After the laddies had received their day's instruction
each got a bannock and lumps of cheese. They were then sent to try
who would soonest ascend a mountain and eat the bannock and cheese;
and whoeverwas first got another bannock and lumps of cheese home
with him."(5) SINGLE-STICKFIGHTINGStick fighting, was a popular pastime throughout the whole of the British Isles. In Scotland young men would learn the seven angles of attack and seven guard positions and like the Phillipino systems, training involved the use of the left hand to parry or disarm, and wrestling throws & trips. The weapon typically consisted of a yard-long ash wood stick with a wicker basket guard, which was usually the combatant's only protection. Village fairs and Highland Games often held singlestick or cudgelling matches which began with the short prayer, "God, spare our eyes", after which the object of the game was to break each others heads, "for the moment that blood runs an inch anywhere above the eyebrow, the old gamester to whom it belongs is beaten". In the western isles of Scotland an old Skye dancing song, Bualidh mi u an sa chean, (I will break your head for you) still survives, which might indicate that this form of stick-fighting was fought to music or 'danced'. Training was just as tough as any Eastern martial system, students were not spared the "kiss of the ash plant" and no doubt many suffered fractured skulls, and broken bones. Although there are no records of 'death matches' there are accounts of combatants almost beating each other to death and having to be hospitalised. Qualifying as a teacher of single-stick was just as tough, first the student had to fight against three skilled masters of the art (one at a time), then three bouts against three valiant unskilled men and finally three bouts against three half-drunken men. Later, in Victorian times, stickfighters introduced a range of protective equipment including buffalo hide helmets with leather earpieces, stout leather jackets and cricket shin-pads.
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