{{Short description|Type of Polynesian club}} [[File:Tiger shark teeth art item.jpg|thumb|Leiomano made with tiger shark teeth]] Early 19th-century Hawai'ian leiomano|thumb [[File:Leiomano Oc,HAW.188.jpg|thumb|Leiomano at the British Museum]] [[File:Hand Weapon LACMA M.2008.66.27.jpg|thumb|Leiomano knuckle duster at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.]] The '''leiomano''' is a shark-toothed club used by various Polynesian cultures, primarily by the Native Hawaiians.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Islands of Blood |series=Warriors |network=History Channel |date=May 7, 2009}}</ref>
The word "leiomano" is derived from the Hawaiian language and may originate from ''lei o manō'', meaning "a shark's lei."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKwBKmwy7EEC |title=Sharks of Hawaii: Their Biology and Cultural Significance |first=Leighton R. |last=Taylor |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-8248-1562-2 |page=28}}</ref>
The weapon resembles a thick ping-pong paddle inset with shark teeth, typically from the tiger shark. These teeth are placed into grooves in the club and sewn into place. The tip of the handle may also utilize a marlin bill as a dagger. The weapon functions as a bladed club, similar to the obsidian-studded macuahuitl of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures.
== North America == A weapon of similar form was discovered in pieces at Cahokia, Illinois, in 1948 by Gregory Perino. Greatly damaged by a plow, the weapon was composed of eight chert imitation shark teeth, and tipped with five actual shark teeth. In both cases, the teeth were related to the great white.<ref>{{citation |title="Cahokia Mounds" Shark's Tooth Clubs |url=http://flintknapper.com/NEW%20SHARK'S%20TOOTH.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235706/http://flintknapper.com/NEW%20SHARK'S%20TOOTH.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-03-03 |access-date=2019-02-14}}.</ref>
== In Popular Culture == The character Roadhog from the 2016 video game Overwatch has two skins, named "Islander" and "Toa", that are inspired by traditional Polynesian culture. In these skins, his hook is changed to be made of bone with shark teeth threaded to its edges, resembling a leiomano. ==See also== *Macuahuitl
==References== <references/>
Category:Clubs (weapon) Category:Culture of Hawaii Category:Polynesian culture
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