Nunchaku

The origin of the word nunchaku (ヌンチャク) is not known. One theory indicates it was derived from pronunciation of the Chinese characters 双截棍 (a type of traditional Chinese two section staff) in a Southern Fujian dialect of Chinese language (兩節棍 nng-chat-kun, pair(of)-linked-sticks). Another derives from the definition of "nun" as "twin".

Another name for this weapon is "nûchiku"(ヌウチク).[8]

In the English language, nunchaku are often referred to as "nunchuks".[9]

Hyoshiki (wooden clappers)

The origin of the nunchaku is unclear, although one popular belief is that nunchaku was originally a short South-East Asian flail[10] used to thresh rice or soybeans. This gave rise to the theory that it was originally developed by an Okinawan horse bit (muge), or that it was adapted from a wooden clapper called hyoshiki[11] carried by the village night watch, made of two blocks of wood joined by a cord. The night watch would hit the blocks of wood together to attract people's attention, then warn them about fires and other dangers.[12]

Though some propose that the association of nunchaku and other Okinawan weapons with rebellious peasants, it is most likely a romantic exaggeration. Martial arts in Okinawa were practiced exclusively by aristocracy (kazoku) and "serving nobles" (shizoku), but were prohibited among commoners (heimin).[13] According to Chinese folklore, nunchaku are a variation of the two section staff.[14]

Parts of nunchaku

• Ana: the hole on the kontoh of each handle for the himo to pass through—only nunchaku that are connected by himo have an ana.
• Himo: the rope which connects the two handles of some nunchaku.
• Kusari: the chain which connects the two handles of some nunchaku.
• Kontoh: the top of each handle.
• Jukon-bu: the upper area of the handle.
• Chukon-bu: the center part of the handle.
• Kikon-bu: the lower part of the handle.
• Kontei: the bottom of the handle.[15]

Nunchaku consist of two sections of wood connected by a cord or chain, though variants may include additional sections of wood and chain. In China, the striking stick is called "dragon stick" ("龍棍"), while the handle is called "yang stick" ("陽棍"). Chinese nunchaku tend to be rounded, whereas the Okinawan version has an octagonal cross-section (allowing one edge of the nunchaku to make contact with the target, increasing the damage inflicted). The ideal length of each piece should be long enough to protect the forearm when held in a high grip near the top of the shaft. Both ends are usually of equal length, although asymmetrical nunchaku exist.

The ideal length of the connecting rope or chain is just long enough to allow the user to lay it over his or her palm, with the sticks hanging comfortably and perpendicular to the ground. The weapon should be properly balanced in terms of weight. Cheaper or gimmicky nunchaku (such as glow-in-the-dark versions) are often not properly balanced, which prevents the performer from performing the more advanced and flashier "low-grip" moves, such as overhand twirls. The weight should be balanced towards the outer edges of the sticks for maximum ease and control of the swing arcs.

Uncommon nunchuks made of solid nylon, hollow aluminum, and solid metal (unlinked)

Traditional nunchaku are made from a strong, flexible hardwood such as oak, loquat or pasania. Originally, the wood would be submerged in mud for several years, where lack of oxygen and optimal acidity would prevent rotting and cause the wood to harden. The rope is made from horsehair. Finally, the wood is very finely sanded and rubbed with an oil or stain for preservation. Today, such nunchaku are often varnished or painted for display purposes. This practice tends to reduce the grip and make the weapon harder to handle, and is therefore not advised for combat.

Modern nunchaku can be made from any suitable material, such as wood, metal, or almost any plastic, fiberglass or other hard substance. Toy and practice nunchaku are commonly covered with foam to prevent injury to the self or others. It is not uncommon to see modern nunchaku made from light metals such as aluminum. Modern equivalents of the rope are nylon cord or metal chains on ball bearing joints. Simple nunchaku may be easily constructed from wooden dowels and a short length of chain. Short rope nunchaku is used for free style swing. Rope is 13cm~15cm the player hangs the rope on the wrist and turns the sticks. Grip is short kontou grip. Long rope nunchaku is used for X letter swing martial art swing.Grip is long kontei grip.Short rope is safe because the sticks can be controlled easily. The Nunchaku-Do sport, governed by the World Nunchaku Association, promotes black and yellow polystyrene foam nunchaku. Unlike readily available plastic training nunchaku, the devices they promote are properly balanced.

There are some alternative nunchaku, made solely for sporting such as:

• "Bleeder" (nunchaku with sharp or dull razor blades) and "sharper" (nunchaku with nails) are used as components of the basic training and grading programme (Programme Verhille) in French nunchaku de combat.[16]
• "Glow-Chucks," made either with fiberglass and a coloured light fitted in the ball bearing, or fluorescent tape wrapped around the sticks.
• "Penchaku" or "Prochux," which are flashier Lissajous-do sticks available for artistic performances. These are more colourful and sometimes fluorescent with a modified anatomy, which favors control at the expense of power. They have longer sticks and extremely short ropes. The idea is based on a mathematical model, the Lissajous curve, which allows the user to keep a continuous flowing form.
• "Speedcord," a new version of a cord and bearing nunchaku called "Neo Speedcord" and "Neon Speedcord" nunchaku, a fast, lightweight, purely freestyle or demonstration type nunchaku.[17]

There are also some types of nunchaku with no noted use in sport, such as:

• Nunchaku with knives, or metal branches with a concealed blade in the end of each branch.[18]
• Telescopic nunchaku, or nunchaku with retractable metal sticks.

The nunchaku is most commonly used in Okinawan kobudō and karate, but it is also used in eskrima (more accurately, the Tabak-Toyok, a similar though distinct Philippine weapon, is used, as opposed to the Okinawan nunchaku), and in Korean hapkido. Its application is different in each style. The traditional Okinawan forms use the sticks primarily to grip and lock. Filipino martial artists use it much the same way they would wield a stick—striking is given precedence. Korean systems combine offensive and defensive moves, so both locks and strikes are taught. Other proprietary systems of Nunchaku are also used in Sembkalah (Iranian Monolingual Combat Style), which makes lethal blows in defense and assault. Nunchaku is often the first weapon wielded by a student, to teach self-restraint and posture, as the weapon is liable to hit the wielder more than the opponent if not used properly.

The Nunchaku is usually wielded in one hand, but it can also be paired. It can be whirled around, using its hardened handles for blunt force, as well as wrapping its chain around an attacking weapon to immobilize or disarm an opponent. Nunchaku training has been noted to increase hand speed, improve posture, and condition the hands of the practitioner. Therefore, it makes a useful training weapon.

There are some disciplines that combine nunchaku with unarmed techniques:

• Nunchaku Sambkalah: Combining Nunchako Movements with Hands and Legs Using Sembkalah Proprietary Techniques
• Mouhébong Taekwondo combines Korean nunchaku with taekwondo.[19]
• Nunch-Boxing combines nunchaku with kicking and punching techniques. Nunch-Boxing itself is part of the broader discipline Nenbushi.[20]
• Nunchaku en savate combines savate techniques with the nunchaku. First imported to the USA by FIS Savate Professor JN Eynard (one of the pioneers of savate in the USA and one of the few mastering Nuchaku-en-Savate) in 1983 (https://web.archive.org/web/20101119024929/http://members.bellatlantic.net/~eynard/nunchaku_en_savate.html)[21]

Freestyle nunchaku is a modern style of performance art using nunchaku as a visual tool, rather than as a weapon. With the growing prevalence of the Internet, the availability of nunchaku has greatly increased. In combination with the popularity of other video sharing sites, many people have become interested in learning how to use the weapons for freestyle displays. Freestyle is one discipline of competition held by the World Nunchaku Association. Some modern martial arts teach the use of nunchaku, as it may help students improve their reflexes, hand control, and other skills.

Since the 1980s, there have been various international sporting associations that organize the use of nunchaku as a contact sport.[22][23] Current associations usually hold "semi-contact" fights, where severe strikes are prohibited, as opposed to "contact" fights. "Full-Nunch" matches, on the other hand, are limitation-free on the severity of strikes and knockout is permissible.[24]

• North American Nunchaku Association (NANA): Founded in 2003 in California by Sensei Chris Pellitteri, NANA teaches all aspects of the nunchaku, traditional and free-style, single and double.
• World Amateur Nunchaku Organization (WANO): Founded by Pascal Verhille in France in 1988.
• Fédération Internationale de Nunchaku de Combat et Artistique (FINCA): Founded by Raphaël Schmitz in France in 1992 as a merger of disbanded associations WANO and FFNS (Fédération Française de Nunchaku Sportif). Its current name is Fédération Internationale de Nunchaku, Combat complet et Arts martiaux modernes et affinitaires (FINCA).[25] A fight with FINCA rules lasts two rounds of two minutes. There is no need for changing either the nunchaku branch or the hand before hitting, just a correct recuperation. There are no stops during the fight, except for loss, lifting, or penalties.
• World Nunchaku Association (WNA): Founded by Milco Lambrecht in the Netherlands in 1996.[26] WNA uses yellow and black plastic weight-balanced training nunchaku and protective headgear. They have their own belt color system, in which participants earn color stripes on the belt, instead of fully colored belts. One side of the belt is yellow and the other black, so that in a competition, opponents may be distinguished by the visible side of the belt. WNA fight rules correspond to the kumite subsection of Nunchaku-do discipline.[27] It is a two-minutes "touch fight," in which technical abilities are very important. After each scored point, the fight stops and the fighters take back their starting position.
• International Techdo Nunchaku Association (ITNA): Founded by Daniel Althaus in Switzerland in 2006. ITNA rules fights last two rounds lasting 2:30. There are no stops during the round, except for loss, lifting, or penalties. Between two strikes, the fighter has to change hand and nunchaku branch before hitting again, except if he blocks.
• Nunchaku-en-Savate (ARSIC-International): First presented by Jean-Noel Eynard, Professeur of Savate, pioneer of FFBFSDA Savate in the USA. The sport combines technique of Savate with Nunchaku similar to Savate combined with la Canne. Nunchaku-en-savate rebirth occurred in the Ivory-Coast in the late 1970s. It was taught in classes of Self Defense Savate. The sport made its way to the USA in 1983.

Of the various materials of which nunchaku may be made, solid metal bars, shown here, are among the most effective for striking.

In a number of countries, possession of nunchaku is illegal, or the nunchaku is defined as a regulated weapon. Norway, Canada,[28][29] Russia, Poland, Chile, and Spain are all known to have significant restrictions.

In Germany, nunchaku have been illegal since April 2006, when they were declared a strangling weapon.[30][31]

In England and Wales, public possession of nunchaku is heavily restricted by the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988. However nunchaku are not included in list of weapons whose sale and manufacture prohibited by Schedule 1 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988 and are traded openly (subject to age restrictions).

In Scotland laws restricting offensive weapons is similar to that of England and Wales. However in 2010 Glasgow Sheriff Court refused to accept a defence submission that nunchaku were not prohibited weapons under Scottish law, although the defendants were acquitted on other grounds.[32]

The use of nunchaku was, in the 1990s, censored from UK rebroadcasts of American children's TV shows such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons and films.[33] The UK version of the Soul Blade video game was also edited, replacing the character Li Long's nunchaku with a three-sectioned staff. In Hong Kong, it is illegal to possess metal or wooden nunchaku connected by a chain, though one can obtain a license from the police as a martial arts instructor, and rubber nunchaku are still allowed. Possession of nunchaku in mainland China is legal.

Legality in Australia is determined by individual state laws. In New South Wales, the weapon is on the restricted weapons list and, thus, can only be owned with a permit.

Legality in the United States varies at the state level. As elsewhere, the popularity of Bruce Lee movies in the 1970s led to a wave of nunchaku bans.[34] Many states prohibit carrying nunchaku in public as a concealed weapon, but a small number restrict or completely ban ownership. California has made exceptions for professional martial arts schools and practitioners to use the nunchaku.[35] The state of Arizona previously considered nunchaku to be a "prohibited weapon" since the 1970s, making mere possession illegal, with the sole exception of nunchaku-like objects that are manufactured for use as illumination devices.[36] A constitutional challenge failed as well.[37] It was legalized in 2019.[34] New York formerly banned all possession of nunchaku, but this was ruled unconstitutional in the 2018 case Maloney v. Singas.[38]

In 2015, police in the town of Anderson, California were trained and deployed to use nunchaku as a form of non-lethal force. They were selected because of their utility as both a striking weapon and a control tool.

Nunchaku have been employed by American police for decades, especially after the popular Bruce Lee movies of the 1970's, but tasers have since become the preferred non-lethal weapon for most departments.[39]

• 
  The kusari (chain) used to connect the two halves of the nunchaku.
• 
  The kikon-bu (lower part) of one handle of a nunchaku, showing the kontei (bottom part) of the handle.
• 
  The jukon-bu (upper part) of the nunchaku, showing the kontoh (top of the handle) and the kusari (chain) which connects the two handles, or halves, of the nunchaku.
• 
  Close-up image of the kontoh (top) of two nunchaku, showing the kusari (chain) on one, and the himo (rope) and ana (hole) that the himo goes through on the other.

• Tabak-Toyok
• Sai
• Arnis
• Butterfly sword
• Meteor hammer

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nunchaku.

Information and techniques

• North American Nunchaku Association
• Nunchaku Tutorials English site with nunchaku tutorials.
• Nunchaku Tutorials Videos

International associations

• World Nunchaku Association English homepage for the World Nunchaku Association, based in the Netherlands.
• International Techdo Nunchaku Association English homepage for the International Techdo Nunchaku Association, based in Switzerland.

Forums and portals

• Freestyle (Nunchaku) Forum English forum for freestyle nunchaku artist, collectors and enthusiast.

Legal issues

• Forbidden Sticks: A Four-Century Blog Tour Chronicles the history of nunchaku bans and contains updates about the American legal case of Maloney v. Singas (formerly Maloney v. Rice, Maloney v. Cuomo, and Maloney v. Spitzer), which was begun in 2003, and which challenges the constitutionality New York's decades-old prohibition on possession of nunchaku in the privacy of one's home for peaceful use in martial arts training, etc.