Nunchucks

Nunchucks (ヌンチャク, Nunchaku^?) are a traditional Okinawan weapon consisting of two sticks connected at their ends with a short chain or rope.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Origins 3 Construction 4 Formal styles 5 Freestyle 6 Sportive associations 7 Legality 8 Popular culture 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

Etymology

The Japanese word nunchaku is generally believed to derive from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese term for two section staff.¹ but it may come from nun (ヌン), meaning "twin" and shaku (尺), the approximate length of each arm of the nunchucks.^{citation needed}

Origins

The popular belief is that the nunchucks was originally a short Southeast Asian flail² used to thresh rice or soybeans (that is, separate the grain from the husk). It is possible that it was developed in response to the moratorium on edged weaponry under the Satsuma daimyo after invading Okinawa in the 17th century, and that the weapon was most likely conceived and used exclusively for that end, as the configuration of actual flails and bits are unwieldy for use as a weapon. Also, peasant farmers were forbidden conventional weaponry such as arrows or blades so they improvised using only what they had available, farm tools such as the sickle.

However, it seems that mythology surrounding the origins of the nunchucks has little historical accuracy. Unlike Okinawan rice flail (utzu), original nunchucks had curved arms, resembling an Okinawan horse bit (muge), which gave rise to the theory that nunchucks was originally a horse bridle.³ Yet another theory asserts that it was adapted from an instrument carried by the village night watch, made of two blocks of wood joined by cord. The night watch would hit the blocks of wood together to attract people's attention and then warn them about fires and other dangers.⁴ According to Chinese folklore, the nunchucks is a variation of the two section staff.⁵

Associating nunchucks and other Okinawan weapons with rebellious peasants is probably a part of romantic imagery. Martial arts on Okinawa were practiced exclusively by aristocracy (kazoku) and "serving nobles" (shizoku) but were prohibited among commoners (heimin). Furthermore, Okinawan disarmament was never total; nobles were still allowed to carry their swords and members of the royal family and princes were even allowed to have rifles for hunting.³ Whatever its origins were, the nunchucks was not a popular weapon, evidenced by the fact that no known traditional nunchucks kata exists. This was possibly a result of its lack of efficiency against weapons such as the sword.⁶

Construction

A nunchucks is two sections of wood connected by a cord or chain, though variants may include additional sections of wood and chain. Chinese nunchucks tend to be rounded, whereas the Okinawan version has an octagonal cross-section (allowing one edge of the nunchucks to make contact on 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 nunchucks exist. The ideal length for the connecting rope/chain is just enough to allow the user to lay it over his or her palm, with the sticks hanging comfortably and perpendicular to the ground. Weight balance is extremely important; cheaper or gimmicky nunchucks (such as glow-in-the-dark ones) are often not properly balanced, which prevents the performer from doing 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.

The traditional nunchucks is 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 prevented rotting and caused 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 nunchucks are often varnished or painted for display purposes. This practice tends to reduce the grip and make the weapon harder to handle, and so is not advised for a combat weapon.

The modern nunchucks can be made from any suitable material, such as wood, metal, or almost any plastic, fiberglass or other hard substance. Toy and practice chucks are commonly covered with foam to prevent self-injury or the injury of others. It is not uncommon to see modern nunchucks made from light metals such as aluminum. Modern equivalents of the rope are nylon cord or metal chains on ball bearing joints. Simple nunchucks may be easily constructed from wooden dowels and a short length of chain.

The Nunchaku-Do sport, governed by the World Nunchaku Association, promotes black and yellow Styrofoam nunchucks. Unlike readily available plastic training nunchucks, the devices they promote are properly balanced.

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

• Bleeder (nunchucks with sharp or dull razor blades) and sharper (nunchucks with nails) are used as components of the basic training and grading programme (Programme Verhille) in French nunchaku de combat.⁷
• 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 in expense of power; they have longer length 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.

There are also some types of nunchucks with no sportive use noted, such as:

• nunchucks with knives, nunchucks with metal branches with a concealed blade in the end of each branch.⁸
• Telescopic nunchucks, nunchucks with retractable metal sticks.

Formal styles

The nunchucks are most commonly used in Okinawan kobudo and karate, but it is also used in eskrima (accurately, the tabak-toyok, a similar though distinct Philippine weapon is used, as opposed to the Okinawan nunchucks), taekwondo and 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, so striking is given precedence. Korean systems combine offensive and defensive moves so both locks and strikes are taught.

Nunchucks are usually wielded singly but they 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 immobilise or disarm the opponent. Nunchucks training has been noted to increase hand speed, correct posture, and condition the hands of the practitioner so it makes a useful training weapon.

There are some disciplines that combine Nunchaku with unarmed techniques:

• Mouhébong Taekwondo combines Korean nunchucks with taekwondo.⁹
• Nunch-Boxing combines nunchucks with kicking and punching techniques. Nunch-Boxing itself is part of the broader discipline Nenbushi.¹⁰
• Nunchaku en savate combines savate techniques with the nunchucks.¹¹

Freestyle

Freestyle nunchaku is a modern style of performance art using the nunchucks as a visual tool rather than as a weapon. With the growing prevalence of the Internet the availability of nunchucks has increased greatly, combining this 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 nunchucks as it may help students improve their reflexes, hand control, and other skills.

Sportive associations

Since the 1980s, there have been various international sportive associations that organise the use of nunchucks as a contact sport.¹²¹³ 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 limitations-free on the severity of strikes and KO is permissible.¹⁴

• The North American Nunchaku Association was founded in 2003 in California, USA 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).¹⁵ A fight with FINCA rules lasts 2 x 2 minutes. There is no need changing neither nunchucks branch nor hand before hitting, just a correct recuperation is asked. There is no stop during the fight except in case of loss, lifting or penalties.
• World Nunchaku Association (WNA): Founded by Milco Lambrecht in the Netherlands in 1996.¹⁶ They use yellow and black plastic weight-balanced training nunchucks and protective headgear. They have their own belt colour system where one earns colour stripes on the belt instead of using fully coloured 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 rules fight corresponds to the kumite subsection of Nunchaku-do discipline.¹⁷ It is a 2-minutes "touch fight" in which the 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 fight lasts 2 x 2:30 minutes. There is no stop during the round, except in case of loss, lifting or penalties. Between two strikes, the fighter has to change hand and nunchucks branch before hitting again, except if he does a block.

Legality

Possession of nunchucks is illegal in a number of countries including Norway, Canada,¹⁸ Russia and Spain. It is considered a prohibited weapon.¹⁹ In Germany nunchucks have been illegal ²⁰ since April 2006, when it was declared as a strangling weapon.²¹ In the United Kingdom for many years it was thought legal for anyone over the age of 18 to buy and possess nunchucks, although public possession is not allowed unless transporting between a place of training or private addresses. However, following a case brought by Strathclyde Police and the Procurator Fiscal heard at Glasgow Sheriff Court on the 10th February 2010, a Sheriff ruled that nunchucks fell into the category of a prohibited weapon as defined by the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988 Section 141 (n). If, and only if it were upheld by a senior court, this ruling would have the effect of making it an offence to import, manufacture or sell nunchucks in the UK. It would also criminalise hundreds of thousands of martial arts enthusiasts who own a set of nunchucks. Their usage was, in the 1990s, censored from broadcasts of American children's TV shows,^{citation needed} such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons and films in the UK.²² The UK version of the Soul Blade videogame was also edited, replacing a character's nunchucks with a three-sectioned staff. In Hong Kong, it is illegal to possess metal or wooden nunchucks connected by a chain. It can be possessed by obtaining a license from the police as a martial arts instructor. Any rubber nunchucks are allowed. However, possession of nunchucks in Mainland China is legal.

Legality in Australia is also 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 state level, e.g., personal possession of nunchucks is illegal in New York, Arizona, California and Massachusetts, but in other states possession has not been criminalized. In New York, attorney Jim Maloney has brought a federal constitutional challenge to the statutes that criminalize simple in-home possession of nunchucks for peaceful use in martial-arts practice or legal home defense.²³ As of March 2009, the case was awaiting the filing of a petition for certiorari for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Popular culture

The nunchucks has been a popular weapon in movies related to martial arts, particular in Bruce Lee movies. In western pop culture, the nunchucks is often portrayed as a Japanese weapon favoured by the ninja, but it was only introduced to mainland Japan in the early 1900s.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Michelangelo uses a pair of nunchucks.
• Thundercat Panthro uses a pair of nunchucks.
• Marvel Comic superhero Daredevil often uses nunchucks as a weapon.
• From the television series Charmed, Billie Jenkins often used to practice with a nunchucks made of metal, being able to effectively use it in combination with her telekinetic powers.
• In the American TV show Deadliest Warrior episode "Yakuza vs. Mafia, the Yakuza's short range weapon was a pair of nunchucks.
• The Nintendo Wii features an extension to its main controller called a Nunchuck.

See also

• Okinawan weapons
• Sansetsukon
• Two section staff
• Poi (juggling)
• Pyeongon
• Tabak-Toyok
• Flail (weapon)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nunchaku

Information and techniques

• North American Nunchaku Association
• Nunchakututorials.com A complete free site with tutorials and info about nunchaku
• http://www.Nunchucks-Master.com 150 videos, latest tricks & unique techniques
• Zen Suishin Ryu Karate - Super Nunchaku Techniques by Mondo Kawai (English) (Japanese)
• Site about nunchaku. Includes lessons and practical knowledge
• Site about nunchaku. lessons movies, and more
• French site about nunchaku with lessons movies (English) (French)
• Nunchaku & Nunchaku-do website
• Nunchaku information and techniques
• Nunchaku Tutorials

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.

Legal issues

• Pro-Nunchaku German nunchaku site featuring a map of Europe showing the nunchaku laws in different EU-countries (German) (English)
• Maloney v. Rice: The Nunchaku Case Chronicles the American legal case of Maloney v. Rice (formerly Maloney v. Spitzer and then Maloney v. Cuomo), 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.

v • d • e Okinawan kobudō Weapons Bō · Eku · Kama (Okinawan kusarigama) · Kuwa · Nunchaku · Sai · Sansetsukon · Tambo · Surujin · Tekko · Tinbe-rochin · Tonfa Styles Kenshin-ryū · Matayoshi · Ryukyu · Yamanni ryu Comparison of styles