Recreational Holidays

The Great Okinawan Nunchaku

Everybody who’s even a casual student of the martial arts whatever your style may be has probably seen a pair of nunchaku being used at one time or another. It could have been during the course of their studying of the martial arts or in a tournament. It may have been in a so called “Martial Arts movie,” or you could have seen or even used a pair in the dojo (martial arts school) where you train in your chosen style of martial art. They’re such a popular weapon in the Martial Arts. In fact, that they’re known in many parts of the world today as “nunchucks,” “numchucks” or even “chucks.”

The “twin sticks” (the native Okinawan meaning for the word “nunchaku”), in the properly trained hands, are a whirling blur of speed of motion that can be very hard for the human eye to follow; they’re just that fast. Wow, can they pack a seriously hard wallop when they’re used to strike a victim within reach during close fighting.

They can be used alone as a pair of sticks joined together by a short length of rope or chain, or in pairs (one set for each hand) for double the trouble. The nunchaku (aka. Chucks) has a long and interesting history, starting from when they first appeared on the island of Okinawa off the coast of Japan sometime in the early to mid 1600s. Nowadays, few craftsmen like the ones at Buki Yuushuu still turn out modern customized versions of this beloved and cherished classic weapon.

How the nunchaku came to be developed on Okinawa during that time is a bit unclear. The most popular story was that Okinawan farmers and others on the island, including the upper classes of that time, took a farmer’s thresher, which was a handheld tool made up of two sticks joined by a rope, and suddenly became nunchaku masters!

We’re just joking about the “instant master” thing. It took and still takes some time handling the nunchaku (and more than a few hits the head, man that hurts!) before an individual is confident enough to even consider using them in a real life situation.

Most likely the invention of the nunchaku (Nunchuck) never happened that way at all, but that story keeps finding its way in popular culture. In realty, this very popular defensive weapon was probably made for the same reason it is still used today; as a weapon. More and More evidence shows that the Chinese themselves had a weapon that was very close in design to the Nunchuck back even before the 1600s, and that Chinese people whom some immigrated to Okinawa actually brought it with them. Also, the word for “nunchaku” is from the Chinese language, so it makes it that more likely that it really was built to be what we understand it to be today.

To truly understand why the nunchaku came to be developed in the first place, we should know that on the Island of Okinawa, just as in the rest of Japan, most people were forbidden to carry any type of sword or other bladed or edged weapon. Only the actual Japanese who were of the samurai class could have such things. Native Okinawans, who were not Japanese at all, were also not able to carry any such weapons. So people being as clever as they are and not having a good means to defend themselves, soon looked at the nunchaku and began to use it in the defense of person and property against the Japanese samurai and any other would be attacker.

The Native Okinawa’s as with most people didn’t like to be ordered and pushed around, and samurai were experts at giving orders to those under their class. Can you imagine what a surprise it was when one of these professional warriors felt or witnessed the blistering speed of these wooden sticks coming at him?

Today the essence of the “chuck” is still the same; they are just faster and flashier than the nunchaku of old. If you’d like to see what a modern pair of nunchaku look like, go to bukiyuushuu.com one of the leaders of Okinawan style of weaponry, look at all the different styles, colors and the different ways you can customize your made to order nunchaku.

Come and see the most styles and choices in custom Nunchaku click here Nunchuck