# Nunchaku - The final answer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266 "2016-07-30T10:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/81 "2016-08-02T15:51:55Z")
Gesundheit. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/82 "2016-08-02T18:21:13Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Sounds to me like this Linnick fellow and you are rather ignorant. “Karate” is Japanese for “empty hand,” the whole point of which is to fight without a weapon. Ancient Chinese Prophecy: “If Empty Hand is deadly then Empty Hand with weapon is deadlier.” ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/83 "2016-08-02T18:31:06Z")
Proverbs: “Empty hands are the Devils workshop.” ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/84 "2016-08-02T18:33:29Z")
> [@pool](#): > > You know I’m starting to think some of you actually doubt the power of Nunchaku. It doesn’t work well when cutting a tomato… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/85 "2016-08-02T18:35:33Z")
A nunchaku in the hand is worth two in the armpit. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/86 "2016-08-02T18:38:50Z")
A fool and his nunchaku are soon departed. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/87 "2016-08-02T18:48:12Z")
Obviously, the most dangerous weapon known to man is a pit bull. /gets popcorn ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/88 "2016-08-02T18:53:48Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Obviously, the most dangerous weapon known to man is a pit bull. > > /gets popcorn You attach two of them together with a small chain and start whirling them around…hoo, boy! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/89 "2016-08-02T19:39:46Z")
> [@Gary T](#): > > Sounds to me like this Linnick fellow and you are rather ignorant. “Karate” is Japanese for “empty hand,” the whole point of which is to fight without a weapon. Actually, I am told that when Gichin Funakoshi first brought karate to Japan, the ideographs were “Chinese hand”, but the Japanese and Chinese don’t get along well together, so the first part was changed to be “empty”. Traditional weapons were generally included in karate training in Okinawa. Later Japanese styles like Shotokan de-emphasized or eliminated weapons training altogether. > [@Saint Cad](#): > > No, that’s tessenjutsu. Japanese martial arts nerd humor - I like it. The thing is, those Japanese had a martial art for every frakking thing you can think of - fans, swords, sticks, swords on the end of sticks, sickles, ball and chains, sickles with a ball and chain on the end, and my favorite, _fukumibarijutsu_, where you spit needles at your foes. (Be careful not to sneeze.) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/90 "2016-08-02T19:42:51Z")
My money is on _fukumibarijutsu_ having been invented by a pissed-off mother-in-law. ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/91 "2016-08-03T06:39:52Z")
I had a roommate who got arrested for carrying “concealed” nunchaku. If the cops are going to arrest you for it, it doesn’t strike me as an ideal self defense weapon. Besides, nine-section-whips are cooler. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/92 "2016-08-03T14:32:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The really funny thing about nunchuck bans is that its use as a weapon originally developed as a way to get around weapons bans. You can forbid the peasants from having swords, but you can’t forbid them from having agricultural tools, so if they need to fight, they’ll do so using things like threshing flails. > > Most unarmed martial arts have the same origin. This is a nitpick on my part. There is no such thing as nunchucks, numchux or any of the other mispronunciations of the word nunchakus. \ And yes, the origin of a lot of traditional martial arts weapons was a re-purposing of a farming implement of some sort. Kamas were sickles. Korean Bahng Mahng Ee were laundry tools, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/93 "2016-08-03T16:21:29Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > This is a nitpick on my part. There is no such thing as nunchucks, numchux or any of the other mispronunciations of the word nunchakus. > \ So? Many loanwords mutate when adopted by another language. Nunchucks is an English word that is derived from Japanese. And if you’re going to nit-pick, do it right. The word is nunchaku. No such word as nunchakus. Japanese doesn’t use -s for plurals. Actually, it doesn’t distinguish between singular and plural. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/94 "2016-08-03T19:23:03Z")
nvr mind ---
**Author:** ![Hill\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/46a35a/32.png) [@Hill\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hill_Billy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/95 "2016-08-11T15:28:20Z")
99% of the time the person knocking the nunchaku bought a pair & after knocking himself out a few times he realized it takes extensive training to be able to use it in a fight & now tells everyone who will listen it’s “ineffective”…unless you wanna hurt yourself. Elmore’s ebook is THE most realistic thing I’ve read in the nunchaku. The nunchaku is even more effective than it is simple…which is VERY! All it is is a 2-piece club linked by a chain/rope used to beat or choke an assailant. If it wasn’t for Bruce Lee nobody would even know what the hell a “numchuck” even is. There has never been a single shred of proof of its martial use in any art ever. An angry disarmed Okinawan farmer used it to strangle an enemy & it’s use grew from there. If it wasn’t successfully used many times it would have long since disappeared. I’m sure there are many agricultural tools men have used to kill with that weren’t dreamed into being a karotty weapon. The nunchaku simply was used by Okinawans who also developed a very effective unarmed method of self defense & it was sucked into legend by vacuum & Hollywood marketing the right kinda movie at the right time. The nunchaku needs to be in the Okinawan agricultural museum & not associated with martial arts in any way or form. This fact does not negate the nunchaku’s deadliness one bit IMO. It just isn’t part of karate or kung fu history in real way. The real history of the nunchaku - Alex Levitas’ NUNCHAKU and NUNCHAKU-DO site They need to make a movie about a poor Okinawan farmer who goes on a vengeful murder spree using nunchaku rice flail. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/96 "2016-08-11T15:49:22Z")
> [@Hill\_Billy](#): > > But 20% of the time the 60yr old man welding the sticks has been training with them for years & the aggressor ends up dead or in surgery. Happens all the time. > [@](#): > > There has never been a single shred of proof of its martial use in any art ever. So it happens all the time, and it never happens. Gotcha. Regards, Shodan Eleventh-degree Black Belt in Ronco Cap-Snaffler[sup]TM[/sup]-Do ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/97 "2016-08-11T16:06:32Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > So? Many loanwords mutate when adopted by another language. Nunchucks is an English word that is derived from Japanese. > > And if you’re going to nit-pick, do it right. The word is nunchaku. No such word as nunchakus. Japanese doesn’t use -s for plurals. Actually, it doesn’t distinguish between singular and plural. LOL! What a dum-dum. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/98 "2016-08-11T16:10:26Z")
> [@Hill\_Billy](#): > > 99% of the time the person knocking the nunchaku bought a pair & after knocking himself out a few times he realized it takes extensive training to be able to use it in a fight & now tells everyone who will listen it’s “ineffective”…unless you wanna hurt yourself. > > Elmore’s ebook is THE most realistic thing I’ve read in the nunchaku. The nunchaku is even more effective than it is simple…which is VERY! All it is is a 2-piece club linked by a chain/rope used to beat or choke an assailant. If it wasn’t for Bruce Lee nobody would even know what the hell a “numchuck” even is. There has never been a single shred of proof of its martial use in any art ever. An angry disarmed Okinawan farmer used it to strangle an enemy & it’s use grew from there. If it wasn’t successfully used many times it would have long since disappeared. I’m sure there are many agricultural tools men have used to kill with that weren’t dreamed into being a karotty weapon. The nunchaku simply was used by Okinawans who also developed a very effective unarmed method of self defense & it was sucked into legend by vacuum & Hollywood marketing the right kinda movie at the right time. The nunchaku needs to be in the Okinawan agricultural museum & not associated with martial arts in any way or form. This fact does not negate the nunchaku’s deadliness one bit IMO. It just isn’t part of karate or kung fu history in real way. > > The real history of the nunchaku - Alex Levitas’ NUNCHAKU and NUNCHAKU-DO site > > They need to make a movie about a poor Okinawan farmer who goes on a vengeful murder spree using nunchaku rice flail. The nunchaku is a horrible weapon that is the greatest weapon in the world. Got it. :rolleyes: Are you being paid every time you use that word? That is the only thing that makes sense at this point. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/99 "2016-08-11T16:25:13Z")
> [@Hill\_Billy](#): > > 99% of the time the person knocking the nunchaku bought a pair & after knocking himself out a few times he realized it takes extensive training to be able to use it in a fight & now tells everyone who will listen it’s “ineffective”…unless you wanna hurt yourself. No it doesn’t. What are you even talking about? A few whacks in the shin and and maybe the ear and you quickly learn to swing them without causing yourself serious injury. It’s a fun hand-eye co-ordination training toy but it’s a stupid and pointless weapon - Bruce Lee films notwithstanding. > [@Hill\_Billy](#): > > …I’m sure there are many agricultural tools men have used to kill with that weren’t dreamed into being a karotty weapon… I’ve got your [carroty weapon](https://www.google.com/search?q=food+fight+poster&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSlQEJ_1Ka2-UoxXcsaiQELEKjU2AQaAggKDAsQsIynCBpiCmAIAxIo7AbJEvYG6Qb1Bp0UyBKcCvcGsx2qPdU9nTTSPak2pTScNcY_1tz38PRowi6oaji97AWpvCT-LEUEw6O8leq-9bOQsvAfYBlsQq54l1B0PPJ9-9AyPfHAsa7bQIAQMCxCOrv4IGgoKCAgBEgQouJ98DA&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj70vXa4bnOAhWnKMAKHeJWBcMQwg4IGygA&biw=1920&bih=947#imgrc=Nf7mFs16CmkV-M%3A) right here. ---
**Author:** ![Hill\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/46a35a/32.png) [@Hill\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hill_Billy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266/100 "2016-08-11T17:13:18Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So it happens all the time, and it never happens. Gotcha. > > Regards, > Shodan > Eleventh-degree Black Belt in Ronco Cap-Snaffler[sup]TM[/sup]-Do You don’t have wear a Gi & train in a dojo to become deadly with the nunchaku. The farmer who invented the weapon, or rather the use of the tool as a weapon, I’m sure didn’t. Paul Anderson won a gold medal lifting weights in his mother’s swing room. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nunchaku-the-final-answer/761266.md?page=6)