nunchaku (nun chucks) Vote!, where do they come from? Options

[russ-boy]

I thought nunchaku developed from the rice flail in 17th century Okinawa, Japan (, and Brixton of course).

[Janette]

I think we all know it's Brixton

[james]

I voted Filipino because I can't think of anything else they have invented and every nation should have at least 1 thing to their name. It's the British way dammit.

[michael]

Okinawa. According to Grapes 1337 link, they originated from horse bits (when i say bit, i refer to the piece of wood placed in the horse's mouth, not an actual part the horses anatomy Russell, a martial arts weapon made from horse offal would be ineffective as well as unhygeinic).
An interesting poll nonetheless.

[paul]

Thats rich coming from a student  

[jamie]

are you implying this is not important research?!!

[Matt]

If that's where the tool evolved from, who added the noise that you have to make whilst you use them?  Did Japanese farmers walk around their fields flailing corn / rice screaming "whowhaaaaaaa"??

[quaker]

did the staff originate from the french baugette ?  

[womble]

I think that they came from the butchers shop, when confronted by armed robbers they chose to defend them selves with sausages.

[quaker]

and pork chops for hatchets  

[jamie]

Nobody realy seems to know for sure, so i thought we'd decide. VOTE!!

[russ-boy]

, then again, thinking about it, who knows where they may have originated.  I'm sure the Chinese had multi-jointed weapons earlier than this eg. 3-sectioned staff ( i said staff).

[russ-boy]

and Staines.

[=law=Gr4p3s]

http://martialarts.about.com/gi....y_e.htm

[jamie]

I think ive got it!
The exact history of the nunchaku is not known. However, we do have an idea how things have evolved. Most likely the nunchaku was originally used as an agricultural tool. It was used as a flail or a horsebit. During the 13th or 14th century there was an emigration wave of Chinese people to Okinawa, an island close to Japan.
These Chinese people mainly settled down in the city of Kumemura. They mastered different martial arts. One of the arts was using a weapon. They called this weapon: ìshuang chin kunî and ìshuang tseî. The Japanese people were very interested in this martial art. They moved in large numbers to Kumemura to study this fascinating art of self-defense. The adopted techniques were later adapted to their own Japanese interpretations, while also the name of the weapon was changed.

The Japanese started to call this weapon the ìNunchakuî. They also altered the shape of the weapon. The Chinese design consisted of two round sticks connected by a chain. The Japanese model consisted of two octagon sticks connected by a string. This type existed also in different versions.