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A nunchaku, also
transliterated as nanchyaku (nunchucks
or karate stick in the
English language; 雙節棍
in the
Chinese language; ヌンチャク
in the
Japanese language) is a
martial arts
weapon consisting of two sticks connected at their ends with a short
chain or thong.
Also referred to as a
rice flail, the nunchaku are often
explained as a ancient tool used by farmers for threshing rice. Although it
is true that many martial arts weapons were originally designed as farm
tools, it is unlikely that the nunchaku were used in their exact form for
this purpose. Instead a long pole with a short stick attached by chain was
most likely the original form used in farming, and the shorter version
developed later and solely used in martial arts.
The length of each pole is traditionally the length from
finger-tip to elbow and the length of the chain is the width of a fist.
The nunchaku were made popular mostly due to their use by
Bruce Lee in a scene from his film
Enter the Dragon.
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