Overappreciated Historical Weapons: NUNCHUCKS are STUPID!

Nunchucks or Nunchaku, are actually very poor weapons in reality, and I will explain why.

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[IOwnKazakhstan]

I just watched a fully grown man yell at two sticks stuck together with a rope/chain for 20 minutes and I’m happy about it

[OhMeGaGS]

new Shadiversity series: "Historical Weapon vs Stick" I'm aboard that train

[DanJonesKing]

I remember watching an interview and even Bruce Lee himself says that about nunchakus. He said he used them in movies because they western audiences thought they were cool but they're mainly a tool for showing off your dexterity.

[LMLR]

There was an episode of Deadliest Warrior between the Yakuza and the Mafia. When the Yakuza presented the nunchucku as their weapon and demonstrated its usage and damage. It took a couple hard, coordinated swipes to crack the skull dummy. The Mafia side responded by simply pulling out a Louisville Slugger baseball bat and with one mighty swing, the shattered the same skull into chunks. It was quite a moment.

[Greideren]

Robber: Tries to rob someone
Random guy: "Call an ambulance!"
*Gets his nunchakus out * "For both of us!"

[MrDestroyerPrime]

My favorite historic manuscript quote on flailed weapons. "A novice will hit themselves. A master will hit themselves less".

[pepsiman]

Shad: a very serious man dedicated to his job.
Also Shad: WooOoOoo Aa Helicopter.

[rickrivethead]

When i was a young teenager, my friend showed off with a pair of these things in my living room. I remember clearly the look on his face as the light shade above his head shattered into a million pieces lol!

[BenjaminSteber]

"I made them myself"

Don't get cocky. The tree did most of the work.

[kurington.blogspot]

"Say 'hi 'into the mike."
"Hi into the mike."

Spoken like a true warrior.

[redmoon]

Honestly all I'm probably going to remember after this video is "stick good, nunchuk bad" and "he's a big boi"

[pauljmorton]

Yup, impractical, ineffective or even dangerous to self as a weapon, but still swinging them around is sick and cool and a fun skill. Just like juggling: no practical use whatsoever, but still impressive. :D

[FWildcat]

I have seen more actors comically hitting themselves with nunchucks than actually taking someone out

[dismentaler]

secretly, the only reason shad made this video so that he could flex his nunchuck skills on all of us.

[GordonShemway]

I want to see an Indiana Jones type scene where a martial arts master is twirling nunchuks and Shad just cracks his head with a stick

[Petayoshi]

A few points to put the Nunchaku into historic perspective:
1. When the island of Okinawa (Ryukyu Kingdom) was invaded by the Satsuma they banned all weapons from the Island. As an aftermath the martial art of Kobudo was developed with the goal to utilize farming tools as weapons. Thus the question was never "How can we develop an effective weapon? Let's invent the Nanchaku" but more "What is the best way to use the Nunchaku as a weapon?". The Nunchaku was generally used for agricultural purposes as a flail. Thus the Nunchaku was never designed to serve as a weapon.
2. The way of holding the Nunchaku so close to the link (as demonstrated in this video) is not the way the Nunchaku should be handled. First because you are generating less force and second you are indeed more likely to hit yourself. Also locking the Nunchaku in the armpit is something I have only seen in Bruce Lee movies.
4. I have a martial arts background myself and have practiced Kobudo. I have never practiced with the Nunchaku (forbidden in my country as "stranglewood") but I can tell that the presenter has never trained in Nunchaku either, except for practicing flashy spins. And I don't find it right that the presenter claims to have experience in the beginning of the video.
5. I agree that a simple stick might be more efficient. However this is a onesided assessment for a weapon. A Nunchaku is more easy to hide and transport than a stick just to give one argument to carry a Nunchaku instead. A knife is even more convenient to carry, but knifes where banned from Okinawa in the past.

[hollowtangent]

I'm convinced that nunchucks are used to train ones own endurance. Getting good with nunchucks means learning to withstand you beating the shit out of yourself.

[PossumReviews]

The only reason Bruce Lee never hit himself with nunchucks is because actors don't actually hit each other in movies, and therefore, it doesn't bounce back and hit him. There's also the fact that they always use the best take and aren't going to show him screwing up.

[philcoast]

"Nunchucks are stupid!"
Oh no, poor Mike. Such a cool guy, he didn't deserv-
"Sticks are much better!"
HECK YEAH, DONNIE, MY MAN!!! ...but yeah, rough day for Mike, huh?

[Catbane]

I'm not here to argue the effectiveness of nunchucks but people should know about some of the history of nunchucks before the comprehensive discussion.

Nunchuck (two sectioned stick) is an ancient weapon from China documented with 2500 years of history. Most people knows about nunchuck from Bruce Lee movies or Okinawa's martial artists (they do not considered themselves as Japanese but Chinese still).

There are two main types of Chinese weapon categories 1. HARD Weapon such as different types of sword and knife (Chinese interpretation : single edge sharpened = knife 刀, both edges sharpened = sword 劍), spear, stick, long pole, etc.. And SOFT Weapons such as 9 sectioned chain whip, nunchuck (2 sectioned stick), 3 sectioned stick, etc.. The application of these weapons are very different.

If you only consider the brute force of a particular weapon produced, it may not be fair to its true application originally. For example, nunchucks are much harder to block if applied properly by true expert. Also, one of the lethal application of nunchuck is to struggle the opponent's neck with ease applying the leverage of the sticks.

So comparing apples to oranges is meaningless... My 2 cents